Dead Men Walking

dMw Chit Chat => The Beer Bar => Technology Section => Topic started by: Penfold on January 04, 2010, 11:23:13 AM

Title: Usb 3
Post by: Penfold on January 04, 2010, 11:23:13 AM
Has anyone had a dabble with this as yet?

I regularly back up 100gb+ of data and can't wait for it if it's as good as all reports.

If anyone's had a go and can help me set this up that would be great. I presume I need a USB3 PCI card / PCMCIA card and special cable. Anyone found any good enclosures ?

I presume that's all I need is it? I mean it doesn't need a mobo upgrade for instance??

Thanks

PEN
Title: Usb 3
Post by: Gandalf on January 04, 2010, 12:24:03 PM
Here you go, all you need to know :)

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2009/12/18/first-look/1
Title: Usb 3
Post by: T-Bag on January 04, 2010, 01:02:04 PM
I'd look at eSATA, it's similar sort of speeds and you might find some of your computers already support it. Plus there are plenty of drives on the market with it. First one I found in a 5 sec search (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176516)

I know my mobo supports it and it's fairly old (supports Core2 and Q cpus not i5 or i7).

Saves getting new hardware.
Title: Usb 3
Post by: Carr0t on January 04, 2010, 01:12:40 PM
What is the actual difference between SATA and eSATA? I thought SATA was hotswappable anyway, so the only difference as far as I can tell is simply that the connector is placed on the motherboard back panel so as to be accessible without opening the case. My last mobo even came with an 'eSATA adaptor' which appeared to be just a very very simple PCB that had a molex -> 2x SATA power convertor in the middle and 2 SATA passthroughs, one on each side. It was on a plate to fit into an expansion slot.
Title: Usb 3
Post by: Penfold on January 04, 2010, 01:43:57 PM
Thanks.

I have sata drives but am not sure about esata??

Anyway here is an exciting picture of my mobo

(http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h284/mpppen/mobo.jpg)

and here is a pic of the usb 3 card

(http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h284/mpppen/1-2.jpg)

Am I right in thinking that the slots on my mobo are not the right ones for this?

If not, how do I check if I can do esata?

:g:

Thanks
Title: Usb 3
Post by: Gandalf on January 04, 2010, 01:46:38 PM
They're standard PCI slots. The USB card you've pictured is a PCI-E card.

As for the eSATA on your mobo, what make/model is it? I would hazard a guess to say that it is not eSATA capable due to the fact that it has PCI slots which indicates it's quite a distinguished motherboard (polite way of saying old, very old :narnar: )
Title: Usb 3
Post by: DannagE on January 04, 2010, 01:51:15 PM
I got one of these last time I put an order in at scan and its brilliant if you are upgrading hard drives or making backups every week etc. Just leave it plugged in on the desk and put in the drive you want and turn on. http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Sharkoon-SATA-Quick-Port-PRO-%2825-35-SATA-HDD-to-your-PC-Via-USB-eSATA%29-plus-Card-reader-plus-2xUSB-H (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Sharkoon-SATA-Quick-Port-PRO-%2825-35-SATA-HDD-to-your-PC-Via-USB-eSATA%29-plus-Card-reader-plus-2xUSB-H)

Penfold what motherboard have you got and I can look if you have esata or not. Or you can look at the back of your pc and see if you have what looks like a sata port. esata is basically external sata. So you are getting the same speed as you would do if it was in your pc ;)
Title: Usb 3
Post by: DannagE on January 04, 2010, 01:52:17 PM
Quote from: Gandalf;300689They're standard PCI slots. The USB card you've pictured is a PCI-E card.

As for the eSATA on your mobo, what make/model is it? I would hazard a guess to say that it is not eSATA capable due to the fact that it has PCI slots which indicates it's quite a distinguished motherboard (polite way of saying old, very old :narnar: )


Lol I wasn't going to say that, but yeah. Chances are slim to non :roflmao:
Title: Usb 3
Post by: Penfold on January 04, 2010, 01:55:24 PM
lol ok well this is it.

