Dual Bay HDD dock

[schimma]

I bought a VANTEC dual HDD dock (USB 3.0).

I am unable to get both drive working (only one drive can be viewed at a time) when connected to 1 x USB 3.0 port on my laptop.

After researching the Web, it may be that my Toshiba Satellite P750/02Q may not support 'port multiplier'.

Would an external USB 3.0 HUB fix this problem?

 

[Hawkeye22]

No, a hub won't fix this. The motherboard's chipset needs to have the port multiplier property for it to work. A new USB controller card that supports port multipliers may work. Also, I didn't realize this was an issue for USB. I thought it on;y pertained to SATA/ESATA.

 

[dingo07]

can you give us a link to exactly which dock you have...

 

[InvalidError]

A new USB controller card that supports port multipliers may work. Also, I didn't realize this was an issue for USB. I thought it on;y pertained to SATA/ESATA.

A "port multiplier" for USB would have been called a hub and since hubs have been with us since day-1 (root ports usually have integrated 2:1 hubs), I would have a hard time imagining USB3 not supporting hubs.

Maybe the USB3-SATA bridge chip needs a special driver to manage its SATA port multiplier.

 

[Hawkeye22]

A "port multiplier" for USB would have been called a hub and since hubs have been with us since day-1 (root ports usually have integrated 2:1 hubs), I would have a hard time imagining USB3 not supporting hubs.

Maybe the USB3-SATA bridge chip needs a special driver to manage its SATA port multiplier.

You are thinking of it in a different way. Yes, a hub allows you to "multiply" the number of physical ports you have. A (sata) port multipler allows multiple devices to be connected to a single port.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_multiplier

I had a thermaltake blac-x duet that did not work on an older motherboard for the same reason, no port multiplier support. The only difference is mine was esata, not usb.

 

[InvalidError]

You are thinking of it in a different way.

Not at all. I merely stated that the closest thing to a "port multiplier" on USB is a hub and that USB root ports usually have an integrated 2:1 hub which would make it really strange that a USB port would not support an endpoint hub or multi-function device assuming the enclosure is implemented that way. If the endpoint is implemented as an SATA port multiplier, the USB-SATA bridge may require device-specific drivers to enable full functionality.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Not at all. I merely stated that the closest thing to a "port multiplier" on USB is a hub and that USB root ports usually have an integrated 2:1 hub which would make it really strange that a USB port would not support an endpoint hub or multi-function device assuming the enclosure is implemented that way. If the endpoint is implemented as an SATA port multiplier, the USB-SATA bridge may require device-specific drivers to enable full functionality.

There are no drivers. I should have mentioned that my blac-x duet was USB/ESATA. The second drive on the dock was not recognized via USB or ESATA on my old motherboard and there are no device drivers that came with it. It only stated that the motherboard needs to support port multiplier (something about FIS). I'm assuming most of these docks use the same onboard controller or bridge chip. The OP's dock may be different.

 

[schimma]

Best answer selected by schimma.