Using eSata on external hard drive

4

I have a Lacie D2 Quadra that I have been using through firewire 800. Mac pros at school have an eSata hookup, but my HD will not show up when I try to use it this way. I have assumed the drive is not hotswappable and turned the comp on after plugging in the drive. Am I missing something about eSata here?

Kato

Posted 2009-11-17T06:11:14.353

Reputation: 349

@kato I have an external that can do usb and esata. I went back to usb because id have to restart(sometimes) multiple times for it to pick it up. – sealz – 2011-07-15T21:36:43.463

Is the eSATA controller/port enabled? Not sure it can be enabled/disabled on Macs like it can on most PC motherboards. – Snark – 2009-11-17T06:14:17.357

Not sure...but I'm assuming that if the school went through all the trouble of installing the ports and cables they would enable us to use it! I could be wrong though. :P So there's nothing wrong with what I'm doing though? – Kato – 2009-11-17T06:54:33.890

Not that I can find by reading your question. eSata doesn't have a power connection, so do you have the harddisk plugged in a power supply? – Snark – 2009-11-17T08:13:20.567

1Are you asking if I have the Lacie plugged into a power supply? If so, then yes, the drive will not work without it. – Kato – 2009-11-17T08:51:50.223

Answers

0

Assuming your eSata drive is, like mine, connected ultimately to the 'spare' eSata port on earlier MacPros, its not hot-swappable so won't be picked up except after reboot. But it should 'just work' - no config or enabling is usually required. Have you tried it with a more than one of your school MacPros?

For what its worth, you are not alone and, like this guy, you might even get some help from Lacie with this.

5arx

Posted 2009-11-17T06:11:14.353

Reputation: 1 438