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Hardware and Windows Vista Hardware issues in relation to Windows Vista. (microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware_devices) |
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eSATA Drive Question
"Jeff Gaines" wrote in message ... Assuming you are responding to my point about eSATA connections on a laptop I would certainly be interested to know which laptops have them. My Lenovo R50e certainly doesn't! -- Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message ... For laptops without a eSATA port but with an ExpressCard/34 slot, there are several adaptors like: http://www.iogear.com/product/GPS702e3W6/ or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16839113007 For laptops with eSATA onboard see for example the ASUS C90S (click on the specs link below the thumbnails): http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/spec/spec_C90S.asp Or if you prefer the specs on the ASUS site (I hate the slowness of the ASUS site some days): http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...&m odelmenu=2 There are some others but all I know of are gaming laptops so far. I have not tried booting off a hard drive connected to one of these onboard ports like on the C90S because I don't have a laptop so equipped but it should work. I know it is more of a problem booting off of a hard drive connected to an eSATA ExpressCard adaptor, however. "Anna" wrote in message ... Jeff & Colin: Notebooks equipped with an eSATA port are indeed a rare commodity. To the best of my knowledge ASUS is the only major player that has released a few models with an eSATA port. I'm not aware of Acer, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, Sony, etc. having *any* models with an eSATA port. If they're out there, they're few & far between, that's for sure. More's the pity, of course. Some time ago I had occasion to work with one of the ASUS notebooks that came equipped with an eSATA port (I can't recall the model #) and we were able to boot from that port with a SATA HDD that had been the recipient of the cloned contents of the notebook's internal HDD. That was no surprise, of course, since every eSATA port that we've worked with on various desktop PCs have proven to be "bootable". (For that matter it really makes *no* difference whether the port is a "normal" SATA one or an eSATA one). A bootable external SATA HDD connected to either type of port will boot. Obviously we're talking about motherboards that support SATA capability. We have never been able to boot from a CardBus (a/k/a PCMCIA) equipped with either a SATA or eSATA port. We've concluded that it's just not a bootable device. As I mentioned in my previous post, we're still experimenting with various ExpressCard devices to determine their potential "bootability". Every one we've come across is equipped with an eSATA port and they're supposed to provide boot capability. However, our experience has been mixed to date although we were able to boot from a SATA HDD connected to an Addonics eSATA ExpressCard. Colin, if you've had any direct experience with an eSATA ExpressCard I'd like to hear about it. Anna "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message ... We had this conversation a month or more ago. Remember? I don't have any new reason to revisit it. Colin: No, I really don't recall our "conversation a month or more ago". But do I detect a note of annoyance in your response? If so, may I ask why? Anna |
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eSATA Drive Question
Anna wrote:
"Jeff Gaines" wrote in message ... Assuming you are responding to my point about eSATA connections on a laptop I would certainly be interested to know which laptops have them. My Lenovo R50e certainly doesn't! -- Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message ... For laptops without a eSATA port but with an ExpressCard/34 slot, there are several adaptors like: http://www.iogear.com/product/GPS702e3W6/ or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16839113007 For laptops with eSATA onboard see for example the ASUS C90S (click on the specs link below the thumbnails): http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/spec/spec_C90S.asp Or if you prefer the specs on the ASUS site (I hate the slowness of the ASUS site some days): http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...&m odelmenu=2 There are some others but all I know of are gaming laptops so far. I have not tried booting off a hard drive connected to one of these onboard ports like on the C90S because I don't have a laptop so equipped but it should work. I know it is more of a problem booting off of a hard drive connected to an eSATA ExpressCard adaptor, however. "Anna" wrote in message ... Jeff & Colin: Notebooks equipped with an eSATA port are indeed a rare commodity. To the best of my knowledge ASUS is the only major player that has released a few models with an eSATA port. I'm not aware of Acer, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, Sony, etc. having *any* models with an eSATA port. If they're out there, they're few & far between, that's for sure. More's the pity, of course. Some time ago I had occasion to work with one of the ASUS notebooks that came equipped with an eSATA port (I can't recall the model #) and we were able to boot from that port with a SATA HDD that had been the recipient of the cloned contents of the notebook's internal HDD. That was no surprise, of course, since every eSATA port that we've worked with on various desktop PCs have proven to be "bootable". (For that matter it really makes *no* difference whether the port is a "normal" SATA one or an eSATA one). A bootable external SATA HDD connected to either type of port will boot. Obviously we're talking about motherboards that support SATA capability. We have never been able to boot from a CardBus (a/k/a PCMCIA) equipped with either a SATA or eSATA port. We've concluded that it's just not a bootable device. As I mentioned in my previous post, we're still experimenting with various ExpressCard devices to determine their potential "bootability". Every one we've come across is equipped with an eSATA port and they're supposed to provide boot capability. However, our experience has been mixed to date although we were able to boot from a SATA HDD connected to an Addonics eSATA ExpressCard. Colin, if you've had any direct experience with an eSATA ExpressCard I'd like to hear about it. Anna "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message ... We had this conversation a month or more ago. Remember? I don't have any new reason to revisit it. Colin: No, I really don't recall our "conversation a month or more ago". But do I detect a note of annoyance in your response? If so, may I ask why? Anna Perhaps because (some people) have limited patience and perseverance (old school values)? (Usually it's the young-ins who have this limitation :-). |
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eSATA Drive Question
No annoyance. The thread went on and on and explored all the ins and outs
of booting and installing Windows with BIOS changes, etc. There just isn't anything new I have to add. Most of the dialog was between you and another fella and I mostly listened in. "Anna" wrote in message ... "Jeff Gaines" wrote in message ... Assuming you are responding to my point about eSATA connections on a laptop I would certainly be interested to know which laptops have them. My Lenovo R50e certainly doesn't! -- Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message ... For laptops without a eSATA port but with an ExpressCard/34 slot, there are several adaptors like: http://www.iogear.com/product/GPS702e3W6/ or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16839113007 For laptops with eSATA onboard see for example the ASUS C90S (click on the specs link below the thumbnails): http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/spec/spec_C90S.asp Or if you prefer the specs on the ASUS site (I hate the slowness of the ASUS site some days): http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...&m odelmenu=2 There are some others but all I know of are gaming laptops so far. I have not tried booting off a hard drive connected to one of these onboard ports like on the C90S because I don't have a laptop so equipped but it should work. I know it is more of a problem booting off of a hard drive connected to an eSATA ExpressCard adaptor, however. "Anna" wrote in message ... Jeff & Colin: Notebooks equipped with an eSATA port are indeed a rare commodity. To the best of my knowledge ASUS is the only major player that has released a few models with an eSATA port. I'm not aware of Acer, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, Sony, etc. having *any* models with an eSATA port. If they're out there, they're few & far between, that's for sure. More's the pity, of course. Some time ago I had occasion to work with one of the ASUS notebooks that came equipped with an eSATA port (I can't recall the model #) and we were able to boot from that port with a SATA HDD that had been the recipient of the cloned contents of the notebook's internal HDD. That was no surprise, of course, since every eSATA port that we've worked with on various desktop PCs have proven to be "bootable". (For that matter it really makes *no* difference whether the port is a "normal" SATA one or an eSATA one). A bootable external SATA HDD connected to either type of port will boot. Obviously we're talking about motherboards that support SATA capability. We have never been able to boot from a CardBus (a/k/a PCMCIA) equipped with either a SATA or eSATA port. We've concluded that it's just not a bootable device. As I mentioned in my previous post, we're still experimenting with various ExpressCard devices to determine their potential "bootability". Every one we've come across is equipped with an eSATA port and they're supposed to provide boot capability. However, our experience has been mixed to date although we were able to boot from a SATA HDD connected to an Addonics eSATA ExpressCard. Colin, if you've had any direct experience with an eSATA ExpressCard I'd like to hear about it. Anna "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message ... We had this conversation a month or more ago. Remember? I don't have any new reason to revisit it. Colin: No, I really don't recall our "conversation a month or more ago". But do I detect a note of annoyance in your response? If so, may I ask why? Anna |
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eSATA Drive Question
