FreeAgent Products

[digitalcutabove]

I recently purchased the new 1 TB FreeAgent Pro drive from Fry's Electronics. When connected via firewire, the drive works flawlessly. When connected by eSATA, the drive shows up and works for a period of about half an hour, and then goes offline and hangs my computer until I sever the eSATA connection and unplug the power to the unit. (power button becomes inoperable).

Connected to my PCI Express card. (works for around 30 minutes, goes offline, hangs the system)

The PCI express eSATA card I am using is a PNY 2 channel eSATA raid card utilizing the Silicon Image 3132 chipset.

Connected to internal motherboard SATA slot (Intel chipset) via converter cable: (prevents boot, not recognized)

I also tried utilizing a SATA to eSATA converter cable. While the Intel Drive Manager recognizes the FreeAgent Pro at bootup, it will hang and not make it into windows. If I wait until I am in Windows, the drive is not recognized at all.

It seems this is a pretty prevalent problem on the forums. Since this is at least the 3rd generation of this product, I am astonished to find has not been addressed yet.

I purchased the drive for video editing and need the extra transfer speed to allow for smoother and more responsive scrubbing. I was NOT purchasing JUST a USB 2 or FIREWIRE drive. eSATA is a much faster connection and a manufacturer should not market it as such if it is not working.

As a side note, I have a 500 GB FreeAgent Pro drive and it is reacting the same way.

PLEASE:  suggest a PCI express eSATA controller that has been verified/tested to work with the drive flawlessly. I will be willing to purchase a new card to fix this. If the drive is finicky about controllers thats fine, just let me know which one I need. That is all I ask.

Thank you. 

[vivelafrance]

hi ,

try the Promise esata PCI card , it's working find with my configuration  (12 sec for a 700mb file )...

[AZSalsman]

I know that I am replying to an older post but I hope that it will find it's way to the appropriate peoples' attention.

I am also having trouble maintaining connection to my 1Tb FreeAgent Pro through eSata.  I presently have it tied directly to the Motherboard with a Sata connection.  I have had a eSata extenstion in one of the expansion slots but when that failed, someone recommed going directly tot he Motherwoard with a eSata/Sata Cable.  No success.

Would a ESata PCI card make any difference in this matter? Or would it just cause the same issue? If not, I will have to install a Firewire slot to at least be a compromise in speed between the USB2.0 and eSata options.

 

[agilitymadjan]

Mine reacted in a similar way.  I found that the sleep time was the culprit.  The seagate software works fine under USB but not under eSATA.  If you set sleep to Never (you have to use USB to change it) it should stay on until you switch it off.  Once I changed it, it hasn't missed a beat.

I have found that good practice (with Win XP) is to connect the mains power and eSATA before boot up if you intend to use the drive during the day. Once the PC is booted up you can power the drive down and turn it on when needed.  Any little quirks are overridden by BIOS and Windows recognition.  This applies particularly with shared folders over a LAN.

Jan

[AZSalsman]

Thanks.  That is kind of comforting.  However, how do yo set these power settings.  I forgot to mention that I am running Vista Ultimate.  The power settings don't seem to refer to external/attached hardware.  Is there another place that I need to look in order to set it NOT to go to sleep (if indeed that really is my issue)?

[agilitymadjan]

The sleep timer I referred to is part of the Seagate tools software.  When connected by eSATA they are not accessible.  You have to connect by USB to access and make changes.

Ironically the drive will work without the seagate software. Unfortunately eSATA is a relative newcomer and Seagate have yet to update their software tools to go with it.  I guess most people connect by USB so it isn't a pressing issue just an annoyance.

I'm not sure if Windows has a sleep setting to cover external drives.  I dont sleep mine, I just switch it off when It's not in use.

Jan

[AZSalsman]

Thanks.  I will have to initialize/install the software.  I was hoping not to have rely on more programs running but, if means that I won't keep losing connectivity, I guess I will need to just bite the bullet and install.  Ugh!

[AZSalsman]

I installed the software.  When setting the pwer optoins, it tells me that this featrue is not available when connected via eSata!  It STILL disappears on me.  I am sooooo frustrated.  I bought this device for the eSata capabilities.  My first once crapped out on me and had to send it back under warranty (spending another $20 to do so).  There is NO change to the behavious.  No one seems to have any solutions.  So now I am forced to rely solely on a USB onnection or put in a Firewire port and use it!

Why does Seagate not advertise "Has eSata capapbilites but it does not work"?

(sorry, I had to vent a little).

I just am at a loss as to what to do.

[AZSalsman]

I think that I fixed it!!!!!  Whew.  Yesterday afternoon, I made the connection via USB so I can access the power options.  I set the drive to "Never" so it would not turn off.  The powered everything down.  Reconnected the eSata connection and the drive is staying visible to desktop!  Even after a few more reboots, it has worked properly for a record 18 hours!  That is encouraging.!

[agilitymadjan]

Sorry, that's what I was trying to say.  To use the Seagate software, you have to temporarily connect by USB.  Once you've made the changes, you can go back to eSATA.  It's long-winded, but there you go.  No doubt Seagate will catch up in time as eSATA becomes more poular. 

I still suggest that the drive should be connected and on at the mains, at boot up.  It will then switch itself on and go through BIOS recognition.  After boot up you can power it down until you use it.  If you're not using shared networked folders, you can probably ignore this.

Jan