Dell :: XPS 13 ESATA
May 23, 2009Can the eSATA port be used with regular USB devices? Seems as it doesn't fit correctly.
View 5 RepliesCan the eSATA port be used with regular USB devices? Seems as it doesn't fit correctly.
View 5 RepliesHere's my story and, let's say, my analysis:
I bought a generic 2 HD sata2 RAID1 enclosure based on the chipset Silicon Image SteelVine 5744. It can be used in USB or eSATA2. This embedded chipset (named SiL5744) is known (understand "claimed") to auto-handle Sata I/II and host sata2 controllers that not support the port multiplier feature. The HD are two Samsung F1 1To. There's no jumper to rollback to SATA 1.5Go on them, you can only do it by flashing the HD's bios, however we don't need to do it as I wrote just before, the SiL5744 supports SATA 3Go natively.
The enclosure works pretty well with USB, but *not* in eSATA : the E6500 freezes/hangs just after the POST step (a potential driver issue with the installed vista 64bits is not the reason then). As soon has I disconnect the eSATA cable, the system recovers and continues as normal.
What I've tried/done so far :
Both E6500's BIOS SATA mode AHCI and IRRT mode were tested,
Intel Matrix driver and software was updated to the latest 8.7.0.1007 version (AHCI and IRRT),
The SiL5744 chip was upgraded to its latest firmware as well (in case of...)
In order to verify the esata cable, the HDs and the enclosure itself, I succeed to :
- Use the enclosure's RAID1 feature when using the USB connection, I could partition,format, and read/write on the logical volume
- directly connect *one* HD (Samsung F1 1To) to the E6500's esata port -(I have a sata2esata cable), Vista installed it and I was able to use it as normal, even the hotswap feature seemed to work fine (I unkindly removed it). I could so test both HD individually this way... On the enclosure hardware side, everything looks fine then.
An IMPORTANT thing : The E6500's ICH8/9-M sata host controller seems to support the Port Multiplier feature *ONLY* on sata port 0 -as a bubble message from the Intel Matrix soft sometimes shows up-, but this is exactly where the internal HD is plugged on the motherboard I found nowhere you can change the internal sata port ID (switch,bios,ect...). I think this is the key of the problem that seems to be a dumb port conflict, because the esata port is in fact the port sata 4 (the DVDRW drive is sata 1, dock's esata is 5 for instance). If somebody knows how to swap the sata port ID, I think I won't be toasted !
I'm getting about 15-20MB/s (transfer speed) transfering files from my Lacie d2 Quadra(eSATA 3 Gbits port) to my M4400 with Vista 32Bit thought eSATA port.
eSATA port has 3 Gbit/s bandwidth, so I wouldn't get about 300-375 MB/s transfering data?
i can't get my xps 435 mt (running vista 64 home premium) to recognise my new seagate back armour 2tb drive via eSATA. The drive works fine with USB connection, but is not recognised via eSATA. In BIOS the drive doesn't appear in the list of drives under eSATA either.
I searched and found a similar post but it was someone with RAID setup and the solution there doesn't work for me. Checking for relevant 435mt updates on the dell site - I can't update intel matrix storage manager r205899, as you need to be set as RAID in the BIOS for it to work. When I install r205900, it installs some files, but nothing happens.
I have looked for driver or firmware updates for my eSATA drive on the seagate site - nothing there either. Can't think of what else to try... Dell support will charge to help me since I'm out of warranty (even though it's highly likely to be an issue with the eSATA since I got my system).
I have a Rosewill ext. enclosure and I cannot get the laptop to recognize the drive unless I reboot the laptop with the drive on.
However I am able to simply plug this drive into my desktop and turn on with no problem recognizing it.
I'm just wondering, does the XPS16 support swappable eSata?
I have recently been debating whether or not to buy this eSata express card for the external HD I'm buying for my m1530:
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...D&body=QA#tabs
I was all set until I read about people having problems fitting the cards properly into their m1530s, so now I'm debating whether or not to buy one
In particular pay attention to the port on the bottom. This is an "eSATA" port, correct? Now for the crazy question of mine: Is this eSATA port compatible with a male usb connector? I'm pretty sure it isn't, but would like to confirm before I try and destroy something
View 10 Replies View RelatedIs it possible to connect more than one eSATA device to the external eSATA port?