Service Tag:BS2R04J    (http://i.dell.com/images/global/brand/ui/secondary.gif) Change Service Tag   System Type:Vostro Desktop 410Ship Date:10/23/2008Dell IBU:Europe (http://i.dell.com/images/global/general/spacer.gif)(http://i.dell.com/images/global/general/spacer.gif) QuantityParts #Part Description(http://i.dell.com/images/global/brand/title/shad.gif)1
D0941011
VOSTRO 410 : INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q6600 (2.1
RESOURCE DVD : VOSTRO 410 DIAGNOSTICS &1
DOCUMENTATION : ENGLISH SHIPPING DOCS WI1
MEMORY : 4GB
1
FLOPPY DRIVE : 19-IN-1 MEDIA CARD READER1
HARD DRIVE - 320GB (2X320GB) DATASAFE LO1
OPTICAL DRIVE : 16X DVD ROM1
OPTICAL DRIVE : POWER DVD 8.0 (VISTA AND1
DISPLAY : NOT INCLUDED1
GRAPHICS : nVidia Geforce 9600 GT
AUDIO : INTEGRATED HDA 7.1 DOLBY DIGITAL1
SPEAKERS : NOT INCLUDED1
MODEM : NOT INCLUDED1
MICE : DELL OPTICAL SCROLL USB (2 BUTTON1
KEYBOARD : UK/IRISH (QWERTY) DELL ENTRY1
OPERATING SYSTEM : ENGLISH WINDOWS VISTA1
SOFTWARE : ENGLISH MICROSOFT WORKS 9.0 (1
SOFTWARE : DELL SUPPORT CENTER 2.01
ANTIVIRUS : ENGLISH MCAFEE TOTAL PROTECT1
BASE WARRANTY1
1YR BASIC WARRANTY - NEXT BUSINESS DAY O1
DECLINED DELL RECOMMENDED NEXT BUSINESS1
DECLINED COMPLETECARE1
VOSTRO DESKTOP 410 ORDER - UK1
ROAD FREIGHT CHARGE PER UNIT 1-10 UNIT

 it's my work machine so I'm not too worried about the  gaming side of it.

Umm
I think perhaps my PCI-E slot is being used by the geforce 9600 gt card??
Can I just plug a cable into where it says 3, 4 or 5 on my mobo (pic above) and lead that to the sata dock for example????
Title: Usb 3
Post by: delanvital on January 04, 2010, 05:12:10 PM
Yeah I would at least consider eSATA since it is a good way to transfer data externally with little hassle, and the tech is here right now and cheap.
Title: Usb 3
Post by: Penfold on January 04, 2010, 05:28:43 PM
Ok I know I'm dumb but that does mean I just need to get this:

(http://base1.googlehosted.com/base_media?q=FroogleCatalog_CNETI527127.jpg&size=20&dhm=5ef569b1&hl=en)

and it's plugs into here on my mobo?

(http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h284/mpppen/mobo-1.jpg)

and then I just need a esata enclosure?

thanks
Title: Usb 3
Post by: T-Bag on January 04, 2010, 06:00:57 PM
eSATA has higher voltage outputs to support longer cables. You could try Link (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141095) or that brackert and see if it works. The protocol is identical (if wiki is to be believed)

Unfortunately your motherboard is quite old so can't be sure if it supports it or not. If you had a second PCI-E slot you'd most likely have it included, but if it didn't there are PCI-E cards for eSATA too.

I think to get faster speeds Link (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149273) plus the cable I mentioned would be a cheap way of testing still supporting USB 2.0 to fall back on if it doesn't work.
Title: Usb 3
Post by: Penfold on January 04, 2010, 06:09:26 PM
Ok thanks.

The one thing I don't understand is about my mobo supporting it. Surely if I'm plugging the cable in the slot as shown above it will read it like a normal HDD??
Title: Usb 3
Post by: T-Bag on January 04, 2010, 07:09:49 PM
Quote from: Penfold;300720Ok thanks.

The one thing I don't understand is about my mobo supporting it. Surely if I'm plugging the cable in the slot as shown above it will read it like a normal HDD??

eSATA uses higher voltage and can pick up lower threshold signals, if your mobo can't put that out it might not reach the end of the cable with enough juice to be detected, or a signal might attenuate too much for it to read as eSATA cables are upto 2m long.

It's like if you use an Ethernet cable that is too long it doesn't support gigabit speeds anymore, only SATA can't drop back to 10/100 mode so just wouldn't work.

My guess is it should work, but if it doesn't that is why.
Title: Usb 3
Post by: Penfold on January 04, 2010, 08:01:27 PM
OK that makes sense.

Thanks for the lesson all :D