Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [OM] While on the subject of computer safety and back-ups

Subject: Re: [OM] While on the subject of computer safety and back-ups
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 16:49:11 -0800
Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> Thanks for the report and the Amazon link.  My daughter just sent me an 
> Amazon gift card for some photo rework I did for her and her husband and now 
> I know what I'm going to use it for.
>   
Nice!
> I have two eSATA connectors on my Dell XPS desktop but they are the result of 
> installing an eSATA PCI card. 

I've seen these. They are an in between solution, using the PCI bus to 
mimic SATA function through an External SATA connection, eSATA. I'm sure 
they work fine, but probably are slower than a true, direct, SATA=>eSATA 
connection.

> I discovered that the unused SATA connections internal to the machine will 
> not work with eSATA drives. 
There is no such thing as an "eSATA" drive. The drive is simply SATA. 
The eSATA header for the backpanel is simply an interconnect, with no 
processing function at all. Inside, it has a standard SATA cable that 
connects to the SATA connectors on the motherboard. Outside, it has the 
eSATA standard cable connector. ALL is does is connect the wires of the 
two different cable configurations.

The computer cannot tell whether a drive is in the box and directly SATA 
connected or outside and eSATA connected.

> When I tried connecting my eSATA drives to the internal connectors the drives 
> were not seen at all and wouldn't even spin up. 
>   

Here, I suspect you may indeed be seeing the "refresh the drive list 
problem". But I'm not sure how you are connecting them, as the plug on 
the external enclosure is eSATA and the internal motherboard header is 
SATA, incompatible physical connector form factors. Hook the bare drive 
up to power and a SATA cable to the motherboard and it should power up, 
then show up either automatically or with rescan drives in the Disk 
Manager. It doesn't have to be mounted in anything for that to work.

> As soon as I installed the eSATA card they were recognized and would power 
> up.  They're also seen as removable hardware although still classified as a 
> "hard drive" and not as "removable storage".
>   

Makes sense, as the PCI card is handling the eSATA interface, then 
presenting the drives to the computer as HDs

> I'm running XP and haven't seen the "refresh the drive list problem" you 
> mention.  As soon as I power them up they are recognized and added to the 
> drives list.  If I power them down or disable them with the "safely remove 
> hardware" function they disappear from the drives list.  I know there is a 
> difference between SATA and eSATA cables.  Maybe the eSATA cable in 
> conjunction with the eSATA PCI card manage an interrupt saying "hey, look 
> over here, I just added a drive".
>   

Yup, that's the card. The question is, how fast is it? Are you getting 
the throughput advantage of true eSATA over USB/Firewire?

> I was a little taken aback at your bravado in using "quick format" with a 
> brand new drive.  Even though it might take hours to do so, I always do a 
> full format on a brand new drive in order to test the writeability of every 
> sector on the disk.
>   

I figure it's already been formatted at the factory, and the bad sector 
table created. Otherwise the quick format function wouldn't be 
available. I've done all my drives that way with no problems so far. The 
one bad drive I've had out of the box was bad before that point.

> As to how to store drives sans cases I think a shallow Tupperware or similar 
> plastic container for cheeses and cold meats might be about right.  We used 
> to have some which finally deteriorated but I think we had them for about 20 
> years.  Probably just about the right size for a drive and a small foam pad.
>   

Not a bad idea. I'll check some dimensions. There's another solution I'm 
considering, which I mention in my reply to Mike.

Moose
-- 
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz