Finally got the toaster working...

[Santilli]

DD had a real nice, Startech removeable drive setup last time I was down.
I bought the Esata card, and the toaster.
Esata card was defective. One of the ports didn't work, and, the toaster ran at USB speeds, not SATA.

Newegg replaced the card free, and, I just threw the old one away, with their blessing, no need to RMA.
Startech took a couple weeks, but, they replaced the toaster, which was either blown by the card, or also defective. Rather large spark putting a drive in, and didn't work after that.

DD also sent me the esata card that came with his new motherboard, and, that's the one that's plugged in now.

What I can't figure out is why would you want an external, 4 pin molex connector, which is what the card has????, along with the two eSata ports.

 

[LunarMist]

DD had a real nice, Startech removeable drive setup last time I was down.
I bought the Esata card, and the toaster.
Esata card was defective. One of the ports didn't work, and, the toaster ran at USB speeds, not SATA.

Newegg replaced the card free, and, I just threw the old one away, with their blessing, no need to RMA.
Startech took a couple weeks, but, they replaced the toaster, which was either blown by the card, or also defective. Rather large spark putting a drive in, and didn't work after that.

DD also sent me the esata card that came with his new motherboard, and, that's the one that's plugged in now.

What I can't figure out is why would you want an external, 4 pin molex connector, which is what the card has????, along with the two eSata ports.

Which controller card do you have? The Thermaltake toasters are quite good, perhaps not as cheesy as other kinds. I prefer the ones with slots for two drives to be used simultaneously. I also like the USB 3 SIIG toaster which has a small internal fan to reduce drive temperature.

 

[ddrueding]

While Greg was here, we were working both slots of the toaster pretty hard. I had a USB fan blowing across both drives.

 

[Santilli]

Which controller card do you have? The Thermaltake toasters are quite good, perhaps not as cheesy as other kinds. I prefer the ones with slots for two drives to be used simultaneously. I also like the USB 3 SIIG toaster which has a small internal fan to reduce drive temperature.

The card I'm using comes with the Gigabyte motherboards. Don't know who makes it;-)
This is the Toaster:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ta_external_hard_drive-_-17-707-170-_-Product

This was the defective card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816070

 

[ddrueding]

The molex connector on the back is so you can directly connect a hard drive without a toaster. It is a bit of a kludge, to be honest, so I just use the toasters.

 

[MaxBurn]

I have been using the molex on the back with the cables, no toaster. I only need it every once in a while though. I like that there is no extra power supply stuck in an outlet.

 

[Santilli]

The molex connector on the back is so you can directly connect a hard drive without a toaster. It is a bit of a kludge, to be honest, so I just use the toasters.

THAT'S WHAT THE WEIRD CABLE IS FOR! :lightbulb:

 

[Santilli]

Spoke too soon. Only one channel is working...

 

[ddrueding]

If you swap the two eSATA cables, does the other one work?

 

[Santilli]

Yes.

 

[ddrueding]

So it isn't the toaster. Either the cables, the L-bracket, or a config issue on the motherboard.

What happens when you swap both ends of the cables, does the "good" one move or no?

 

[Santilli]

When I switched the cable end on the computer, it changed to the other slot. Appears the right Esata port is not working.

Both cables work.

I might pull the extra SSD and connect to that SATA port, since it really isn't doing anything sitting there.

 

[Santilli]

Pulled the SSD, but, gave up on connecting to that port. You did such a neat job of connecting and bundling the cables I don't want to take them apart. Plus, with the giant
video card housing, I can't really get in there anyway.

So, I powered it up again, and, green light to power brick, nothing out to the toaster.
It now has no power.

What a pain. Just sent off another request for an RMA...

 

[LunarMist]

Time for the circular file?

 

[Santilli]

Yes, it seems to be a POS. Others have had similar problems, low quality power supplies etc.
However, DD isn't one of them.
One port would be fine. I got my backup stuff done, prior to the failure...

 

[LunarMist]

It's all cheap crap. You just happen to have a bad one. Maybe I was lucky with the Thermaltake Duet.

Now I'm really liking USB 3.0. There is not the drama of eSATA and cables are up to 15 feet.

 

[Bozo]

Why not install one of these?

 

[LunarMist]

It takes up a bay - not the same thing.

