prctr Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 Needs to go to Hardware RelatedHey Folks! I've got a two-part conundrum and would like to order a magic wand. In the alternative, I'd really appreciate someone setting me straight on:1. I bought an inexpensive hard drive enclosure, which is supposed to just plug into the USB port, so as to allow data transfer, etc. The instructions tell me to FDISK and all that, but I want to install an already formatted drive, with goodies already on the drive. When I plug everything in, absolutely nothing happens - no lights flash, no indication of new hardware found, but the hard drive itself makes a strange, quiet beeping sound. It is set to Master w/ no slave present, as the documentation suggests. Help! Seems like the little item is headed for the trash!2. I cannot seem to introduce regular ATA hard drives to my Asus C-800-E. The machine has 2 - 160GB S-ATA drives, each split in two partitions. (It begs the question of why I need more hard drive space, but never mind that now) I have changed the BIOS to allow for SATA and PATA support, installed a controller card in one of the PCI slots, but cannot get the ATA drives recognized. I imagine I am having some difficulty installing the BIOS for the controller card, but have followed directions, with no result. I think my 420 power supply should be sufficient, and in the case of the enclosure, it has it's own external power. Both my Primary and Secondary IDE are used up on optical drives, so no help there.Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 What brand of enclosure? I've heard of one that is supposed to be for hard drives but power unit only supplies 5V and not the 12V required to power the mechanics.The Belkin drive enclosure is the best one I know of but have a look at autdirect under USB products.Regarding PCI controller cards, I've found they can be very fussy where they sit in a machine and often bring up IRQ_L errors. I've not had any problems installing their drivers though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prctr Posted July 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 pops, It is an AGPTEK enclosure; the documentation doesn't even give the specifics about the power adapter. ( It is an El Cheapo Grande, and I guess you get what you pay for.) However, I can see on the adapter itself that it puts out 12v. I'll start digging for loose wires now - I know that cramming that HDD in there wasn't easy - a tight fit. Thanks for your response. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 You do need separate 5V and 12V supplies for things to work properly - not, as seems to be the case here, 5V chopped down from 12.I use external cases a lot, usually Belkin but there was another brand which is unobtainable now but, both types are mains powered with a tiny PSU inside the case. You should be able to use them as a normal hard drive but with a USB connection.I use one now as a scratch disc for video processing. It seems faster connected this way than by IDE. I don't think it is, in fact, it just seems like that.My son also uses them as DVD writer cases to be able to share between computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prctr Posted July 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 Thanks, pops. Any idea, then, how I am to power this thing up? I have parts and pieces of things lying around - just can't get this thing to make any sign that it is alive. :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 Don't think I can be much help but I'll have a go.Can you direct me to the website for the maker/product. I have Googled but can't find anything resembling the maker you gave before.What does your supplier say about it? He has some responsibility in it working properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prctr Posted July 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 pops, Here is the link; I haven't contacted the seller yet, but feel sure they'll stand behind their product. I was just thinking that maybe I'm doing something wrong. I thank you for your help in looking into this. My next step WILL be to contact the seller. :blink: http://www.imagestore.us/product.asp?pf_id...&dept_id=04-005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 It does claim to have a power supply of +5V and +12V so that should be OK.I'm a little bit dubious about its provenance though - the Vaio logo on the illustration is stretching things a bit. I'm reasonably certain that Sony would not use these for their products.I think that as the device gives no sign of life, your next step is to involve your supplier and insist that they get it to work or claim a refund. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prctr Posted July 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 pops, Methinks you are correct. Thanks again. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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