- Nov 17, 2010
- 33
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- 18,540
I just purchased a Rosewill RDDO-13002 Dual hard disk docking station. It has both a USB 2.0 port and an eSATA port, which I was hoping to use. I've never used one of these before, so please point out what I'm doing wrong...
I have it plugged in to an external power source, so the thing turns on. What I wanted to do was to use the eSATA since I know that's much faster than USB 2.0. I'm using a Cooler Master HAF case that has an eSATA port on the front. The internal cable from that connector is going to an open SATA port on my Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 motherboard (the last SATA port freed up). I'm using the eSATA cable that came with the Rosewill dock since I have no other eSATA cables.
1. I hook up the power cord and the eSATA cable on both ends, plug in a working solid state drive, turn on the dock, and it gets power as indicated by the power light. I boot up my machine and go into BIOS, thinking it would see the dock, but the connected SSD doesn't show up. So my immediate thought is that it won't recognize the external device.
2. I boot up to the desktop (It's a Hackintosh, so it goes to OS X), and it's still not visible. I plug in the USB cable from the back of the dock to the back of the machine, turn it back on, and it sees it now. Now i'm thinking "Does it need USB 2.0 to communicate to the motherboard, and only eSATA to transfer Hard disk drive data? That can't be possible..."
3. I go into Windows and the same thing... It will only work via USB 2.0 but not eSATA. but, I am still puzzled and curious...
I ordered an internal PCI-e card by Syba that has four 6 GB/s SATA ports, whereas the leftover SATA port on the motherboard (the one occupied by the case's eSATA connector) is 3 GB/s. Would this make any difference at all? My instincts say "no".
I prefer to troubleshoot from the least expensive and easiest to most expensive and most difficult. Could it be that either the eSATA cable that came with the Rosewill dock is just from a bad abtch, or the internal eSATA connecting cable on the (used) HAF case is bad? I have a cable tester but it's only for USB and Ethernet, not SATA.
I checked the NewEgg reviews on similar Rosewill hard drive docks and see that the dual ones have issues with eSATA, but I can't even get one of the docks on my station to work via eSATA instead of USB 2.0. Is it more likely that I just got a defective unit? I like the thing and can find a use for it if I'm doing a tech support call and have to clone a drive, but I hate going through the hassle of sending it back (but will do what is necessary). What's the best route here? What's most likely the issue or issues? Thanks for your help!
I have it plugged in to an external power source, so the thing turns on. What I wanted to do was to use the eSATA since I know that's much faster than USB 2.0. I'm using a Cooler Master HAF case that has an eSATA port on the front. The internal cable from that connector is going to an open SATA port on my Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 motherboard (the last SATA port freed up). I'm using the eSATA cable that came with the Rosewill dock since I have no other eSATA cables.
1. I hook up the power cord and the eSATA cable on both ends, plug in a working solid state drive, turn on the dock, and it gets power as indicated by the power light. I boot up my machine and go into BIOS, thinking it would see the dock, but the connected SSD doesn't show up. So my immediate thought is that it won't recognize the external device.
2. I boot up to the desktop (It's a Hackintosh, so it goes to OS X), and it's still not visible. I plug in the USB cable from the back of the dock to the back of the machine, turn it back on, and it sees it now. Now i'm thinking "Does it need USB 2.0 to communicate to the motherboard, and only eSATA to transfer Hard disk drive data? That can't be possible..."
3. I go into Windows and the same thing... It will only work via USB 2.0 but not eSATA. but, I am still puzzled and curious...
I ordered an internal PCI-e card by Syba that has four 6 GB/s SATA ports, whereas the leftover SATA port on the motherboard (the one occupied by the case's eSATA connector) is 3 GB/s. Would this make any difference at all? My instincts say "no".
I prefer to troubleshoot from the least expensive and easiest to most expensive and most difficult. Could it be that either the eSATA cable that came with the Rosewill dock is just from a bad abtch, or the internal eSATA connecting cable on the (used) HAF case is bad? I have a cable tester but it's only for USB and Ethernet, not SATA.
I checked the NewEgg reviews on similar Rosewill hard drive docks and see that the dual ones have issues with eSATA, but I can't even get one of the docks on my station to work via eSATA instead of USB 2.0. Is it more likely that I just got a defective unit? I like the thing and can find a use for it if I'm doing a tech support call and have to clone a drive, but I hate going through the hassle of sending it back (but will do what is necessary). What's the best route here? What's most likely the issue or issues? Thanks for your help!
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