 

[Santilli]

I have two of these in the box,
http://www.granitedigital.com/satahot-swapinternalenclosure1.aspx

and had a third one. Oddly, they aren't rigid enough to work well, stacked three up. I pulled the middle one, and they flexed correctly, allowing proper contact. I could install that Antec device, but, I'm wondering if for some reason one of the ports on the motherboard isn't working. Haven't verified this yet. Guess I could run just one of these, without the external esata port.

I like the toaster, since I use a couple 300 gig drives for redundant backup. It would be nice to be able to backup to both of them at the same time, but, all they do, pretty much in my system is be backup drives. One is in a drive caddy, but, for that small size, and little use, 30 bucks a caddy doesn't sound like an effective use of space, or money.

They are cross shipping, so the toaster is going out today.

 

[Santilli]

Why not install one of these?

Has anyone every actually installed and used one of these? How rigid are they?

 

[Bozo]

I have installed about a dozen of them. They are all metal with a plastic face plate. Plenty rigid.

 

[Santilli]

What a joke. They said they would 'cross ship' a new one. I STILL don't have the replacement.
Reinstalled the third drive bay. Works, sometimes...sometimes not.

 

[Santilli]

New toaster arrived today, finally. Here we go...

 

[Santilli]

This toaster has the lights quit after one day. Power is only going to one slot, and, it really
hasn't worked. Wasted 50 bucks, but, I'm going to try the Antec tray, since I'd really like to be able to use the older drives for single shot backups, and then remove them from the
system. The trays for the GD stuff are more then they are worth.

 

[Santilli]

BOZO, YOU ROCK!

After the third RMA, going on number 4 toasters, I gave up. Pulled the Esata connector, and went with the Antec removeable drive setup.
It went in, though I seem to be running out of SATA power connectors, and was up and running in less then 4 minutes. I'm currently copying files to what I was afraid was a dead backup drive.

The Antec is much better designed then the Granite Digital, since it uses aluminum for the frame, and not plastic end pieces like the GD. Picture a bed frame with rigid aluminum rails on two sides, and the other two parallel ends are made of flexible plastic, and, you have a model for a lack of torsionial rigidity.

It's 102 degrees here right now, but, I got it working!

Thanks Bozo

 

[Santilli]

Temperature correction: we hit 108 here today...

 

[Santilli]

Bozo:>
One of the things I really like is The Beast tries to boot from that SATA enclosure, something it won't do on the Granite Digital removeable drives.

I've always wanted a removeable drive setup, similar to the Panasonic CF-51, where you can change drives by just plugging in a new one, and boot from it.
This appears to finally be that setup, but, it's kind of moot, since no one makes a 3.5"
SSD for a reasonable price to plug in, and, I'm not likely to replace the X-25M raid array
anytime soon, for any reason.
Tempted to try it in the HTPC, but, probably not, due to install issues with it, and the pain of getting all the components working.
The Supermicro server is also unlikely, since I think I don't have anymore SATA slots, and, I don't have anymore PCI slots, IIRC, for a new PCI to SATA card. I should check that.

 

[LunarMist]

What are we recommending now in a USB 3.0 + eSATA toaster-style dock? THe white one crapped out (I can't remember the brand). However it was only USB 2.0 and eSATA.

 

[CougTek]

IMO, they are all crap. Buy the cheapest that fits your needs and free your mind of all hopes that it'll last. I wouldn't buy a brand name because they usually charge more for it, but don't last any longer.

 

[CougTek]

For the record, without searching too much, the cheapest I can get is the EagleTech ET-CSKSU3-BK and it's 30$. It's USB 3.0 only, which should be enough as it's almost as fast as eSATA.

 

[LunarMist]

They certainly look like crap for the most part in the reviews. I need two inputs, either eSATA and USB 3.0 or two USB 3.0. I doubt the latter exists.

 

[CougTek]

The only one I've seen with both eSATA and USB 3.0 was a 130$ toaster from Mediasonic. At that price, it makes no sense. You're better of with two 30$ cheapo docking stations. There's also the upcoming Vantec NST-D300SU3-BK, but it doesn't seem to be available yet.

 

[CougTek]

And if you feel bad about having too much money...

 

[LunarMist]

That is the family size toaster. I want a one-holer.

 

[Mercutio]

That is the family size toaster. I want a one-holer.

The deluxe models just have three. The mind boggles at the fourth option.

 

[LunarMist]

Well I only need the one slot that accommodates the two drive sizes. I don't need to mount two drives at the same time and I'm not a fan of the pot multiplier needed for that option. I do need two inputs for two systems.