"pbl" wrote in message news:O7GdnX4gPtmzW4PVnZ2dnUVZ_uCdnZ2d@internode... I need to get a new external HDD for my laptop and I'm thinking of getting an eSATA drive. My question is this: Can any HDD be turned into an eSATA drive by housing it an enclosure which has an eSATA port or is there something special about SATA drives? I'm not sure whether I should buy an already enclosed SATA or buy the HDD and the enclosure separately (cheaper option). Thanks for your help. --- Thanks very much Jeff, Anna, Robert, Collin & Bill for your replies. Just for clarification - I have a Dell XPS M1530. It has an internal 200 GB 7200 RPM SATA drive but it does not not have an eSATA. I have an ExpressCard/54 slot. It will fit a 34 mm ExpressCard but it doesn't feel secure. There are a few 54mm eSATA II ExpressCards including a Belkin model. For speed and size I am after a 3.5" drive and using it in my computer would not be an option. I need to write/record music in real time via a firewire audio interface and prefer to get it away from my system drive. At present I have this USB drive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...sbs_ce_title_4 but unfortunately it is really SLOW and is only useful for backing up. Thanks for the heads-up on the ANTEC cooled enclosure. If anyone has a suggestion for a 3.5" SATA drive to go with it I am all ears. |
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eSATA Drive Question
On 06/05/2008 in message pbl wrote:
Thanks for the heads-up on the ANTEC cooled enclosure. If anyone has a suggestion for a 3.5" SATA drive to go with it I am all ears. The hardware groups feel the most reliable one currently is the Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII. Do not under any circumstances get a HD that is made in China, they are proving very unreliable. -- Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK |
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eSATA Drive Question
"pbl" wrote in message ... "pbl" wrote in message news:O7GdnX4gPtmzW4PVnZ2dnUVZ_uCdnZ2d@internode... I need to get a new external HDD for my laptop and I'm thinking of getting an eSATA drive. My question is this: Can any HDD be turned into an eSATA drive by housing it an enclosure which has an eSATA port or is there something special about SATA drives? I'm not sure whether I should buy an already enclosed SATA or buy the HDD and the enclosure separately (cheaper option). Thanks for your help. --- Thanks very much Jeff, Anna, Robert, Collin & Bill for your replies. Just for clarification - I have a Dell XPS M1530. It has an internal 200 GB 7200 RPM SATA drive but it does not not have an eSATA. I have an ExpressCard/54 slot. It will fit a 34 mm ExpressCard but it doesn't feel secure. There are a few 54mm eSATA II ExpressCards including a Belkin model. For speed and size I am after a 3.5" drive and using it in my computer would not be an option. I need to write/record music in real time via a firewire audio interface and prefer to get it away from my system drive. At present I have this USB drive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...sbs_ce_title_4 but unfortunately it is really SLOW and is only useful for backing up. Thanks for the heads-up on the ANTEC cooled enclosure. If anyone has a suggestion for a 3.5" SATA drive to go with it I am all ears. pbl: First of all, I think you are wise to consider an external enclosure to house a SATA HDD that provides SATA-to-SATA connectivity to your laptop via the ExpressCard slot. And since your ExpressCard slot is the 54mm variety it will, as you know, accommodate the 34mm variety of ExpressCards as well. Virtually all SATA external enclosures on the market today are equipped with an eSATA port. And most of these external enclosures also are equipped with a USB interface as well. The beauty of having SATA-to-SATA connectivity is really twofold... 1. Data transfer will be considerably speedier than the USB interface. Significantly so since for all practical purposes the system treats the SATA HDD (even while it's "external" to the system) as an internal HDD. 2. The external SATA HDD is potentially bootable, assuming that (for example) you cloned the contents of your internal (boot) HDD to the external SATA HDD through a disk-cloning program, e.g., Acronis True Image, Symantec's Ghost, or our favorite, Casper 4. From your description of your objective as to how you'll be using the external SATA HDD I realize you're not particularly interested in that drive being potentially bootable, but it is an important element for you to consider possibly for the future. At least in theory, an ExpressCard with an eSATA port should serve as a bootable device. So far our experience with a few of them has been erratic. In one case (an Addonics card) we could consistently boot with a connected SATA HDD. In two other cards we could not do so (at least on a consistent basis). I have to add that I've only worked with the 34mm variety of ExpressCards in this area and *not* any 54mm card. I would be *most* interested in your experience with your Dell so if you do go that route I would be really appreciative of learning of your experience, particularly the "bootability" aspect. Have you heard anything particular about the Belkin card you mention? BTW, for others who might be interested, our experience with the older CardBus (PCMCIA) cards equipped with a SATA or eSATA port led us to conclude that these devices did *not* provide boot capability although they were quite useful in terms of fast data transfer. Incidentally, unless you're dead-set on using an external SATA HDD as a storage device and not a bootable device, you may want to consider a SATA external enclosure that accommodates a 2 1/2" SATA HDD rather than a 3 1/2" drive. The advantage here is that should the need ever arise where for one reason or another you wanted to replace your laptop's internal HDD, you could use the SATA HDD installed in the external enclosure. Again, we're assuming it would be a bootable device. There might be, however, a slight decrease in data transfer speed re the external SATA HDD as compared with a 3 1/2" HDD, so if your primary or exclusive interest is using the external HDD as a storage device, then the 3 1/2" drive would be more appropriate for your needs. I really don't have any special recommendations for a SATA external enclosure. We've worked with a few of them (having both SATA or eSATA ports) and they've all pretty well done the job. Heretofore our recommendation was generally to purchase the enclosure and the HDD separately but we note in the past year or so prices of the "one-piece" commercial units have fallen so dramatically that you might want to consider purchasing one of those units. I would add that we prefer an enclosure that has the ON-OFF switch and accompanying LED on the front of the unit facing the user. We find that much more convenient, but this is just a personal preference. Anyway, take a look at the newegg offerings. Anna |
