My external enclosure arrived today. A Vantec NexStar 3 with USB and SATA outlets. I fitted a SATA HD, plugged into the motherboard via eSATA cable, enabled that SATA port in the BIOS and the HD was noted in the BIOS. From a Partition Magic boot CD I partitioned the HD. My three HD's were showing in PM. I booted to Windows and the external HD wasn't present in My Computer, PM or Disk Management. I tried different SATA ports on the motherboard but I can't get it to show in Windows.

If I use the USB outlet on the enclosure, the HD does show in Windows. It's just the SATA outlet I can't get working.

I hope there is an easy solution.

Sounds like Windows just isn't seeing that SATA port.  I don't have much experience with that, but I would start by updating the chipset drivers for your motherboard and see if you can find an updated SATA controller driver.

MrMagoo, brilliant. I just upgraded my controller driver to Intel Matrix Manager 5.5.0.1035, released in January. Rebooted, found new hardware message, and there is the HD.

Just before I read your reply I booted into BartPE and the HD was seen in BartPE. In retrospect I'm using 5.5.0.1035 drivers in BartPE.

Thank you.

Brian, you have one of the first external SATA hard drive enclosures I've read about.  Any idea yet whether Ghost 9 or 10 sees your external drive with the Recovery Environment boot cd?

Brian wrote on Feb 20^th, 2006 at 8:08am:

MrMagoo, brilliant. I just upgraded my controller driver to Intel Matrix Manager 5.5.0.1035, released in January. Rebooted, found new hardware message, and there is the HD.

Glad I could help.  Have you done any benchmarking to see what kind of transfer rates you are getting on that thing?

John, El_Pescador told me about them. He seems to have been using one (?more than one) for ages.

I booted to my Ghost 9 CD and the external HD wasn't seen in the RE. I booted to the Ghost 9 CD and this time used a floppy with the latest Intel drivers (5.5.0.1035). The external HD was now seen from the RE.

It's interesting as this HD was my primary internal HD yesterday. I bought a 320 GB SATA2 HD which is now my primary internal HD. I have a second internal HD as well, same as yesterday.


MrMagoo, benchmarking on the external HD is the same as when it was an internal HD (HDTune 2.52). Real world testing showed 40 MB/sec transfer (transferring a 2000 MB file from internal to external HD).

One aspect that concerns me is the computer freezes after transferring 3 to 4 GB to the external HD while in SATA mode. This has happened several times and I have to press the power button to shut down. If I run the HD in USB mode there are no problems. I have the latest chipset and controller drivers but the computer still freezes after transferring a few GB.

Brian wrote on Feb 20^th, 2006 at 4:47pm:

One aspect that concerns me is the computer freezes after transferring 3 to 4 GB to the external HD while in SATA mode. This has happened several times and I have to press the power button to shut down. If I run the HD in USB mode there are no problems. I have the latest chipset and controller drivers but the computer still freezes after transferring a few GB.

That's a tricky one.  DMA is the only thing I can think of that might be the culprit, and I don't even know where to tell you to start.

The error message is "Windows - Delayed Write Failed".

There is a lot in Google about this error but not really helpful so far. I tried earlier SATA drivers but they didn't help.

El_Pescador,

Any thoughts on this situation. You got me into it.

Brian wrote on Feb 20^th, 2006 at 9:40pm:

The error message is "Windows - Delayed Write Failed". There is a lot in Google about this error but not really helpful so far. I tried earlier SATA drivers but they didn't help.

Brian, have you looked or seen any errors in the System or Application Event Log around the same time?

How about this:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321733

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/293842/en-us

Any references to MRxSmb in the event logs?

I understand there can be many causes, but I once resolved a MrxSmb event id problem by installing Microsoft KB884020 fix.

http://www.tangent-systems.com/support/delayedwrite.html

Click on download link in this document for fix:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884020/en-us

Brian wrote on Mar 1^st, 2006 at 4:46pm:

"... El_Pescador, Any thoughts on this situation.  You got me into it..."

