What is the correct setting in BIOS for eSATA?

An eSATA bracket came with my GA-EP45-UD3P Gigabyte motherboard. It has a molex to SATA power, 2 eSATA ports and an eSATA to normal SATA cable so I can run internal hard drives externally. It is really nice.

My board has 2 (two) SATA controllers. The ICH10-R controls 6 ports and a Gigabyte (or JMicron chip) controller if for 2 others. I have tried this bracket connected to the Gigabyte controller in AHCI and it works fine. I also tried it in IDE mode and it works a little different. In both cases I have "safely remove hardware" option.

I have not used eSATA much until now. What is correct setting in the BIOS for eSATA? What if I only had one SATA controller like a lot of boards? What would you have the BIOS set to in that case? (IDE or AHCI)

Thanks

I'm using sata as IDE, and having no problems - i asked seagate about enabling AHCI and there reply was it is unnecessary, as its built into the sata hard drives now, and not necessary. I also have the intel ich9 sata controller plus the j-micron, so I turn the j-micron off in the bios and use just use the intel controller.
Just added a couple of hours later:
I have one external esata hard drive -160gb seagate hard drive - forgot to mention although I implied, as such, but personally i like to see things myself before believing. Two internal a 250gb and 500gb seagate

Thank you for the info. I have tried it both ways just as a test but I forgot to try ejecting the eSATA drive in IDE mode. I know the "safely remove hardware" works in AHCI mode don't know if it works in IDE. I guess you could always cut power to the eSATA drive and "yank" it.

Do you have the option to "safely remove hardware" in IDE?
I hear it will not work unless you're in AHCI mode.

Thanks for the information.

You can only safely remove the external drive if you connect to a USB port. If its connected to a esata port - to remove it the safest way is to turn the PC off, and to reconnect - switch it on before powering up the PC. It has to be connected this way otherwise it wont be recognised by the bios.

I will try and bing it to see if its safe and post back.

Cannot get a clear answer - I would pose the question to the manufacturer of the enclosure, or the hard drive for a positive result -
http://forum.wegotserved.com/index.php?showtopic=1503

SATA hot swapping is a function supported by AHCI.

If you are experiencing difficulty, check this: HotSwap!

AHCI is a controller function. Please provide a link to any manufacturer marketing hard drives with built in controllers.

Thanks for the link Antman

nate42nd said:

Thank you for the info. I have tried it both ways just as a test but I forgot to try ejecting the eSATA drive in IDE mode. I know the "safely remove hardware" works in AHCI mode don't know if it works in IDE. I guess you could always cut power to the eSATA drive and "yank" it.

Do you have the option to "safely remove hardware" in IDE?
I hear it will not work unless you're in AHCI mode.

Thanks for the information.

Click to expand...

whest said:

You can only safely remove the external drive if you connect to a USB port. If its connected to a esata port - to remove it the safest way is to turn the PC off, and to reconnect - switch it on before powering up the PC. It has to be connected this way otherwise it wont be recognised by the bios.

I will try and bing it to see if its safe and post back.

Cannot get a clear answer - I would pose the question to the manufacturer of the enclosure, or the hard drive for a positive result -
Safely Remove eSATA Drive - We Got Served Forums

Click to expand...

Antman said:

SATA hot swapping is a function supported by AHCI.

If you are experiencing difficulty, check this: HotSwap!

Click to expand...

In order to hot swap or plug and play an eSATA external hard drive you need to be in AHCI or RAID mode, this will enable the SATA hot swap function. IDE will not allow you to safely plug and play, you can always 'yank' them but it's not recommended, and will not be recognized when plugged into a running OS.

If your MOBO or controller doesn't provide the 'Safely remove hardware' option, the HotSwap program mentioned above will clear the cache and ensure all files/programs are closed. It works and looks like the Windows 'Safely remove hardware' program.

When I first used an eSATA external HD, it would not hot swap, only recognized if powered up prior to starting the OS. The SATA mode was set to IDE in the BIOS. Changed it to AHCI (you can do this without re-installing your OS), then it would plug-in and play. My MOBO/controller limitations wouldn't allow 'Safely remove hardware' from Windows OS. After installing the HotSwap program I can plug in and 'safely remove hardware'.

It depends on your MOBO, controllers and a SATA hard drive.

One subtle oversight made by many - AHCI/SATA etc setting applies to all ports on the controller.

