Question on eSATA external drive card - PCI or PCI Express

[Chessie]

I am shopping for a new backup drive, and I am considering the Iomega 1TB Prestige Pro drive. It has both an eSATA and a USB 2.0 connection available. (Also has a separate power supply with an OFF switch - which I prefer.) Anyway, I like the idea of having the faster transfer speed as an option, but my PC (an older one - a Dell Dimension) has no eSATA port. It seems easy enough to install a PCI card, but my PC has both PCI slot and a PCI express slot, and it appears that an eSATA card is available in both versions. Is there any reason to choose one over the other?

[drc]

If you use the PCI slot, it will be a bottleneck for throughput. The max theoretical bandwidth for PCI is significantly less than eSATA.

[Chessie]

If you use the PCI slot, it will be a bottleneck for throughput. The max theoretical bandwidth for PCI is significantly less than eSATA.

So....how else would I get it connected? I assumed that was the path to take, from the various different online searchs that I have done.

Or are you saying...don't use PCI, use PCI express...?? Sorry...unclear as to what you meant.

[thatdellguy]

You can also add a cheap SATA to ESATA bracket and use the motherboard.

[drc]

Or are you saying...don't use PCI, use PCI express...?? Sorry...unclear as to what you meant.

Yes... PCI-E bandwidth would not be a bottleneck.

[Chessie]

You can also add a cheap SATA to ESATA bracket and use the motherboard.

Hmmm...well that sounds even better. I assume I need a free SATA port on the mobo, though. Not sure if I have that. Is that typical? I'll have to check that out.

[Chessie]

Or are you saying...don't use PCI, use PCI express...?? Sorry...unclear as to what you meant.

Yes... PCI-E bandwidth would not be a bottleneck.

Ah...okay. Yes I just went and checked speeds for the different PCI ports...I had no idea of that constraint. Thanks for mentioning it. Learning as I go here.

[Chessie]

Oh...and this is what my machine has:

PCI card (3),
PCI Express x1 card (1),
PCI Express x16 card (1)

would it be better to use the x1, or the x16 slot? Seems like the x16 would be best?

[drc]

Most PCI-E SATA/eSATA cards are only x1 cards... they'll work in either slot, but obviously if you need your x16 for something else then use the x1.

Or like thatdellguy mentioned you can use an internal-SATA to eSATA bracket if you have extra unused SATA ports on your motherboard. As a caution for that, though, some boards play more nicely than others when hotplugging SATA. It can also depend on your BIOS configuration.

[Chessie]

Most PCI-E SATA/eSATA cards are only x1 cards... they'll work in either slot, but obviously if you need your x16 for something else then use the x1.

Or like thatdellguy mentioned you can use an internal-SATA to eSATA bracket if you have extra unused SATA ports on your motherboard. As a caution for that, though, some boards play more nicely than others when hotplugging SATA. It can also depend on your BIOS configuration.

Okay, I opened the case and looked around. Are these SATA ports - the little group of 4 there?

[Chessie]

Hmm...me last post didn't show up...think I must have posted a picture incorrectly. Trying again...this is inside my case...

Attachments

[Chessie]

Most PCI-E SATA/eSATA cards are only x1 cards... they'll work in either slot, but obviously if you need your x16 for something else then use the x1.

Or like thatdellguy mentioned you can use an internal-SATA to eSATA bracket if you have extra unused SATA ports on your motherboard. As a caution for that, though, some boards play more nicely than others when hotplugging SATA. It can also depend on your BIOS configuration.

I checked, and I have 3 unused SATA ports. I tried to attach a pic, but the post isn't showing. So, how do I check the BIOS configuration? And is there anyway to know if the board will plany "nicely"? I don't want to screw anything up. The pc is a Dell Dimension 8400.

[Chessie]

Geez...another question. I was looking online and found this review of my pc:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_Dimension_ ... eviewPage1

"This amount might seem like more storage than you'd ever need, but each of the motherboard's four Serial ATA channels can support up to a 400GB hard drive, which means that 300GB represents less than 20 percent of the Dimension 8400's storage potential. You can upgrade to two 400GB drives at the time of purchase, but Dell's online configurator does not allow you to upgrade to three or four hard drives, so any more storage will have to be an aftermarket upgrade."

This was in the section on the hard drive, about halfway through the article. Does that mean that the SATA ports won't support anything over a 400GB drive?

[labtech]

yes, those are SATA ports, but what Dell said in that post is a little strange.

[Chessie]

yes, those are SATA ports, but what Dell said in that post is a little strange.

Well that wasn't written by Dell. It was part of the Cnet review. I'm wondering if they meant that at the time, that was what was configurable online, when buying it from Dell.com ?

[thatdellguy]

A SATA to ESATA bracket would be ideal. Some external ESATA drives (Vantec) come with this bracket. You can use one of the three open SATA ports but the number you use has to be turned on in the BIOS (F2 at Dell startup screen) otherwise it will give a missing drive error; F1 to continue (if i remember correctly). Once the new drive was discovered in the BIOS you may have to tell the motherboard which drive is the boot drive. Make sure your BIOS is updated to the latest version A09 on support.dell.com. The SATA controller on the motherboard is also the older 1.50Gbs speed. If you wanted to use 3.0Gbs or the newest 6.0Gbs install a cheap x1 card. Most can be purchased for as little as $20 to $30 dollars. The X1 card may also be more hot swappable than using the motherboards SATA ports. If it were my computer I would add a X1 card. Maybe even connect your Western Digital ROYL boot drive to the X1 card for increased speed.

[drc]

Regardless of BIOS settings, in my experience Dells have issues recognizing drives that weren't present when the machine was powered on. This would make it kind of a pain for trying to do any SATA hotplugging, IMO.

[Chessie]

A SATA to ESATA bracket would be ideal. Some external ESATA drives (Vantec) come with this bracket. You can use one of the three open SATA ports but the number you use has to be turned on in the BIOS (F2 at Dell startup screen) otherwise it will give a missing drive error; F1 to continue (if i remember correctly). Once the new drive was discovered in the BIOS you may have to tell the motherboard which drive is the boot drive. Make sure your BIOS is updated to the latest version A09 on support.dell.com. The SATA controller on the motherboard is also the older 1.50Gbs speed. If you wanted to use 3.0Gbs or the newest 6.0Gbs install a cheap x1 card. Most can be purchased for as little as $20 to $30 dollars. The X1 card may also be more hot swappable than using the motherboards SATA ports. If it were my computer I would add a X1 card. Maybe even connect your Western Digital ROYL boot drive to the X1 card for increased speed.

Thanks...that is sounding like the more viable option now, with my older mobo. So, for a "cheap x1 card"

would one of these be a good choice? I'm not seeing a whole lot of these..., or maybe I just don't know where to look.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... _-16104022

http://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Rocket- ... 894&sr=1-4

[thatdellguy]

From a personal standpoint, I would go with the Highpoint card.

[DrFaustus]

No Doubt go with The PCI-E, i have a pci card at work for my dock station, & it sucks its all slow, & victoria has problems usining it & it freezes my computer when i turn on the drive.... but it is a dell, so it my might be the mention of new drive letter. popping up