<wishes that Dell had a user guide for their flagship product>
I just realized that the port on the right side of this laptop that I typically use as USB also doubles as an ESATA port. I have a 1TB external that supports eSATA but didn't come with a cable *sigh*.
Can a normal 5400 RPM 2.5" laptop HDD even reach speeds that make it worthwhile to use eSATA instead of USB? Or am I just better off using the drive over USB and living with the slow speeds?
What is this exactly? I'm planning on buying an external enclosure for my spare 3,5" SATA HDD, and I'd like to get one that uses the eSata interface.
Now I heard these need seperate power supplies sometimes..
Is this reasonable? Please see HDTune screenshot.
View 4 Replies View RelatedIt is possible to make new eSata enter in XPS 1530?
View 10 Replies View RelatedDell Support said this feature is not supported by them however its there feature (What) anyways can some one tell me that has it working on a XPS 1640 how it is set in the BIOS and what else I need to try to get it to work.....
View 10 Replies View RelatedI have a Dell M6400 running Windows 7 64-bit.
I also have an external My Book 500 GB with triple connectivity (Firewire, USB and eSATA).
When I connect this external HD with the eSATA cable on my M6400 while running XP 32-bit it works perfectly.
Attempting to do the same thing while running windows 7 64-bit will typically result in file transfer hanging somewhere in the middle (this also hang windows explorer). I then have to disconnect the eSATA cable to resume windows operation.
The USB mode works fine, but the Firewire seem to have to same issue than the eSATA.
I am wondering if anybody else is having similar issue and / or anybody has any idea(s) as to how to fix this.
I can use the USB, but I frequently have to transfer virtual machine back and forth so I could definitively benefit from the eSATA improve transfer rate.
I run the HD Controller in AHCI mode
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Dell M6400
Intel Core 2 Quad - 2530
4 GB Memory
2 HD (1 Patriot TorqX 128 GB and one Seagate Momentus 320GB)
BIOS: A07
I just received a WD 1TB hard drive and a Icy Dock enclosure. I close my M2400, plug the HD, reboot, and I don't see the HD.
I don't think I can see the hard drive in the bios either, but I don't know the bios a lot, maybe I'm not looking at the correct place.
My bios has "IRRT" for the "Sata Operation" section, I run Windows XP that has been installed with the sata drivers slipped on the installation disk.
just wondering what the specifications were of the eSATA port on the Studio XPS 1645?
Is it 1.5 or 3.0? also what is the max transfer speed anyone has seen using the eSATA port?
Im looking to buy a Western Digital My Book Studio Edition 2TB External Hard Drive -which can connect via USB, Firewire 400 or 800, or eSata.
Ive chosen this drive since I want to enable the RAID 1 (Mirroring) for automatic backup, which will be priceless for my photos/videos of my children!
If I purchase the drive and also purchase a eSata express card for my Latitude D620, will the transfer speeds be faster then USB2 - or will the fact that the eSata connection is through a express card, rather then being internal, hinder the speed ....
I pugged a drive into mine for the first time last night (after I figured out that you have to plug in both the eSata and the USB cable for power.)
View 7 Replies View RelatedI am having a problem with data transfer via eSATA port on my laptop.
Having read many posts on issues with this relatively new interface I contacted Dell and was assured that they were addressed in the new bois.
So I went ahead and purchased a drive with this in mind , but it does not allow data transfer from the computer to the drive ( it will go about 30%-50% of file@29-70 mbps then just stall and the drive disappears.)
Has anyone successfully used the esata port on their 1557.
I have an esata/usb backup external drive and can not get the esata port to work.
USB 2.0 is slow for a back up drive and moving data.
My Studio 17 has a dedicated eSata port which moves data at 3.0GB/sec. Now I would like an SSD drive, with an eSata enclosure. So I can rapidly hookup, back up and go.
Any ideas of what I need or how to go about this.?
Has anyone successfully charged an iPod (Touch, specifically) via the Powershare USB port, while the laptop was turned off. When I plugged my iPod Touch, it powers on but doesn't charge.
The manual that comes with the SXPS says some devices won't charge and some will.
