[WhydoIask?]

I have a problem with connecting a SATA drive to my computer. I have an adapter for my laptop that I believe should allow me to connect my SATA drive to the eSATA port on my laptop, when coupled with the power adapter from a SATA to usb adapter kit (which has worked for me in the past with the same drives I'm trying to hook up now, with the same computer.) The problem is that this approach doesn't work. I'm sort of confused as to why it won't work. I've seen an adapter that looks like it pulls power through the eSATA port, but it apparently needs a corresponding PCIe card that wouldn't be able to hook up to my laptop. There is also apparently a type of port that is called eSATAp, which is supposed to be an eSATA port with the ability to give extra power to the drive you connect. Unfortunately, I only have normal eSATA, and I can't even be certain if that port works, because it it the only port of that type I have access to, although I busted my but finding the right drivers for it, so I hope it's not that. To put it simply: assuming my eSATA port works, why can't my computer "see" my SATA drives when I hook them up to my computer via eSATA, and if I have the wrong cable, which one(s) do I need?

Any insight would clear up my confusion.

Thanks.

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I hate to bump my own topics, but I need some help with this one.

Thanks.

[WhydoIask?]

I hate to bump my own topics, but I need some help with this one.

Thanks.

[rshaffer61]

I am sorry for your topic being missed but we will try to help now. Is the external drive in a external enclosure or are you trying to hook directly to the drive itself?

[WhydoIask?]

Thank you, I understand that sometimes people overlook a topic, it's happened to me before.

I'm plugging the drive directly into my computer. I have a RAID enclosure, but it only accessible through a network port, and I need faster speeds than that.

[rshaffer61]

Can you tell is the external drive spinning up?

[WhydoIask?]

yes, the drive is on and running when I attempt to connect.

[rshaffer61]

Any error message when you attach it?

[WhydoIask?]

no, no messages at all, like I never hooked it up. My original posts says that I might need some special card or cable, but I don;t know if that's true or not.

[rshaffer61]

Power and then a sata cable to connect it to the system.
Does your laptop have sata and esata connectors on the outside?

[WhydoIask?]

Yes, I power on the drive, then I connect a cable with a SATA plug on one end (for the drive,) and eSATA on the other (I have an eSATA port on my laptop.)
I've done it like that from the beginning.

[rshaffer61]

I would say a defective cable then if the system is not even giving you notice that a new device has been connected.

[WhydoIask?]

I wish I could test the cable, but my laptop is the only computer in my house with an eSATA port. I guess I can buy a few different brands to see if that's true

I've heard that plugging in a SATA drive into an eSATA port just doesn't work in general. Is that true?

[rshaffer61]

Nope cause all Esata is
External Sata port hence the name Esata. The port works the same as the internal ports on the mobo and in fact the Esata port is connected to a port on the mobo.

[WhydoIask?]

Ok. I should also mention that my laptop is an ASUS, and it took at least 3 hours to find what appeared to be the eSATA drivers, because the port was disabled by default.

[rshaffer61]

WOW that is unusual as they should be controlled in the bios so it should just be to enable them. Strange they were not included with the system brand new.