esata external hard-drives problem at DVinfo.net

Paul Kellett · February 28th, 2008, 12:19 PM

I,ve got 2 esata external hard-drives,one seagate,the other western digital.

I've installed esata cards on my pc,the pc sees both external drives,i can access both,edit from both but they both switch off after around 15 mins.

I've tried a pci-esata card,a pci express-esata card and a card which runs from the sata on the motherboard to an external esata plate.The shut-off happens with all the connections/cards.

However if i run the external drives via usb they're ok,the WD also has firewire and that's also ok.

I'm wondering if it's to do with vista.
Does anyone have any advice or experience of esata.

Thanks,Paul.

Paul Kellett · February 28th, 2008, 03:15 PM

Ok i may have answered my own question,re shutting of after 15mins,according to the manuals,these hard drive's shut down after 15mins,power saving or whatever,then when i try to access them,by clicking on the desktop icon or looking at the files in them they "wake up",however this only works with usb or firewire,the esata doesn't "wake them up".
Similar to a scart lead between a tv and video,when you swith on the video/dvd player,pin 21 becomes live in the scart,this then switches the tv onto the appropriate av channel.
It appears esata doesn't do this.
So my question to all you tech heads is,is it ok to connect the hard-drive(s) by the usb and esata,? Will this damage the hard-drive or pc ?
I'm thinking esata for speed,usb for "waking up"

Paul.

Colin Pearce · February 29th, 2008, 03:04 AM

Man, that's bad design. I'd be getting in touch with the manufacturer or take them back for another model. My eSATA drives do not do that.

No, you can't connect both USB and eSATA cables. Try USB, as long as you don't have much else on your USB bus. You may find its speed is enough.

Paul Kellett · February 29th, 2008, 05:37 AM

Colin.
How do your esata drives behave then ?
Do they switch off/sleep after a certain time then wake up when you try and access them ?
Both of my external drives don't work like this on esata (ok with usb and firewire) and i've got three types of esata ports,albeit fitted by myself. I'm wondering if it's something to do with vista not being able to wake them up via esata.

What operating system do you use ? What external hard drives ?

Honest answer,is esata worth all this bother,i'm editing on firewire at the moment,is the esata gonna make that much difference? My seagate is used just for storage so it doesn't really matter if it takes a while to put archived footage on it.Did you notice a difference when switching to esata from whatever you used before,firewire or usb ?
Thanks.
Paul.

Colin Pearce · March 1st, 2008, 05:30 PM

Both of them do not go into sleep mode at all (that I've noticed, in fact my Antec drive was still powered 24 hours after I turned off the computer the other day).

My eSATA port is on the motherboard. I'm running XP with SP2. One eSATA drive is a Western Digital (just used for backup), the other is a Seagate drive in an Antec case. The seagate used to be in the computer, but I was having errors, then realised that the 5 drives in the computer were probably drawing too much power for the power supply. It's all working fine now.

The eSATA drive is seamless. I seem to have just as much speed as it was internally. I edit HDV on Premiere CS3. USB can struggle with any video (SD or HD) if there's bandwidth being used for other devices. However I'm often amazed how well people do with USB drives.

Chris Soucy · March 1st, 2008, 05:53 PM

I've just checked the Seagate web site with regard to their eSATA drives.

I don't know how up to date the info there is, but there is no mention anywhere of drivers being available for the pci card interface for Windows Vista.

The only PC OS's mentioned are XP and 2000.

I haven't checked the WD site but suspect that they are the same.

I strongly suspect that this is the nub of your problem.

Untill and unless you can get your hands on Vista drivers, guess you're stuck with either Firewire or USB.

CS

Paul Kellett · March 1st, 2008, 10:17 PM

I've got the drivers not from microsoft but from the makers of the card.
Vista usually installs drivers itself,ie,switch off pc,put card in,switch on pc,icon pops up saying "installing drivers",then it's done.It also did this with my sxs card reader.
So i've got pci card and driver,pci-e card and driver and sata to esata straight from the board,no good.
I reckon it's something to do with vista and esata,not vista and the cards.
I've gave up and i'm gonna stick with firewire,everything has been sweet since i stayed with firewire.

Anyway,onto my next mod,graphics card,a good one,any suggestions ?
At the moment i've got a nvidia 8400gs,256 ram but it's struggling with HD footage. What card are other people using ?

Thanks for all your help.
Paul.

Damon Gaskin · March 2nd, 2008, 08:00 AM

Question, have you tried to go into the device and I am not sure if it's like XP, but is there a setting somewhere that allows you to disable "to save power"? I am probably not saying this correctly and I cannot remember where it is to be honest, but you may want to google it.. Oh wait! Check your bios! I remember now.. I think... LOL

And for GPU's I am using a 1950Pro 512(strong card, from what I read, one of the strongest, if not the strongest PCIe 16 card made before the switch to 2.0), but then my card/software performs better with ATI. I had a 7600 and it was ok, but this is leaps and bounds ahead...

February 28th, 2008, 12:19 PM	#1
Paul Kellett Trustee Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 1,273	esata external hard-drives problem I,ve got 2 esata external hard-drives,one seagate,the other western digital. I've installed esata cards on my pc,the pc sees both external drives,i can access both,edit from both but they both switch off after around 15 mins. I've tried a pci-esata card,a pci express-esata card and a card which runs from the sata on the motherboard to an external esata plate.The shut-off happens with all the connections/cards. However if i run the external drives via usb they're ok,the WD also has firewire and that's also ok. I'm wondering if it's to do with vista. Does anyone have any advice or experience of esata. Thanks,Paul. __________________ Round 2 GH5,FZ2000

February 28th, 2008, 03:15 PM	#2
Paul Kellett Trustee Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 1,273	Ok i may have answered my own question,re shutting of after 15mins,according to the manuals,these hard drive's shut down after 15mins,power saving or whatever,then when i try to access them,by clicking on the desktop icon or looking at the files in them they "wake up",however this only works with usb or firewire,the esata doesn't "wake them up". Similar to a scart lead between a tv and video,when you swith on the video/dvd player,pin 21 becomes live in the scart,this then switches the tv onto the appropriate av channel. It appears esata doesn't do this. So my question to all you tech heads is,is it ok to connect the hard-drive(s) by the usb and esata,? Will this damage the hard-drive or pc ? I'm thinking esata for speed,usb for "waking up" Paul. __________________ Round 2 GH5,FZ2000

February 29th, 2008, 05:37 AM	#4
Paul Kellett Trustee Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 1,273	Colin. How do your esata drives behave then ? Do they switch off/sleep after a certain time then wake up when you try and access them ? Both of my external drives don't work like this on esata (ok with usb and firewire) and i've got three types of esata ports,albeit fitted by myself. I'm wondering if it's something to do with vista not being able to wake them up via esata. What operating system do you use ? What external hard drives ? Honest answer,is esata worth all this bother,i'm editing on firewire at the moment,is the esata gonna make that much difference? My seagate is used just for storage so it doesn't really matter if it takes a while to put archived footage on it.Did you notice a difference when switching to esata from whatever you used before,firewire or usb ? Thanks. Paul. __________________ Round 2 GH5,FZ2000 Last edited by Paul Kellett; February 29th, 2008 at 06:13 AM. Reason: more info.

March 1st, 2008, 05:53 PM	#6
Chris Soucy Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Fairfield, Dunedin, New Zealand Posts: 3,691 Images: 18	Hi Paul............ I've just checked the Seagate web site with regard to their eSATA drives. I don't know how up to date the info there is, but there is no mention anywhere of drivers being available for the pci card interface for Windows Vista. The only PC OS's mentioned are XP and 2000. I haven't checked the WD site but suspect that they are the same. I strongly suspect that this is the nub of your problem. Untill and unless you can get your hands on Vista drivers, guess you're stuck with either Firewire or USB. CS

March 1st, 2008, 10:17 PM	#7
Paul Kellett Trustee Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 1,273	I've got the drivers not from microsoft but from the makers of the card. Vista usually installs drivers itself,ie,switch off pc,put card in,switch on pc,icon pops up saying "installing drivers",then it's done.It also did this with my sxs card reader. So i've got pci card and driver,pci-e card and driver and sata to esata straight from the board,no good. I reckon it's something to do with vista and esata,not vista and the cards. I've gave up and i'm gonna stick with firewire,everything has been sweet since i stayed with firewire. Anyway,onto my next mod,graphics card,a good one,any suggestions ? At the moment i've got a nvidia 8400gs,256 ram but it's struggling with HD footage. What card are other people using ? Thanks for all your help. Paul. __________________ Round 2 GH5,FZ2000

February 29th, 2008, 03:04 AM	#3
Colin Pearce Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 99	Man, that's bad design. I'd be getting in touch with the manufacturer or take them back for another model. My eSATA drives do not do that. No, you can't connect both USB and eSATA cables. Try USB, as long as you don't have much else on your USB bus. You may find its speed is enough.

March 1st, 2008, 05:30 PM	#5
Colin Pearce Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 99	Both of them do not go into sleep mode at all (that I've noticed, in fact my Antec drive was still powered 24 hours after I turned off the computer the other day). My eSATA port is on the motherboard. I'm running XP with SP2. One eSATA drive is a Western Digital (just used for backup), the other is a Seagate drive in an Antec case. The seagate used to be in the computer, but I was having errors, then realised that the 5 drives in the computer were probably drawing too much power for the power supply. It's all working fine now. The eSATA drive is seamless. I seem to have just as much speed as it was internally. I edit HDV on Premiere CS3. USB can struggle with any video (SD or HD) if there's bandwidth being used for other devices. However I'm often amazed how well people do with USB drives.

March 2nd, 2008, 08:00 AM	#8
Damon Gaskin Major Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Auburn Hills, USA Posts: 217	Question, have you tried to go into the device and I am not sure if it's like XP, but is there a setting somewhere that allows you to disable "to save power"? I am probably not saying this correctly and I cannot remember where it is to be honest, but you may want to google it.. Oh wait! Check your bios! I remember now.. I think... LOL And for GPU's I am using a 1950Pro 512(strong card, from what I read, one of the strongest, if not the strongest PCIe 16 card made before the switch to 2.0), but then my card/software performs better with ATI. I had a 7600 and it was ok, but this is leaps and bounds ahead...