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SATA/USB caddy
Mark Allanson - 1/12/06 at 10:37 PM

I have bought a USB caddy which contains a SATA hard drive - ideal for backups, can be transfered from computer to computer.

One problem, it is not being picked up by my tower (2000 pro) or by my laptop (XP pro). I have tried everything I can think of but I am now stumped. The very scant instructions say the SATA drive must be set to 'master' but it (the physical drive) doesn't have any visible jumpers or instructions to do so.

Big hug to the first to give me a solution! (don't let this put you off!)

Thanks
Mark


stevebubs - 1/12/06 at 10:39 PM

is the drive powered up?


graememk - 1/12/06 at 10:42 PM

is the drive formatted ?


ecosse - 1/12/06 at 10:45 PM

Sata drives should have jumpers somewhere, probably next to the cable connector, although as far as i know they don't have master slave settings like an IDE drive does.
Does the system recognise that a usb device has been attached at all?


Cheers

Alex


Mark Allanson - 1/12/06 at 10:58 PM

Steve, yes, when switched on the tell tale lamp turns from red to green.

Graham, I have not been able to see the drive to tell, but I assume this was done from factory?

Alex, there really are no jumpers of any kind that I recognise, on the laptop (xp pro), I get the bing bong sound that signifies that a usb device has been attached, but nothing adds to 'my computer'

Any help?


RazMan - 1/12/06 at 11:11 PM

Does it show up in Device Manager?


givemethebighammer - 1/12/06 at 11:13 PM

or disk administrator ?


McLannahan - 1/12/06 at 11:14 PM

This is the master not set on the HDD. Set this to master and your problems will be solved!

There will be a jumper somewhere on the drive - often by the SATA connection itself.

The fact that the PC bing/bongs means it's recognising the new hardware - just not the controller controlling the drive. Once you set this it will be fine. Don't know why the USB SATA drives don't like being a slave - I think it's something to do with the USB controller. As it's not doing a traditional role of a drive (it's seen as a USB device) then it doesn't work. As master all is fine! Odd eh?

Find the master/slave/cs dip and switch it over. I've not had any success with any position except Master.

All the best

Michael


Mark Allanson - 1/12/06 at 11:21 PM

Cover is coming off as we speak!


Mark Allanson - 1/12/06 at 11:34 PM

Definately no jumpers of any kind - software cotrolled?


chockymonster - 2/12/06 at 12:55 AM

There are no jumpers on an SATA drive.
Right click my computer, choose manage.
Look under disk administrator, you'll probably see it there. Right click the drive and create a new partition on it.


Mark Allanson - 2/12/06 at 09:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by chockymonster
There are no jumpers on an SATA drive.
Right click my computer, choose manage.
Look under disk administrator, you'll probably see it there. Right click the drive and create a new partition on it.


No, still not showing up, I am about to fit a USB2/firewire card so perhaps this may help?


Scotty - 2/12/06 at 10:06 AM

if your still having probs, pop up to the shop and i'll have a quick look


martyn_16v - 2/12/06 at 10:06 AM

Does the caddy have a socket for an external power supply, and are you using it? USB bus power won't be enough to power the disk itself, but might make lights come on on the caddy.