Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Digital Image Processing => Topic started by: Kirk Gittings on October 20, 2010, 11:47:21 am
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When I plug in an external USB2 drive my computer recognizes it immediately. When I plug in an external ESATA drive in an enclosure, it won't recognize it unless I run a scan for new hardware. If I plug in an external ESATA drive into a Thermaltake Dock it won't recognize it unless I reboot the computer. This was not an issue with XP but has been an issue with Vista and now Windows 7 64 bit. The drivers for the ESATA ports and drives and docks and motherboard etc. have all been updated.
Any thoughts?
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Same thing on my Win7 machine as well. I only use the eSATA drive for the weekly back up and plug it in prior to starting the computer in the morning. Not sure why this should be the case but for my purpose it really doesn't cause me any heartburn.
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Thanks, my trouble is I need to switch a few times a day and it is just a mild PITA.
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Go into the BIOS setup on your computer, and make sure that the SATA controller for the E-SATA port is in AHCI mode. AHCI is require for hot-swapping SATA drives.
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I am familiar with this. But I have read in many places on the web that the ACHI switch must be set before installing the OS and can't be done after. It makes me wary of fooling with this.
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I am familiar with this. But I have read in many places on the web that the ACHI switch must be set before installing the OS and can't be done after. It makes me wary of fooling with this.
I don't recall ever having a problem with this, I've even swapped out motherboards without re-installing Windows and these days the plug-n-play is good enough that it usually won't cause any problems.
Changing the AHCI setting on the same controller that your system/boot drive is on my carry some risk (although I really doubt it). But with most modern motherboards, any eSATA port is likely to be part of a secondary SATA controller that is separate from the one integrated into the chipset. In that case I don't think there would be any risk at all.
Without AHCI you're probably going to be stuck with no hot-swap capability, at least that's been my experience with several motherboards using Vista and Win7 over the last few years.
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Hi, you could read about how to do the post-install AHCI change here: http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/
Essentially you have to tell windows to not use any particular driver, so when it boots the next time, it installs the appropriate one for AHCI.
best regards, Darcy
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Wow! With all the searches I've done on this topic I never saw this site. I am not a computer expert-just a working photographer trying to make my tools work a little better.
Jeff does this procedure look right?
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Yeah that's straight from Microsoft so it should be safe. If you're not comfortable editing the registry that Microsoft Support page (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976) has a link to an MSI that will do the change for you automatically (the Fix It button).
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Oddly, wanting to make sure I know what I am doing before I start any of this, I cannot find any way in the BIOS to enable ACHI?
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Any luck? Without knowing your motherboard and BIOS version, it is hard to offer any specific guidance...
best regards, Darcy
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Sure its a Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3LR motherboard and Bios V6.00PG (?).
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From:
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3487#manual
See page 50:
SATA RAID/AHCI Mode (Intel ICH10R Southbridge)
>Set to AHCI
hth - John
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Just chedked, my Gigabyte mobo has the SATA settings under the "Integrated Peripherals" section. There is a separate AHCI setting for the integrated Intel controller, as well as any secondary controller - which probably is what controls the eSATA port, unless the eSATA port has its own controller and setting (which yours may if the secondary controller as an SATA-3 controller).