I'll reply here to other comments and an eSATA cable question Brian
asked here as well as off-list.
Mike Lazzari made a comment that you could use an eSATA enclosure rather
than the eSATA/USB drive dock and gave a discount code for one on
Newegg. That's a good suggestion (I have some external eSATA enclosures
also) but you mentioned that you can't seem to buy from Amazon, Newegg
or directly from Thermaltake in NZ.
Given your difficulty in buying from the suppliers many of us normally
use I'd suggest reconsideration of your USB 3.0 compatible device. If
WD is currently selling USB 3.0 backup devices I would have pretty fair
confidence that its implementation of USB 3.0 is probably correct. That
leaves the main question as whether you can find a properly functioning
USB 3.0 adapter card and driver for your computer. I'd suggest going
back to your local supplier and see if he has or can get one specific to
your computer. But a key part of the deal is that the card and driver
be returnable if it simply doesn't work OR if it's not significantly
faster than USB 2.0. You can try using it with USB 3.0 and time some
backup operations. Then try the same with USB 2.0. Choose something of
significant size so that you get 15-30 minutes of run time.
As to the Thermaltake dock I don't know how you can get one if you can't
buy locally or from Amazon, Newegg, etc. But if you do manage to get
one I can tell you that the 12 volt power supply adapter for mine is
labeled 120-240 volts / 50-60 Hz. There is no voltage switch so it must
be voltage sensing. It has a typical US 110 volt 2 prong plug so one
built for US usage would only need a plug adapter. Incidentally,
Thermaltake is not the only supplier of drive docks. Maybe you can find
another drive dock with eSATA connector.
As to the eSATA cable, yes, one is needed. eSATA connectors are
male/male, about the same width as a USB connector and straight.
Internal SATA connectors are similar looking but have an "L" shape at
one side of the connector where one leg of the "L" is very short.
Finally, Ian's suggestion below should be considered if you can't get
high speed performance from an external drive. The WD drive is almost
certainly a SATA drive inside the case. It could be removed and placed
in an external eSATA enclosure as Mike suggests or reinstalled
internally as Ian suggests if you have a spot for it. You might need a
short internal SATA cable, maybe a 3-1/2" to 2-1/2" mounting adapter if
the drive is 2-1/2" (notebook size drive) and possibly a power cable
adapter (maybe on "Y" adapter) depending on what's inside your computer.
Depending on the eSATA adapter you bought, if you don't have a spot to
plug in another internal SATA drive on the motherboard the eSATA adapter
*may* have one or two internal plug sockets for normal internal SATA
cables. These would be on the surface of the card itself and not on the
back edge where the eSATA connectors are.
Chuck Norcutt
On 5/24/2013 6:16 AM, SwissPace wrote:
> Brian, you mentioned buyinga sata card, does it have internal
> connections as well as external. if so then you could dismantle the
> external drive and mount it internally assuming you have space, then you
> only need a sata cable from card to disk and if your internal power
> supply is old a sata to pata (hope thats correct) power cable adapter,
> both of which should be reasonably cheap and easy to obtain.
>
> The dock I have is 240 volts but I think probably is dual voltage.
>
> IanW
>
> On 24/05/2013 08:47, Brian Swale wrote:
>> Well, having been reprimanded for not asking enough of the right kind of
>> question ( I thought i'd asked more than enough! ), here are some more.
>>
>
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