Does anyone have ESATA working fully on this laptop at 3.0gbps? I thought I did but it turned out it would only work for small file transfers. Anything more than a few hundred MB would cause disk I/O errors.
I know that per the old ESATA thread Studio XPS 13, eSATA doesn't work most users worked around this problem by setting the enclosure or disk drive to limit the speed to 1.5gbps.
But I currently have an external mobile disk that doesn't let me jumper the limit (the western digital scorpio black wd3200bekt).
I contacted dell support on this a couple times now but they have no information.
Contrast this to Apple who just had an SATA speed problem with this very same chipset in their macbooks and they fixed it in about a week after the news broke: ...
Yeah so my brand new E4200. Went to install Ubuntu on it. Voila the Esata cable connecting to the external drive refuses to come out of the notebook.
Please tell me there is a magic button that I have to pus
Hey, I have a SXPS 1340 and I'm using a Fantom Drives GreenDrive 1TB. I have it hooked up with eSATA and I'm running Win7 x64 Professional.
When transferring files, it starts out at a healthy 90MB/s but quickly falls to 20MB/s .....
Everything works fine except eSATA. I've tested in in Windows Vista 64bit and Windows 7 64bit. Same thing in both - the computer completely freezes up when it'd usually be detecting the drive after plugging in. I'm plugging in an external HDD that works fine on my other computer.
The other computer's using XP so that could make a difference. I'm more suspecting a Dell hardware or drivers issue though. I'd be interested to know if it's a problem everyone has and Dell will maybe fix it in a year or so. They've already released a BIOS update and I've got that; no change.
Does anyone have an external drive connected via esata, ideally to a XPS 1645 but if not any other XPS 16 will do, and if so what sort of transfer speeds do you get?
I ask as I need to sort out some external storage and I was all set to get a small cheap NAS such as a Netgear Readynas Duo but from the reading I've done the transfer speeds seem pretty low even when using a gigabit network (around 24 MB/s reading and less than that writing)
I wanted to share with the forum some strange, yet interesting findings that I've come up with in the last week or so.
First, some background. I am the IT manager/senior admin for my company. I do all of the purchasing and high end tech stuff, so I get to play with a fair amount of hardware and equipment before deploying it to the company.
For the last year or so, I've owned an E4300 as my work laptop, and have been purchasing E6400's to deploy to our company. Some of our consultants have dual internal hard drives using the Newmodeus optical bay caddy, and use an esata/usb combo port to power their optical devices when they need. We also utilize the Coolmax esata/usb enclosures for external drives. All of these devices work great on our older E6400's and my E4300.
Recently, I made another order of some E6400's and 2 E6500's as a trial. No matter what I do, the Newmodeus cables (I have a hard drive one as well) will NOT work with the E6500 and 1 of our new E6400s. Occasionally, by wiggling the cable in the plug and pushing hard, I can get a device to be detected for a few seconds. I decided to have Dell come out and replace the motherboard in 1 to see if I got a defective board.
Well, that didn't help at all, so I dug a little deeper. I borrowed a colleagues Coolmax enclosure, and plugged that in. To my amazement, it worked fine. I compared the esata cables....and the Coolmax cable is ~1-2mm longer than the Newmodeus cables.
The port depth on some of these machines must be a little deeper than others, not allowing the cable to fully seat and get a good connection. I have 2 E6500's and 1 E6400 with this issue.
My next plan of attack is to use a small saw to cut a little of the plastic off the Newmodeus cables to see if I can get them to seat a little deeper. I will report back my findings. I never thought something so simple would be such a PITA.
I used to use my eSATA port every day with a few different devices. I started to have an overheating problem, so Dell replaced the motherboard and graphics card yesterday.
Of course, that means I lost all my BIOS settings. I'm pretty sure I have them back to where they should be (RAID mode on the SATA controller, eSATA port enabled), yet the eSATA port doesn't see a damned thing connected to it.
Every other piece of hardware is exactly the same as it was before. Any ideas as to what I might be missing?
I just bought a esata cable from newegg, but it doesn't seem to work with my new dv4t. It has the same transfer speed as my usb. Is there anything I can check or update a driver. And what about AHCI?
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