Assistance setting up ext hd enclosure

Hello,

I have a 250 GB sata seagate barracuda drive.

The drive was internal and came with a 'sata card(?)'

I have purchased a 'Legacy 3500 sata i,ii to usb2.0+esata" kit.

The paper booklet this kit came with and the online help is very poor
and of no assistance to me.

I have a few questions I'm hoping someone can answer.

1/ do i need to use the additional sata card?

2/ there are two internal connectors attached to the face of the
shell. one connectors attachment point is about twice the size of the
other - do I connect both?

3/ there is a tiny tiny connector that is attached to the back of the
case for the led display - what does that plug into?

4/ Windows XP - do i need any additional software/drivers?

5/ There is data on this disc that I need to access. Can I be
assured that there is no way this will be overwritten or reformatted
when I'm setting up? Silly question but it's too important not to be
100% sure.

Thank you in advance!

 

sata comes in revisions 1 & 2, ie 1.5G/s & 3 G/s.

Older mobos didn't have sata connections, so people had to connect sata
internally via a card. Did your sata card come with e-sata? Sata cards
are made with and without esata support

e-sata is a standard for connecting sata drives as externals.

Usually the term 'legacy' isn't a brand name, but a reference to older
hardware. The Tsunami company makes a product line Legacy 3500;
unfortunately their support pages for that product are not currently
accessible. That product is a usb & esata to sata 1 or 2 and comes with
an esata cable.

esata is way way faster than usb. If you can have esata capability, I
would use that instead of usb.

Rather than your trying unsuccessfully to describe something that you
don't understand, it would be better if you gave the brandname and model
number of your various parts, your Seagate sata drive which came with a
sata card, and the brand and modelno external kit.

 

You aren't sure? If you already had this connected and working, it must
have at least a SATA connector.

You may have, but you didn't provide a link to info about it same as
the drive/card bundle above.

Legacy 3500 eSATA :: TSUNAMI TECHNOLOGY UK LTD
TSUNAMI LEGACY 3500 3.5" HDD Enclosure (USB2.0, eSATA, OTB, 30mm Fan).
Turn 3.5" SATA hard ... Interface: SATA I,II to USB 2.0 (480mb/s) or
eSATA (3gb/s) ...
http://tsunamitech.webnode.com/products-/a3.../legacy-3500-esata/

This seems sort of obvious

If your PC has SATA ports already you don't need the (possibly) SATA
card that came with the drive. If the URL above is the correct part, you
use the bracket in the Legacy 3500 kit, connected to an onboard SATA
port.

OTOH no SATA ports in the PC you need the card, and connect the eSATA
bracket cable to that.

What shell?

Link to manual , picture?

The Legacy 3500 external case? You just said it's for the LED display


Link to manual , picture.

Maybe if it says so when it finds the SATA card. The new hardware wizard
will ask. If you have internal SATA ports, then not, but the new
hardward wizard will still detect the new device.

http://tsunamitech.webnode.com/products-/a3-5-hdd-enclosure/legacy-3500-esata/
See the pink looking CD type shaped object - Drives Disk.

Then backup, backup again and test it, in it's working configuration
internally as you said at the start.

Me

 

Thank you for your replies. I now suspect the drive is damaged and am
taking it into a shop for proper recovery. btw - it wasn't my hard
drive, it was given to me to try to access by a friend who found it in
her late husbands belongings.

 

If all you want to do is access the drive, see what's on it, and copy
off "interesting" files, the USB approach is easier. Rather than
using an external SATA drive _enclosure_, an external SATA _docking
station_ is much easier.

Google:

USB to SATA hard drive docking station

http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Sho...164&oext=1038A&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=8574164

There are many brands and configurations. I like the ThermalTake
BlacX ones simply because they use a single-voltage 12 VDC power
supply with a single coaxial connector, rather than the mini-din
PS2-like connector used for 12 & 5 volts. They all seem to work about
the same.

Simple to use. Drop the drive in the docking station. Plug in the
power supply (both ends). Plug in the USB cable (both ends). It's
working. High-end SATA external docking stations have multiple
connection means: USB, Firewire (400 & 800), e-SATA in varying
combinations. Some of these docking stations come with two drive
slots (mount two drives on one USB connection). They will accomodate
2.5" drives as well as 3.5" drives. (Or whatever the notebook size
is)

Fred Holmes