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eSATA Drive Question
"Anna" wrote in message ... Jeff & Colin: Notebooks equipped with an eSATA port are indeed a rare commodity. To the best of my knowledge ASUS is the only major player that has released a few models with an eSATA port. I'm not aware of Acer, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, Sony, etc. having *any* models with an eSATA port. If they're out there, they're few & far between, that's for sure. More's the pity, of course. Some time ago I had occasion to work with one of the ASUS notebooks that came equipped with an eSATA port (I can't recall the model #) and we were able to boot from that port with a SATA HDD that had been the recipient of the cloned contents of the notebook's internal HDD. That was no surprise, of course, since every eSATA port that we've worked with on various desktop PCs have proven to be "bootable". (For that matter it really makes *no* difference whether the port is a "normal" SATA one or an eSATA one). A bootable external SATA HDD connected to either type of port will boot. Obviously we're talking about motherboards that support SATA capability. We have never been able to boot from a CardBus (a/k/a PCMCIA) equipped with either a SATA or eSATA port. We've concluded that it's just not a bootable device. As I mentioned in my previous post, we're still experimenting with various ExpressCard devices to determine their potential "bootability". Every one we've come across is equipped with an eSATA port and they're supposed to provide boot capability. However, our experience has been mixed to date although we were able to boot from a SATA HDD connected to an Addonics eSATA ExpressCard. Colin, if you've had any direct experience with an eSATA ExpressCard I'd like to hear about it. Anna "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message ... We had this conversation a month or more ago. Remember? I don't have any new reason to revisit it. Colin: No, I really don't recall our "conversation a month or more ago". But do I detect a note of annoyance in your response? If so, may I ask why? Anna "Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message ... No annoyance. The thread went on and on and explored all the ins and outs of booting and installing Windows with BIOS changes, etc. There just isn't anything new I have to add. Most of the dialog was between you and another fella and I mostly listened in. Colin: Well, I'm glad to hear that. Anyway, I am interested in your experience (or for that matter with anyone's direct experience) as it pertains to using an ExpressCard (either the 34mm or 54mm variety) particularly with reference as to whether a SATA HDD connected to that device can be bootable. Anna |
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eSATA Drive Question
"Anna" wrote in message ... "pbl" wrote in message ... "pbl" wrote in message news:O7GdnX4gPtmzW4PVnZ2dnUVZ_uCdnZ2d@internode... I need to get a new external HDD for my laptop and I'm thinking of getting an eSATA drive. My question is this: Can any HDD be turned into an eSATA drive by housing it an enclosure which has an eSATA port or is there something special about SATA drives? I'm not sure whether I should buy an already enclosed SATA or buy the HDD and the enclosure separately (cheaper option). Thanks for your help. --- Thanks very much Jeff, Anna, Robert, Collin & Bill for your replies. Just for clarification - I have a Dell XPS M1530. It has an internal 200 GB 7200 RPM SATA drive but it does not not have an eSATA. I have an ExpressCard/54 slot. It will fit a 34 mm ExpressCard but it doesn't feel secure. There are a few 54mm eSATA II ExpressCards including a Belkin model. For speed and size I am after a 3.5" drive and using it in my computer would not be an option. I need to write/record music in real time via a firewire audio interface and prefer to get it away from my system drive. At present I have this USB drive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...sbs_ce_title_4 but unfortunately it is really SLOW and is only useful for backing up. Thanks for the heads-up on the ANTEC cooled enclosure. If anyone has a suggestion for a 3.5" SATA drive to go with it I am all ears. pbl: First of all, I think you are wise to consider an external enclosure to house a SATA HDD that provides SATA-to-SATA connectivity to your laptop via the ExpressCard slot. And since your ExpressCard slot is the 54mm variety it will, as you know, accommodate the 34mm variety of ExpressCards as well. Virtually all SATA external enclosures on the market today are equipped with an eSATA port. And most of these external enclosures also are equipped with a USB interface as well. The beauty of having SATA-to-SATA connectivity is really twofold... 