esata external hard drive througn 2nd hard drive caddy

[oversky]

I bought a esata-sata cable and tried to connect a esata external hard drive througn a sata 2nd hard drive caddy. The result is that my T42 can not detect the external hard drive. The caddy, cable, and the external hard drive are all functional with other setups. As I know, the signal of esata and sata are the same. It should be just passing through. I don't understand why it fails. I observed that both the leds on the caddy and above the caddy are lighting when I boots T42. However, both leds dims after that. Any suggestion?

PS. I know using a pcmcia will be easier. However, several reviews confirmed that the writing speed is limited to 30 MB/s through pcmcia. The writing speed on the caddy is at least 55 MB/s when I tested it with a 2.5 in hard drive.

[richk]

Are you using a separate power supply for the drive?

[oversky]

Yes. My guess is that T42 detect the 2nd hard drive through the power connector in the caddy.

Are you using a separate power supply for the drive?

[richk]

I'm pretty sure that the power connector isn't used top detect. I can try to describe something I use from time-to-time to work on disks. I have a PATA ultrabay slim HD adapter that has a male-to-male adapter hooked to a desktop IDE cable. The cable hangs out the front. (I sanded down the bezel to make room) I have run desktop IDE drives with external power supplies or SATA drives, thru a PATA->SATA bridge and external power supply. All those things work fine

[Ralf Hutter]

a male-to-male adapter

Not to derail this thread too much, but do you have a link to one of these? I did some Googling, but haven't been able to find something that would work inside one of the Thinkpad caddies.

Thanks!

[oversky]

I bought the adapter from cpustuff

http://www.cpustuff.com/7-Pin-Male-Male ... 16190.html

a male-to-male adapter

Not to derail this thread too much, but do you have a link to one of these? I did some Googling, but haven't been able to find something that would work inside one of the Thinkpad caddies.

Thanks!

[Ralf Hutter]

I bought the adapter from cpustuff

http://www.cpustuff.com/7-Pin-Male-Male ... 16190.html

Ah so! Serial ATA! I was searching for P-ATA...

Thanks!

[bill bolton]

I bought the adapter from cpustuff

Have you tried the "adapter" on another SATA connection point on a different system to double check that it is working as you expect?

Cheers,

Bill B.

[oversky]

Yes, the adapter is tested OK. Now I am guessing that maybe it's because T42 doesn't support 1TB hard drive. I will try to test with a smaller one later.

I bought the adapter from cpustuff

Have you tried the "adapter" on another SATA connection point on a different system to double check that it is working as you expect?

Cheers,

Bill B.

[richk]

Here is a link to the one I bought:

http://www.gamehead.com.au/Data-Storage ... 0cm/700529

Here is another one:

http://www.cablesonline.net/44pinmalidc2.html

[bill bolton]

I bought a esata-sata cable and tried to connect a esata external hard drive througn a sata 2nd hard drive caddy. The result is that my T42 can not detect the external hard drive.

Just confirming.... are you trying to do this on a T42 or a T43?

If its on a T42, there is no SATA support.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[richk]

Bill: None of the machines (even T60) have SATA support in the Ultrabay. They are set up to work with an optical drive, which is PATA. You always need a PATA->SATA bridge, whatever you build.

[oversky]

I am trying on a 2nd brand esata caddy.

I bought a esata-sata cable and tried to connect a esata external hard drive througn a sata 2nd hard drive caddy. The result is that my T42 can not detect the external hard drive.

Just confirming.... are you trying to do this on a T42 or a T43?

If its on a T42, there is no SATA support.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[oversky]

I test it with a 500 GB hard drive today. No luck.

Yes, the adapter is tested OK. Now I am guessing that maybe it's because T42 doesn't support 1TB hard drive. I will try to test with a smaller one later.

Have you tried the "adapter" on another SATA connection point on a different system to double check that it is working as you expect?

Cheers,

Bill B.

[oversky]

According to the following figure,

the 39 and 40 pins are used as 5 V power source for a 2.5" hardrive.
Therefore, in your configuration, the power connector on the caddy is not open circuit. It is connected to the external hard drive.

I'm pretty sure that the power connector isn't used top detect. I can try to describe something I use from time-to-time to work on disks. I have a PATA ultrabay slim HD adapter that has a male-to-male adapter hooked to a desktop IDE cable. The cable hangs out the front. (I sanded down the bezel to make room) I have run desktop IDE drives with external power supplies or SATA drives, thru a PATA->SATA bridge and external power supply. All those things work fine

[oversky]

I added a 250 ohm resistor between 5V and GND to simulate an installed hard drive in sleep mode. No luck.

richk, when you connect to the external hard drive, does the led above the caddy (not the one on the caddy) light?

[bill bolton]

Bill: None of the machines (even T60) have SATA support in the Ultrabay. They are set up to work with an optical drive, which is PATA. You always need a PATA->SATA bridge, whatever you build.

You are missing the point.

The T series from T43 onwards have a SATA disk controller installed, while the T42 does not. The T43 uses PATA-SATA bridge from the PATA drive bay connectors to the SATA disk controller.

The T42 has a PATA disk controller with so just adding the SATA-PATA bridge in the Ultrabay drive carrier from the SATA drive connector to the PATA disk controller is probably not going to be enough to get a SATA drive working.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[awolfe63]

Just get a PCMCIA eSATA adapter for $25.