My I/O Contoller Hub doesn't support external SATA. Now what?

[cookiejones]

System is an acer aspire 5920 (laptop) with oem-installed Vista. It has Intel Mobile GM965 Express chipset with ICH8M I/O Controller Hub. The internal/oem HD is a SATA drive.

I was planning to install and run Windows XP on an external HD through an eSATA adapter in the expressCard slot. I was about to order the parts, but then heard that the ICH8M I/O Controller Hub does not support external SATA. Acer didn't know, but Intel tech support confirmed - ICH8M does not support it (http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-022304.htm)

I'm hardware ignorant so I need help. What are my options? Does "external SATA not supported" mean that it won't work in AHCI mode - but might work in IDE mode? Or that Windows wouldn't even see the drive (so don't even bother trying)? I don't have the adapter or external HD yet, so I can't test it.

Any suggestions?

 

[Mondoman]

Presumably your ExpressCard adapter would have a second controller builtin that does support eSATA.

 

[cookiejones]

I was hoping it would be something easy like that. Thanks!

 

[cookiejones]

A followup question: What feature should I look for in an eSATA adapter? For example, would this Addonics one work: http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/adexc34-2e.asp