1. Data transfer will be considerably speedier than the USB interface. Significantly so since for all practical purposes the system treats the SATA HDD (even while it's "external" to the system) as an internal HDD. 2. The external SATA HDD is potentially bootable, assuming that (for example) you cloned the contents of your internal (boot) HDD to the external SATA HDD through a disk-cloning program, e.g., Acronis True Image, Symantec's Ghost, or our favorite, Casper 4. From your description of your objective as to how you'll be using the external SATA HDD I realize you're not particularly interested in that drive being potentially bootable, but it is an important element for you to consider possibly for the future. At least in theory, an ExpressCard with an eSATA port should serve as a bootable device. So far our experience with a few of them has been erratic. In one case (an Addonics card) we could consistently boot with a connected SATA HDD. In two other cards we could not do so (at least on a consistent basis). I have to add that I've only worked with the 34mm variety of ExpressCards in this area and *not* any 54mm card. I would be *most* interested in your experience with your Dell so if you do go that route I would be really appreciative of learning of your experience, particularly the "bootability" aspect. Have you heard anything particular about the Belkin card you mention? BTW, for others who might be interested, our experience with the older CardBus (PCMCIA) cards equipped with a SATA or eSATA port led us to conclude that these devices did *not* provide boot capability although they were quite useful in terms of fast data transfer. Incidentally, unless you're dead-set on using an external SATA HDD as a storage device and not a bootable device, you may want to consider a SATA external enclosure that accommodates a 2 1/2" SATA HDD rather than a 3 1/2" drive. The advantage here is that should the need ever arise where for one reason or another you wanted to replace your laptop's internal HDD, you could use the SATA HDD installed in the external enclosure. Again, we're assuming it would be a bootable device. There might be, however, a slight decrease in data transfer speed re the external SATA HDD as compared with a 3 1/2" HDD, so if your primary or exclusive interest is using the external HDD as a storage device, then the 3 1/2" drive would be more appropriate for your needs. I really don't have any special recommendations for a SATA external enclosure. We've worked with a few of them (having both SATA or eSATA ports) and they've all pretty well done the job. Heretofore our recommendation was generally to purchase the enclosure and the HDD separately but we note in the past year or so prices of the "one-piece" commercial units have fallen so dramatically that you might want to consider purchasing one of those units. I would add that we prefer an enclosure that has the ON-OFF switch and accompanying LED on the front of the unit facing the user. We find that much more convenient, but this is just a personal preference. Anyway, take a look at the newegg offerings. Anna Thank you very much Anna for your detailed response. I will most likley go for a 3.5" drive for the additional speed. But I'm unfortunately having a battle with Dell at the moment about the M1530 display and because they are being terribly uncooperative they are processing a refund. This is a huge diappouintment becuase I love this new laptop except for the crappy grainy WSVGA display. I expect I will be repurchasing a similar if not the same laptop when the problem gets sorted but in the meantime I will be going back to my old WinXP laptop with a PCMCIA port. I know you can purchase PCMCIA to eSATA adapter but would this work as I recall your first bit of advice to be about laptop compatibility with SATA drives?? Regarding the Belkin card, I don't know anything special about it. It is a 54 mm card and I haven't found too many ot them. Yes the 34 mm cards will fit but not snuggly and although you can get a plastic extender for the 34 mm variety but I have not had much success with them. Thanks again for your help. pbl. |
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eSATA Drive Question
"pbl" wrote in message ... "pbl" wrote in message news:O7GdnX4gPtmzW4PVnZ2dnUVZ_uCdnZ2d@internode... I need to get a new external HDD for my laptop and I'm thinking of getting an eSATA drive. My question is this: Can any HDD be turned into an eSATA drive by housing it an enclosure which has an eSATA port or is there something special about SATA drives? I'm not sure whether I should buy an already enclosed SATA or buy the HDD and the enclosure separately (cheaper option). Thanks for your help. --- Thanks very much Jeff, Anna, Robert, Collin & Bill for your replies. Just for clarification - I have a Dell XPS M1530. It has an internal 200 GB 7200 RPM SATA drive but it does not not have an eSATA. I have an ExpressCard/54 slot. It will fit a 34 mm ExpressCard but it doesn't feel secure. There are a few 54mm eSATA II ExpressCards including a Belkin model. For speed and size I am after a 3.5" drive and using it in my computer would not be an option. I need to write/record music in real time via a firewire audio interface and prefer to get it away from my system drive. At present I have this USB drive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...sbs_ce_title_4 but unfortunately it is really SLOW and is only useful for backing up. Thanks for the heads-up on the ANTEC cooled enclosure. If anyone has a suggestion for a 3.5" SATA drive to go with it I am all ears. "Anna" wrote in message ... pbl: First of all, I think you are wise to consider an external enclosure to house a SATA HDD that provides SATA-to-SATA connectivity to your laptop via the ExpressCard slot. And since your ExpressCard slot is the 54mm variety it will, as you know, accommodate the 34mm variety of ExpressCards as well. Virtually all SATA external enclosures on the market today are equipped with an eSATA port. And most of these external enclosures also are equipped with a USB interface as well. The beauty of having SATA-to-SATA connectivity is really twofold... 