eSATA/Win7 (split from: VMWare Workstation 8...)

[thegleek]

Myself, I couldn't justify the upgrade from 7.x to 8.x for VMware Workstation. Tell me why, and I'll buy.

Anyways. Now that you got me thinking about this, I effin' plugging in my GD lame eSATA crap into my Windows 7 64-bit system, and the mother-effer' won't even recognize it. I google'd for hours and tried 7,000 different solutions from changing a bunch of jizz from the registry to rebooting the OS 2,000 times and changing various AHCI bios settings. to no avail. what i'm saying is this small non-trivial post in a large world of things, set me back 4 hours of troubleshooting with windows 7 without one single DAMN solution!!!!!! (I WANNA SWEAR SO BAD, WTF DO FILTERS EXIST FOR!!!! !@*&#^!@*^#@*&!^#).

plz help

[just brew it!]

Please calm down...

What are you trying to do? Access it as an external data drive? Boot from it? At this point we don't even know if it is a hard drive or an optical.

Does the drive work as an eSATA drive on other systems, or have you not tried that yet? Is the eSATA port integrated on the motherboard, a bracket with a cable routed to an internal SATA connector, or an add-in PCI/PCIe card?

We can't help you troubleshoot the problem if all you do is rant...

[thegleek]

It was late and it pissed me off. Don't know how else to put it.

I tried 4 different external hdd's. All eSATA. All coming with their own +5vdc power supplied by an A/C adapter. ALL of which -work- when plugged in via USB.

That's my rant.

[Aphasia]

And is the eSATA port on the motherboard ?
Is the controller the eSATA port runs on enabled in the bios?
Are you using a supplied eSATA cable of 1m or 2m?

Usually the eSATA port runs on a 3rd party controller on the motherboard instead of the eSATA included on the ICH if you run intel and thus have to be enabled. Only active ports on the motherboard support 2m cabling. Any front eSATA, either header or SATA connected internally is counted as passive and thus limited to 1m cables.

Except for that, eSATA can be treated as any internal SATA. That is, turn the system off, connect, power on, enter the bios and look for it to be recognized. If the SATA controller is a 3rd party one, it usually has its own bios after the main bios.

When that is covered, Windows 7 should recognize it as any other drive and it should show in Disk Management. Although you might need to assign a drive letter to the drive/partition.

[just brew it!]

If you've got AHCI enabled you should in theory even be able to hot-plug it without rebooting the system, though I admit I've only tried doing that on Linux (not Win7). Are you trying to hot-plug? If so, check whether Windows recognizes it after a reboot -- that would be a big clue.

If you're trying to boot from the drive, you may need to connect it to one of the first 4 SATA ports (if your mobo has more than 4).

Edit: Googling around a bit, it appears that Win7 + JMicron SATA controller + eSATA hot swap is a bad combination (driver bug, apparently). You wouldn't happen to be using a JMicron based SATA controller, would you?

[thegleek]

And is the eSATA port on the motherboard ?

Not sure. The case has a front I/O panel which contains the eSATA port on it. The case is a fairly common one, many gerbz here probably own one.

Cooler Master HAF932 Advanced: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119213

Is the controller the eSATA port runs on enabled in the bios?

I wasn't aware there was an option for this, but I can investigate. My mobo has the EFI BIOS.

Are you using a supplied eSATA cable of 1m or 2m?

Can't recall if the cable was included or if I obtained it elsewhere. On the cable itself, it is 36" (91cm) and it has these words written on it:

Serial ATA 26AWG E209329 яυ AWM STYLE 2725 80°C 30V VW-1 LIAN FENG

Usually the eSATA port runs on a 3rd party controller on the motherboard instead of the eSATA included on the ICH if you run intel and thus have to be enabled. Only active ports on the motherboard support 2m cabling. Any front eSATA, either header or SATA connected internally is counted as passive and thus limited to 1m cables.

I am running Intel. But not sure what on the Mobo is controlling the eSATA port.

Except for that, eSATA can be treated as any internal SATA. That is, turn the system off, connect, power on, enter the bios and look for it to be recognized. If the SATA controller is a 3rd party one, it usually has its own bios after the main bios.

I was hoping it would act as a hot swap port like when you plug in a USB ext hdd. I want the eSATA to act in the same manner, otherwise it's pointless.

When that is covered, Windows 7 should recognize it as any other drive and it should show in Disk Management. Although you might need to assign a drive letter to the drive/partition.

Yeah, I opened Disk Management to see if anything was listed, but it wasn't.

If you've got AHCI enabled you should in theory even be able to hot-plug it without rebooting the system, though I admit I've only tried doing that on Linux (not Win7). Are you trying to hot-plug? If so, check whether Windows recognizes it after a reboot -- that would be a big clue.

Yes, I am plugging the hdd in for insta-on access (hot plug).

If you're trying to boot from the drive, you may need to connect it to one of the first 4 SATA ports (if your mobo has more than 4).

Not trying to boot off the eSATA port. Just adding another external hdd is all.

Edit: Googling around a bit, it appears that Win7 + JMicron SATA controller + eSATA hot swap is a bad combination (driver bug, apparently). You wouldn't happen to be using a JMicron based SATA controller, would you?

Dunno, the mobo I have is the ASUS P8P67 LE (rev 3): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131706

[just brew it!]

If you've got AHCI enabled you should in theory even be able to hot-plug it without rebooting the system, though I admit I've only tried doing that on Linux (not Win7). Are you trying to hot-plug? If so, check whether Windows recognizes it after a reboot -- that would be a big clue.

Yes, I am plugging the hdd in for insta-on access (hot plug).

OK, but PLEASE do as I asked in the previous post and see if it is recognized if it is already connected when the system boots. This will be a big clue, since it will tell us whether this is a problem with hot plug specifically (driver issue), or with your eSATA port in general (which could be hardware or drivers).

Edit: Looks like that board has some SATA ports which are on the Intel southbridge, and some which are on a Marvell SATA controller. If the front port is plugged into one of the Marvell connectors, you'll probably need to install 3rd party (Marvell) drivers to make the port work. Have you checked in Device Manager to see if it is complaining about any missing drivers? Have you tried moving the front eSATA port to a different motherboard connector? Have you tested the motherboard connector by (temporarily) connecting an internal drive to it?

[Jon]

tl;dr the entire thread but caught a few bits and pieces while scrolling down. The only way I could get my eSATA drive working on my P8P67 Deluxe was by installing the latest JMicron drivers: ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/SATA_Contro ... _eSATA.zip

Works flawlessly now in my Workstation 8 VM.

[thegleek]

Have you checked in Device Manager to see if it is complaining about any missing drivers?

Yes, one. Always had 1 missing driver under Other Devices -> Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller. Never could figure out what is missing or what to install!

Have you tried moving the front eSATA port to a different motherboard connector?

Nope.

Have you tested the motherboard connector by (temporarily) connecting an internal drive to it?

Don't think I have.

[just brew it!]

Have you checked in Device Manager to see if it is complaining about any missing drivers?

Yes, one. Always had 1 missing driver under Other Devices -> Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller. Never could figure out what is missing or what to install!

Not really relevant to this thread, but it's probably complaining about drivers for the USB 3.0 ports.