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Re: [OM] While on the subject of computer safety and back-ups

Subject: Re: [OM] While on the subject of computer safety and back-ups
From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:36:59 -0500
Thanks for the report and the Amazon link.  My daughter just sent me an 
Amazon gift card for some photo rework I did for her and her husband and 
now I know what I'm going to use it for.

I have two eSATA connectors on my Dell XPS desktop but they are the 
result of installing an eSATA PCI card.  I discovered that the unused 
SATA connections internal to the machine will not work with eSATA 
drives.  When I tried connecting my eSATA drives to the internal 
connectors the drives were not seen at all and wouldn't even spin up. 
As soon as I installed the eSATA card they were recognized and would 
power up.  They're also seen as removable hardware although still 
classified as a "hard drive" and not as "removable storage".

I'm running XP and haven't seen the "refresh the drive list problem" you 
mention.  As soon as I power them up they are recognized and added to 
the drives list.  If I power them down or disable them with the "safely 
remove hardware" function they disappear from the drives list.  I know 
there is a difference between SATA and eSATA cables.  Maybe the eSATA 
cable in conjunction with the eSATA PCI card manage an interrupt saying 
"hey, look over here, I just added a drive".

I was a little taken aback at your bravado in using "quick format" with 
a brand new drive.  Even though it might take hours to do so, I always 
do a full format on a brand new drive in order to test the writeability 
of every sector on the disk.

As to how to store drives sans cases I think a shallow Tupperware or 
similar plastic container for cheeses and cold meats might be about 
right.  We used to have some which finally deteriorated but I think we 
had them for about 20 years.  Probably just about the right size for a 
drive and a small foam pad.

Chuck Norcutt

Moose wrote:
> Chuck Norcutt wrote:
>> Hey, that's cool!  I'll be waiting on your report.
> 
> I guess weather was good and UPS staffed up for the holidays. The 
> package arrived yesterday afternoon.
> 
> I opened up the docking station, connected it to power and the eSATA 
> header on the desktop, opened the 1.5TB drive, inserted it into the dock.
> 
> I don't know about other OSs and installations. My Vista doesn't react 
> to changes in SATA connections automagically. With USB, it always 
> notices changes. With Firewire, it usually does; sometimes I have to 
> turn the drive off and on again. With SATA drives, I suppose it assumes 
> they are all inside and can be counted to remain the same as at boot. 
> Anyway, I have to ask the disk manager to rescan disks when I change 
> which disk is attached to the eSATA port.
> 
> The same was true of the docking station. But one click on rescan, and 
> there was the new disk on the new dock. Initialize, assign a drive 
> letter and quick format, and I was in business in moments.
> 
> I copied over 400GB from an internal 500GB drive, then almost 100GB from 
> another internal drive. All absolutely normal, as though I had installed 
> the new drive inside the box or in an external, eSATA enclosure. With 
> most of it hanging out in the air, the drive is running cooler than the 
> primary drive and only a bit warmer than the two 500GB drives inside 
> with cooling fans.
> 
> Looks like a winner to me. Oddly enough, it appears the makers are 
> conservative in their claims. The box says it works with drives up to 
> 1TB; the web site says 1.5TB. It seems they actually waited until there 
> was a 1.5TB drive to try with it before making claims.
> 
> It was a better deal from TigerDirect with HD, flat rate $1.99 shipping 
> and a $20 rebate for using PayPal, but by itself,  is $5 cheaper plus 
> free shipping from Amazon at the moment. 
> <http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-BlacX-eSATA-Docking-Station/dp/B001A4HAFS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1229806542&sr=8-1>
>  
> 
> 
> Next is to move the 1.5TB into the computer and one or two 500GBs out.
> Then I need to find a safe, yet convenient way to store bare drives. 
> I've looked at kraft boxes on the web, but nothing the right size so far.
> 
> Moose
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