1. Data transfer will be considerably speedier than the USB interface. Significantly so since for all practical purposes the system treats the SATA HDD (even while it's "external" to the system) as an internal HDD. 2. The external SATA HDD is potentially bootable, assuming that (for example) you cloned the contents of your internal (boot) HDD to the external SATA HDD through a disk-cloning program, e.g., Acronis True Image, Symantec's Ghost, or our favorite, Casper 4. From your description of your objective as to how you'll be using the external SATA HDD I realize you're not particularly interested in that drive being potentially bootable, but it is an important element for you to consider possibly for the future. At least in theory, an ExpressCard with an eSATA port should serve as a bootable device. So far our experience with a few of them has been erratic. In one case (an Addonics card) we could consistently boot with a connected SATA HDD. In two other cards we could not do so (at least on a consistent basis). I have to add that I've only worked with the 34mm variety of ExpressCards in this area and *not* any 54mm card. I would be *most* interested in your experience with your Dell so if you do go that route I would be really appreciative of learning of your experience, particularly the "bootability" aspect. Have you heard anything particular about the Belkin card you mention? BTW, for others who might be interested, our experience with the older CardBus (PCMCIA) cards equipped with a SATA or eSATA port led us to conclude that these devices did *not* provide boot capability although they were quite useful in terms of fast data transfer. Incidentally, unless you're dead-set on using an external SATA HDD as a storage device and not a bootable device, you may want to consider a SATA external enclosure that accommodates a 2 1/2" SATA HDD rather than a 3 1/2" drive. The advantage here is that should the need ever arise where for one reason or another you wanted to replace your laptop's internal HDD, you could use the SATA HDD installed in the external enclosure. Again, we're assuming it would be a bootable device. There might be, however, a slight decrease in data transfer speed re the external SATA HDD as compared with a 3 1/2" HDD, so if your primary or exclusive interest is using the external HDD as a storage device, then the 3 1/2" drive would be more appropriate for your needs. I really don't have any special recommendations for a SATA external enclosure. We've worked with a few of them (having both SATA or eSATA ports) and they've all pretty well done the job. Heretofore our recommendation was generally to purchase the enclosure and the HDD separately but we note in the past year or so prices of the "one-piece" commercial units have fallen so dramatically that you might want to consider purchasing one of those units. I would add that we prefer an enclosure that has the ON-OFF switch and accompanying LED on the front of the unit facing the user. We find that much more convenient, but this is just a personal preference. Anyway, take a look at the newegg offerings. Anna "pbl" wrote in message ... Thank you very much Anna for your detailed response. I will most likley go for a 3.5" drive for the additional speed. But I'm unfortunately having a battle with Dell at the moment about the M1530 display and because they are being terribly uncooperative they are processing a refund. This is a huge diappouintment becuase I love this new laptop except for the crappy grainy WSVGA display. I expect I will be repurchasing a similar if not the same laptop when the problem gets sorted but in the meantime I will be going back to my old WinXP laptop with a PCMCIA port. I know you can purchase PCMCIA to eSATA adapter but would this work as I recall your first bit of advice to be about laptop compatibility with SATA drives?? Regarding the Belkin card, I don't know anything special about it. It is a 54 mm card and I haven't found too many ot them. Yes the 34 mm cards will fit but not snuggly and although you can get a plastic extender for the 34 mm variety but I have not had much success with them. Thanks again for your help. pbl. pbl: Sorry to hear about your not-so-good experience with the Dell XPS M1530. I haven't worked with that machine but I noticed it has garnered favorable reviews by & large. Ironically (at least from your experience) one of features of that laptop the reviewers particularly liked was the screen display. One never knows, does one? BTW, as you probably know Dell has come out with a larger (17" screen) version - the XPS M1730. Haven't seen or used one myself but a friend tells me that one of his friends (having a primary interest in gaming) has one and virtually swoons over it. But it's expensive - in the $4,000 range I believe. As long as you're going back (at least in the meantime) to a CardBus-equipped laptop or notebook you can use a CardBus (PCMCIA) card with either a SATA or eSATA port. Most of them actually come with two ports - generally eSATA, but as a practical matter it really doesn't matter whether they're SATA or eSATA ports. eSATA is considered a more secure type of data-cable connection and usually the SATA data cable equipped with an eSATA connector is more heavily shielded than the usual SATA connector data cable. So all things considered, I suppose the eSATA port equipped CardBus would be the one to go with, especially since there's really no significant price differential involved based on the last time I checked. Take a look at... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...port&x=19&y=32 and you can also do a Google search on "CardBus with SATA port". Understand - as I previously mentioned - that you will not be able to boot from a SATA HDD (containing a potentially bootable OS) connected to the CardBus device, regardless of whether it has a SATA or eSATA port. At least we were never able to achieve that capability with a number of different makes & models of CardBus SATA cards that we used. As you've indicated I guess that's not an important consideration for you but it is a capability we're particularly interested in so that a comprehensive backup system would be available to a laptop/notebook in a relatively simple & straightforward way. We're hopeful the ExpressCard devices will work out to achieve that capability. I haven't really worked to any appreciable degree with 54mm ExpressCards, although the few times we used a 34mm ExpressCard inserted in the 54mm ExpressCard module we didn't experience any problems. I believe there are adapters now available that allow a CardBus-PCMCIA card to be used in an ExpressCard module but I've had no experience with them. But that is not what you were referring to as an "extender", were you? What would be the function of the plastic extender you mentioned for 34mm ExpressCards. They provide a more secure fit inside the 54mm module? And have you actually used the Belkin ExpressCard? For what purpose? Anna |
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eSATA Drive Question
As Anna says, you will not have a bootable external drive but you will have
a fast external drive. The throughput will be six times usb or firewire, so go for it. "Anna" wrote in message ... "pbl" wrote in message ... "pbl" wrote in message news:O7GdnX4gPtmzW4PVnZ2dnUVZ_uCdnZ2d@internode... I need to get a new external HDD for my laptop and I'm thinking of getting an eSATA drive. My question is this: Can any HDD be turned into an eSATA drive by housing it an enclosure which has an eSATA port or is there something special about SATA drives? I'm not sure whether I should buy an already enclosed SATA or buy the HDD and the enclosure separately (cheaper option). Thanks for your help. --- Thanks very much Jeff, Anna, Robert, Collin & Bill for your replies. Just for clarification - I have a Dell XPS M1530. It has an internal 200 GB 7200 RPM SATA drive but it does not not have an eSATA. I have an ExpressCard/54 slot. It will fit a 34 mm ExpressCard but it doesn't feel secure. There are a few 54mm eSATA II ExpressCards including a Belkin model. For speed and size I am after a 3.5" drive and using it in my computer would not be an option. I need to write/record music in real time via a firewire audio interface and prefer to get it away from my system drive. At present I have this USB drive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...sbs_ce_title_4 but unfortunately it is really SLOW and is only useful for backing up. Thanks for the heads-up on the ANTEC cooled enclosure. If anyone has a suggestion for a 3.5" SATA drive to go with it I am all ears. "Anna" wrote in message ... pbl: First of all, I think you are wise to consider an external enclosure to house a SATA HDD that provides SATA-to-SATA connectivity to your laptop via the ExpressCard slot. And since your ExpressCard slot is the 54mm variety it will, as you know, accommodate the 34mm variety of ExpressCards as well. Virtually all SATA external enclosures on the market today are equipped with an eSATA port. And most of these external enclosures also are equipped with a USB interface as well. The beauty of having SATA-to-SATA connectivity is really twofold... 1. Data transfer will be considerably speedier than the USB interface. Significantly so since for all practical purposes the system treats the SATA HDD (even while it's "external" to the system) as an internal HDD. 2. The external SATA HDD is potentially bootable, assuming that (for example) you cloned the contents of your internal (boot) HDD to the external SATA HDD through a disk-cloning program, e.g., Acronis True Image, Symantec's Ghost, or our favorite, Casper 4. From your description of your objective as to how you'll be using the external SATA HDD I realize you're not particularly interested in that drive being potentially bootable, but it is an important element for you to consider possibly for the future. At least in theory, an ExpressCard with an eSATA port should serve as a bootable device. So far our experience with a few of them has been erratic. In one case (an Addonics card) we could consistently boot with a connected SATA HDD. In two other cards we could not do so (at least on a consistent basis). I have to add that I've only worked with the 34mm variety of ExpressCards in this area and *not* any 54mm card. I would be *most* interested in your experience with your Dell so if you do go that route I would be really appreciative of learning of your experience, particularly the "bootability" aspect. Have you heard anything particular about the Belkin card you