Nary a clue.  Regrettably, I am pretty much on the sidelines for with the exception of a Dell Dimension 8100 coupled to an external Iomega 80GB USB HDD, all of my remaining gear - those items not ruined by Katrina's floodwaters, I might add - resides in "deep mothballs" to escape the incredibly pervasive dust associated with renovating a "slab-on-grade" gutted house.

EP :'(

I tried it again. My first test was to copy 3909 MB of MP3s. It took 84 seconds so that’s 47 MB/sec and not bad. But when I tried to copy a large image to the ext HD, the computer froze after around 2 GB and had to be powered off. There was no error message this time, just a freeze. I tried twice more with the large image and it froze, again without an error message. So maybe it can accept multiple 4 MB files but not multi GB files. I didn’t try again with the MP3’s. There were no errors in the Event Viewer.

John, I looked at your links but they seem to be referring to a networked server situation. I tried the registry change to disable SMB signing in a Workstation but it didn’t help. The other registry settings suggested were what I had already.


EP, I’m sorry to hear that you are still a long way from the comfort you enjoyed in the past. I miss your posts and I have no intention of having more external enclosures than you.


I’ll use my enclosure in USB mode. At least I have an enclosure that holds a SATA HD so that is useful. Actually using mine in SATA mode is more time consuming than USB mode. Because I only connect it once or twice a week I have the SATA port OFF in the BIOS otherwise I have to press F1 with every boot to accept the error of not finding a device. So to use SATA I have to shutdown, enable the port in the BIOS and then boot back into Windows. USB connection can be done without shutting down so even though USB transfer is only half the speed of SATA the copy operation is probably shorter with USB. At least that is my rationalization.

Quote:

John, I looked at your links but they seem to be referring to a networked server situation. I tried the registry change to disable SMB signing in a Workstation but it didn’t help. The other registry settings suggested were what I had already.

Yes, the links/case I referred to related to delayed write and network errors during high throughput.

However, I had a similar problem on my home desktop pc with the motherboard USB interface.  Similar problems with delayed write and other problems copying large files via USB to external USB2 hard drive.

I resolved it by buying a separate PCI card that has 4 USB2 ports on it.  Never had another problem after that.

Yours sounds like some SATA hardware bridge problem or software problem with the bridge interface between XP and the SATA bridge.

Do you have native SATA controller on your motherboard or are you using a PCI card - SATA controller card?

I have four SATA ports on the motherboard.

El_Pescador said that Windows treats external SATA drives as internal (probably quoting him out of context). But there is something different with this eSATA connection as it required ver 5 Intel drivers to see the external SATA HD. The internal HD's were seen with ver 4 drivers.

EP, do you use eSATA connections?

Brian wrote on Mar 1^st, 2006 at 9:35pm:

"... EP, do you use eSATA connections?..."

I use conventional (SATA 150) SATA connectors everywhere.  My Dell Dimension 8100 desktop has a PCI-to-SATA card while my Dell Dimension 8300 has two non-RAID SATA ports on the motherboard.

As an aside, I have experienced "freezes" with Norton Ghost 2003 performing "disk-to-image" Backups to USB 2.0 external enclosure kits.  Typically, these would occur as either the second or third spanned image was completed only to typically leave six to eight spanned images undone.

EP :'(

I'll bet that if I had conventional SATA connectors that I wouldn't have a problem. Alas, the enclosure has an eSATA plug.

http://www.sata-io.org/esata.asp

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=15876

Brian wrote on Mar 1^st, 2006 at 10:10pm:

"... I'll bet that if I had conventional SATA connectors that I wouldn't have a problem. Alas, the enclosure has an eSATA plug..."

