Some questions about eSATA.

[Azureth]

I don't totally understand eSATA all that well, so I'd like some questions answered:

1. With eSATA can I plug any SATA device in? Like a SATA HDD?
2. Can you plug it in while your computer is on like USB?
3. Are there any special eSATA devices?
4. On my computer case I have a eSATA port on the top, do I just need to plug the cable for it in the case in any SATA port?

Thanks!

 

[vsboxerboy]

IIRC you want to set your computer to use AHCI which supports hot swapping of disks so that you can add/eject devices like SATA HDDs just like a USB stick. Because of this, you want to plug the eSATA connection into a SATA port that supports AHCI, if they all do (or none of them do) then it doesn't matter which you choose. I believe your mobo supports AHCI but am not 100% positive but do note that switching to AHCI may not play nicely with your existing windows installation - it's something that you should ideally enable before installing your OS.

"special" esata devices? They have flash drives that have an eSATA port instead of a USB connection...but any SATA HDD should be compatible with eSATA - definitely any SATA II device.

 

[engiNURD]

Yah... what boxer said. AHCI is enabled in the BIOS. If your OS was not installed with it enabled, you have a lot of work ahead of you if you'd like to enable it. Google for the procedure.

 

[450]

I don't totally understand eSATA all that well, so I'd like some questions answered:

1. With eSATA can I plug any SATA device in? Like a SATA HDD?
2. Can you plug it in while your computer is on like USB?
3. Are there any special eSATA devices?
4. On my computer case I have a eSATA port on the top, do I just need to plug the cable for it in the case in any SATA port?

Thanks!

1. For the SATA HDD I suggest getting an eSATA enclosure, since you'd need to get both an eSATA to SATA cable and a way to get SATA power outside of your case.
2. Yes, only when BIOS is set to AHCI. If OS is already installed and its in ATA mode then IIRC you'd need to reinstall the OS while BIOS is in AHCI.
3. ??? To the best of my knowledge there aren't any special devices. What do you mean by this?
4. Yep. Any SATA port will do!

EDIT: ... I totally missed that there was 2 other posts in this thread. My bad.

 

[Biskquik]

It's slightly easier to get AHCI working post install with Vista over XP because Vista does have a native AHCI driver but it's not enabled unless you have AHCI running during the vista install process.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

Not to thread jack, but is it possible to install Intel Storage Matrix AHCI drivers over the MS AHCI drivers with no conflicts? I've just been using a flash drive with the extracted drivers and doing a load driver during vista installs. I think it'd just be easier to have the generic drivers in then download the latest ones from Intel and run the executable.