mention? BTW, for others who might be interested, our experience with the older CardBus (PCMCIA) cards equipped with a SATA or eSATA port led us to conclude that these devices did *not* provide boot capability although they were quite useful in terms of fast data transfer. Incidentally, unless you're dead-set on using an external SATA HDD as a storage device and not a bootable device, you may want to consider a SATA external enclosure that accommodates a 2 1/2" SATA HDD rather than a 3 1/2" drive. The advantage here is that should the need ever arise where for one reason or another you wanted to replace your laptop's internal HDD, you could use the SATA HDD installed in the external enclosure. Again, we're assuming it would be a bootable device. There might be, however, a slight decrease in data transfer speed re the external SATA HDD as compared with a 3 1/2" HDD, so if your primary or exclusive interest is using the external HDD as a storage device, then the 3 1/2" drive would be more appropriate for your needs. I really don't have any special recommendations for a SATA external enclosure. We've worked with a few of them (having both SATA or eSATA ports) and they've all pretty well done the job. Heretofore our recommendation was generally to purchase the enclosure and the HDD separately but we note in the past year or so prices of the "one-piece" commercial units have fallen so dramatically that you might want to consider purchasing one of those units. I would add that we prefer an enclosure that has the ON-OFF switch and accompanying LED on the front of the unit facing the user. We find that much more convenient, but this is just a personal preference. Anyway, take a look at the newegg offerings. Anna "pbl" wrote in message ... Thank you very much Anna for your detailed response. I will most likley go for a 3.5" drive for the additional speed. But I'm unfortunately having a battle with Dell at the moment about the M1530 display and because they are being terribly uncooperative they are processing a refund. This is a huge diappouintment becuase I love this new laptop except for the crappy grainy WSVGA display. I expect I will be repurchasing a similar if not the same laptop when the problem gets sorted but in the meantime I will be going back to my old WinXP laptop with a PCMCIA port. I know you can purchase PCMCIA to eSATA adapter but would this work as I recall your first bit of advice to be about laptop compatibility with SATA drives?? Regarding the Belkin card, I don't know anything special about it. It is a 54 mm card and I haven't found too many ot them. Yes the 34 mm cards will fit but not snuggly and although you can get a plastic extender for the 34 mm variety but I have not had much success with them. Thanks again for your help. pbl. pbl: Sorry to hear about your not-so-good experience with the Dell XPS M1530. I haven't worked with that machine but I noticed it has garnered favorable reviews by & large. Ironically (at least from your experience) one of features of that laptop the reviewers particularly liked was the screen display. One never knows, does one? BTW, as you probably know Dell has come out with a larger (17" screen) version - the XPS M1730. Haven't seen or used one myself but a friend tells me that one of his friends (having a primary interest in gaming) has one and virtually swoons over it. But it's expensive - in the $4,000 range I believe. As long as you're going back (at least in the meantime) to a CardBus-equipped laptop or notebook you can use a CardBus (PCMCIA) card with either a SATA or eSATA port. Most of them actually come with two ports - generally eSATA, but as a practical matter it really doesn't matter whether they're SATA or eSATA ports. eSATA is considered a more secure type of data-cable connection and usually the SATA data cable equipped with an eSATA connector is more heavily shielded than the usual SATA connector data cable. So all things considered, I suppose the eSATA port equipped CardBus would be the one to go with, especially since there's really no significant price differential involved based on the last time I checked. Take a look at... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...port&x=19&y=32 and you can also do a Google search on "CardBus with SATA port". Understand - as I previously mentioned - that you will not be able to boot from a SATA HDD (containing a potentially bootable OS) connected to the CardBus device, regardless of whether it has a SATA or eSATA port. At least we were never able to achieve that capability with a number of different makes & models of CardBus SATA cards that we used. As you've indicated I guess that's not an important consideration for you but it is a capability we're particularly interested in so that a comprehensive backup system would be available to a laptop/notebook in a relatively simple & straightforward way. We're hopeful the ExpressCard devices will work out to achieve that capability. I haven't really worked to any appreciable degree with 54mm ExpressCards, although the few times we used a 34mm ExpressCard inserted in the 54mm ExpressCard module we didn't experience any problems. I believe there are adapters now available that allow a CardBus-PCMCIA card to be used in an ExpressCard module but I've had no experience with them. But that is not what you were referring to as an "extender", were you? What would be the function of the plastic extender you mentioned for 34mm ExpressCards. They provide a more secure fit inside the 54mm module? And have you actually used the Belkin ExpressCard? For what purpose? Anna |