A while back I temporarily mounted a 120GB Maxtor SATA HDD in a Bytecc ME-320U2 USB enclosure kit and routed a 36-inch conventional SATA cable directly from the SATA HDD to: (1) the SATA port on the motherboard of my Dell Dimension 8300; and (2) later on, to the PCI-to-SATA adapter card of my Dell Dimension 8100.  The SATA HDD was receiving power from the external enclosure via a MOLEX-to-SATA converter harness, and in both instances flawlessly behaved as if it were an internal HDD, i.e., no host/bridge/device controller headaches.

CLICK HERE to view commentary on "midstream freezes" with Ghost 2003 using USB 2.0 external HDD enclosure kits.  Do note that modest size tasks (less than 4GB, i.e., no more than two spanned images) were frequently successful, but full-scale "disk-to-image" undertakings would consistently fail.

EP :'(

It's interesting that your occasional freezes have been with USB and my frequent freezes are with SATA. Neither of my enclosures have had a problem with USB.

I'm giving up on SATA for the time being and I'll use USB mode. As I've indicated, the job probably completes in a shorter time for me with USB.

Brian wrote on Mar 1^st, 2006 at 10:10pm:

"... I'll bet that if I had conventional SATA connectors that I wouldn't have a problem..."

Brian wrote on Mar 1^st, 2006 at 11:10pm:

"... I'm giving up on SATA for the time being..."

As a temporary measure - proof of concept and all that - can you bypass (much as I did above) the eSATA connectors and rig exclusively with conventional SATA connectors between your external SATA HDD and your SATA ports?  It would be very fascinating to either absolve or else vindicate the eSATA architecture in your particular case.

EP :'(

EP, I just had a look and the data cables aren't long enough to protude through the rear of my case. I planned to use the data cable from the second HD. I don't want to run the computer for a prolonged period with the case open.

There are eSATA plugs on the rear of the enclosure and the rear of the computer. I'd planned on removing the HD from the enclosure and connect it to the data cable from the motherboard.

Your suggestion should work as the HD in the enclosure was my primary HD last week.

The external power supply is another variable but it does work fine when I'm running in USB mode. Something is different about eSATA as it requires updated drivers from what I was using.

Vantec is ignoring my email messages for support.

Brian wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2006 at 7:33pm:

"... I don't want to run the computer for a prolonged period with the case open..."

A rational stance, indeed - but do consider the plausible demystification of this matter by operating just long enough with both external enclosure and PC case open so as to either exonerate or condemn the eSATA hookup.

EP :'(

I'll buy a longer cable.

EP,

This image shows the enclosure connection.

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/Vantec%20Nexstar%203/

So I can't run a SATA cable from my HD to the motherboard and use external power. It's pointless to run an internal data cable and internal power because that's how it was last week while it was working. We still don't know if the problem is eSATA or the Power Supply but I think I have an eSATA incompatability.

Brian wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2006 at 9:33pm:

"... So I can't run a SATA cable from my HD to the motherboard and use external power..."

[glb]DRAT !!![/glb]EP :'(

What I might do later, when I get bored, is buy a longer SATA data cable and a power cord extender. The final power plug can be either SATA type or Molex from what I can see. Then I can just have the HD sitting on the table (I'll be careful not to move it) and have it in SATA mode. I only connect external HD's to copy data then I disconnect them.

Does that sound reasonable? Any cooling problems likely?

Brian wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2006 at 1:04am:

"... Does that sound reasonable? Any cooling problems likely?..."

I would think that staying up just long enough to ascertain whether or not eSATA is at fault should prove safe enough.

EP :'(

Now it works perfectly.

Two months ago I sent my Dell 8400 away for a warranty repair. Dell rang to say that the plastic exterior case was damaged in transit but they would replace the case when they found a spare. They couldn't find a case as the 8400 is a discontinued model so they swapped my computer for a new Dell 9150. I'm very pleased with the new computer and with Dell's approach.

The eSATA II enclosure no longer locks the computer with large file transfers. I copied a 15 GB image file to the external HD in 5 minutes. I copied another 60 GB of data files to the external HD while watching the HD temperature. The maximum temperature was 41° C which was comparable to the internal HD temperatures.

So the previous problem was related to incompatibility.