On boards with multiple controllers, make sure that the port you are connecting to is on the controller enabled for AHCI.

Intel® Matrix Storage Manager - What is Hot Swap?

Hot swap (also referred to as hot plug) is a feature supported by the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) and the Intel® Matrix Storage Technology. Hot swap allows devices to be removed and inserted while the system is running.

In order to take advantage of hot swap, you need the following:

• The Intel® Matrix Storage Manager software must be loaded.
• OEMs/motherboard manufacturers must correctly enable hot swap capability in the system BIOS.
• The system must include an Intel® chipset using a controller hub that supports AHCI. Hot swap (also referred to as hot plug) is a feature supported by the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) and the Intel® Matrix Storage Technology. Hot swap allows devices to be removed and inserted while the system is running.
  
  

as a side note: w7 doesn't play nice with all boards/optical drives when installing in AHCI mode. most notably: asus dvdrws and the evga 730i. however, changing it once installed only required me to switch settings and reinstall the motherboard drivers.

seems i lucked out and didn't have to change the registry entry/manually swap the drivers. ^_^ ms coders paying attention perhaps?

also; you don't need any of that garbage unless you run one of the intel chipsets that require it. via or nforce based chipsets don't always use intel controllers, which in turn don't require the matrix software. when in doubt, find a tech who knows what the deal is.

This seems like an odd way to go about creating an interface. (eSATA)

With all of these variables. I suppose it's just an extension of SATA so it was not built from the ground to be more like USB. When USB 3 comes out eSATA will become obsolete. I guess it has about 6 months to live.

We'll see how it goes. I must have pretty good hardware for it because it works. I will run it in AHCI and wait until USB 3 comes out and get twice the speed (about)

Thanks for all the info.

Well, being of an open mind I thought i would try the registry key technique to see what happens - well now i have the option to eject any 3 of my hard drives - the driver installed and required a reboot.

Error message when you start a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-based computer after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive: "STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

My apologies to antman with that other post by roo7s - but i was only reacting to what i was seeing - after going to the intel site i found the truth, a raid /ahci driver will be installed automatically with vista and w7, as long as you have either raid or ahci enabled in the bios prior to installing the OS - my info was coming from the read me file in the driver package - however, if you want the latest driver the F6 method is the way to do it.

I have the same board as you GA EP45-UD3P and I have Hotswapped from both controllers. With Jmicron (purple connectors) I set it to ACHI in the BIOS and
they work fine for Hotswap, including providing the "safe to remove" icon in the system tray.

I am currently using a port on the Intel (yellow connectors) for Hotswap. This controller is set up for RAID. There is no native support for "safe to remove" so I installed the HotSwap progam mentioned by someone previously. It allows you to specify which drives on the other ports that you don't want to hotswap as well.

There is one caution for the Intel controller since that is where your operating system is most likely installed.
Make sure the hotswap drives are not connected to the same power supply connector cable as the system drive or the power transient during the install and removal of the hotswap drive could freeze your system and possibly cause data corruption. I use a separate power cable with only fans on it to power my Hotswap drives.

The board's design intent - use AHCI on the JMicron controller to support eSATA.

pbcopter said:

I have the same board as you GA EP45-UD3P and I have Hotswapped from both controllers. With Jmicron (purple connectors) I set it to ACHI in the BIOS and
they work fine for Hotswap, including providing the "safe to remove" icon in the system tray.

I am currently using a port on the Intel (yellow connectors) for Hotswap. This controller is set up for RAID. There is no native support for "safe to remove" so I installed the HotSwap progam mentioned by someone previously. It allows you to specify which drives on the other ports that you don't want to hotswap as well.

There is one caution for the Intel controller since that is where your operating system is most likely installed.
Make sure the hotswap drives are not connected to the same power supply connector cable as the system drive or the power transient during the install and removal of the hotswap drive could freeze your system and possibly cause data corruption. I use a separate power cable with only fans on it to power my Hotswap drives.

Click to expand...

Thank you VERY much for this post. This is something I would have overlooked in the future. (separate power cable for system drive)

Antman said:

The board's design intent - use AHCI on the JMicron controller to support eSATA.

Click to expand...

Antman, Thank you as well. You are right as usual. The JMicron controller is intended to be used with the included eSATA bracket. This bracket they include also has a male molex and female molex to SATA power. Very nice.