[SOLVED] eSATA PCI Card not showing drives

[pelcproductions]

Hi there, I have a few old hard drives I'm trying to make use of. They all are Fantom Drives that have USB 2.0 as well as eSATA connections. I got a PCIe card with 2 SATA and 2 eSATA connectors and popped it in. The device shows up on Device Manager, but hard drives do not read at all when connected. I have tried multiple drives with multiple eSATA cables. They read whenever connected by USB 2.0. I read somewhere that certain eSATA PCIe Cards won't work with some motherboards for some reason I don't understand. That is really irritating but it doesn't seem to be the case here because as I said I can see the device in Device Manager. I tried going into the BIOS with the drive connected by eSATA and it didn't show up there either. I am stumped and any ideas would be great. Here is the card:

https://www.newegg.com/syba-sd-pex40100-sata-iii/p/N82E16816124079
Motherboard is MSI B360A PRO
Windows 10

 

[Paperdoc]

I'm sure the problem is power - specifically, no power. The USB2 and 3 systems provide both power and data transfer lines in a cable, with limits on how much power can be drawn from a port. So almost all "portable" HDD units with USB2 connections also came with their own power supply modules or "wall warts", because the USB2 port could not provide the power needed by HDD's. There were a few external HDD's that could work without those, though. The new USB3 system provides more power, and so the newest USB3 Laptop Hard Drives have been designed to work within this limit and do not come with "wall warts".

HOWEVER, the eSATA system did NOT provide any power to a connected device. It was simply a data transfer system. There are some newer non-standard eSATA systems that have added power lines, but they are not the original design. I would bet your Fantom units have a socket on them for a power supply input that you may not have used when using a USB connection system. But you MUST provide that unit with power when using an eSATA data connection. I have an external HDD consisting of an enclosure with its own "wall wart" type of power supply, and a common 5½" desktop-size HDD mounted inside it, with both USB2 and eSATA connection sockets. Because of the size and design of its HDD unit, it never could operate solely on the limited power from a USB2 ports, so I've always used its power supply module, and usually via eSATA, not USB2.

The Fantom website shows this unit

https://www.fantomdrives.com/best-e...iversal-external-hard-drive-power-supply.html

They say this will provide required power to all their external hard drive units. But check first - do you already have such a device that came with your old Fantom external drives, and simply forgot?

 

[pelcproductions]

I'm sure the problem is power - specifically, no power. The USB2 and 3 systems provide both power and data transfer lines in a cable, with limits on how much power can be drawn from a port. So almost all "portable" HDD units with USB2 connections also came with their own power supply modules or "wall warts", because the USB2 port could not provide the power needed by HDD's. There were a few external HDD's that could work without those, though. The new USB3 system provides more power, and so the newest USB3 Laptop Hard Drives have been designed to work within this limit and do not come with "wall warts".

HOWEVER, the eSATA system did NOT provide any power to a connected device. It was simply a data transfer system. There are some newer non-standard eSATA systems that have added power lines, but they are not the original design. I would bet your Fantom units have a socket on them for a power supply input that you may not have used when using a USB connection system. But you MUST provide that unit with power when using an eSATA data connection. I have an external HDD consisting of an enclosure with its own "wall wart" type of power supply, and a common 5½" desktop-size HDD mounted inside it, with both USB2 and eSATA connection sockets. Because of the size and design of its HDD unit, it never could operate solely on the limited power from a USB2 ports, so I've always used its power supply module, and usually via eSATA, not USB2.

The Fantom website shows this unit

https://www.fantomdrives.com/best-e...iversal-external-hard-drive-power-supply.html

They say this will provide required power to all their external hard drive units. But check first - do you already have such a device that came with your old Fantom external drives, and simply forgot?

Hi PaperDoc, thanks for the input. I should have included this in my original post, but all the hard drives have their own power supply already. In fact they are larger hard drives and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't turn on without power even when connected by USB 2

 

[Paperdoc]

You are right, those units will operate properly only when their power supplies are connected. And you've done that.

So, what else? I see from the user comments on that Newegg page that this card has several jumpers to be set. Among them are ones to specify exactly which ports are being used. Apparently the card has two external ports and 2 internal ports, but only two ports total can be used. Jumpers are used to set whether that's 2 external, two internal, or one of each. Then I guess you have to figure out which is which on each set IF you choose the "1 of each" option.

I assume you have used the included CD disk to install the required device driver for this card.

 

[pelcproductions]

You are right, those units will operate properly only when their power supplies are connected. And you've done that.

So, what else? I see from the user comments on that Newegg page that this card has several jumpers to be set. Among them are ones to specify exactly which ports are being used. Apparently the card has two external ports and 2 internal ports, but only two ports total can be used. Jumpers are used to set whether that's 2 external, two internal, or one of each. Then I guess you have to figure out which is which on each set IF you choose the "1 of each" option.

I assume you have used the included CD disk to install the required device driver for this card.

Unfortunately, the product did not come with a CD disk. The manual said that it did, but it was not in there. The manual did provide a website and a specific download code to download the proper driver, which I of course did. As for jumpers, I truthfully don't know what those are. I'm not the smartest guy when it comes to hardware, I know just enough to follow a build guide to get a good machine for video editing...

 

[Paperdoc]

Jumpers are a method of setting options that you do not plan to change often or easily, becasue changing them means you need to access the card. In the photo of that card, you can see near its middle a row of four black base blocks, each with two sets of three pins - total eight rows of three pins each. For each row you will see there is already in place a black plastic sleeve that carries metal contactors. These are the "Jumpers". For each row of three pins, you can place its jumper over either one pair of pins, or another pair, thus changing between two possible settings. Where you set each determines whether the centre pin is connected to one side or the other. Apparently on this card, those jumpers are used so select various possible options for how it operates. Example items are whether this card is used for a RAID array or single HDD units, and whether your HDD's are connected to rear panel or internal eSATA ports. However, some notes I saw indicate the card does not seem to come with any explanation of how to set them. If yours did not, check the SYBA website for instructions or try to contact their Tech Support people.