Lacie eSata External Hard Drive Window Vista

I have a Dell XPS 410 PC with Windows Vista Home Premium. I am using Lacie d2 HD Quadra external drive with the Lacie eSata PCI Card (2 eSata Ports). My computer came with the following integrated RAID controller: Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R SATA RAID Controller

When I boot-up my computer, I need to have the Lacie d2 HD Quadra powered-up; otherwise, my computer won't boot up (the Intel Raid Controller doesn't see my internal hard drive). It appears that the Lacie eSata controller has taken over the PC. Is this normal?

I have the boot sequence in the BIOS to only boot from the internal C: drive. When my machine boots, the Lacie eSata controller displays its boot message first, followed by the PC integrated Intel RAID controller. If I don't have the Lacie driver powered up (turned on), the PC controller displays that nothing is connected to the controller and the computer hangs. If the Lacie drive is powered up, the PC controller indicates that three slots are in use: internal hard drive, cd/dvd drive, cd/dvd rw drive. My PC sees the Lacie Drive as a SCSI device. The drive seems to work fine, other than having to have it turned on to boot my computer.

When the computer hangs, the number 1 and 2 lights are lit up on the PC, which indicates a problem with an expansion card, according to my Dell documentation.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Mark

Doug,

I solved the problem in the middle of December, and I happened to use the solution you suggested in your post. I purchased a KINGWIN 15.7" (400mm) eSATA Bracket cable Model ESAC-04 from www.newegg.com. I connected the SATA side of the eSata bracket cable to an unused SATA connection on the motherboard. I then connected the LaCie eSata cable to the eSata connection on the eSata bracket cable. The other end of the LaCie eSata cable plugs in to the eSata connection (same as before when using the LaCie eSata PCI card.

When the machine boots up, the LaCie d2 Quadra is seen as an internal SATA drive. The Quadra doesn't have to be powered on for the computer to boot up. I tested the Quadra drive performance, and the burst rate was quite high - 90MBs.

Mark

Mark, Doug, or anyone,

I, too, have a Dell XPS 410 PC with Windows Vista Home Premium. I'm trying to set up eSATA. From Mark's post, I learned that I should have an unused SATA connection on the motherboard. Would you please describe where it is on the motherboard so that I may connect the SATA side of the eSTATA bracket to it? Your reply will be greatly appreciated.

GC