HP Elitebook 8730w ESATA Problem

[gotdamsg]

I am on Windows XP Pro. Just bought a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex with ESATA port.

My problem is when I plugged in the external drive, the laptop doesn't detect the drive.  I don't think the drive needs special driver. It's plug and play.

Anyone please share your experience and the solution for my problem.

[Mumbodog]

Look in Device manager, any yellow bangs or missing drivers in there?

Look in Disk Management, does it show up in there?

[gotdamsg]

There is no yellow bangs, everything is perfect. Also nothing show up in the Disk Management.

[Mumbodog]

Is this the Original OS that was sold with the notebook?

Try another e-sata cable.

[gotdamsg]

yes this is the original os sold with the notebook and I don't think the esata cable is faulty.. any other solution? maybe special device driver?

[gotdamsg]

Because some posting on the internet stated this is because of the BIOS settings (AHCI, RAID).

[Mumbodog]

Yes, AHCI would need to be enabled in the bios to be able to hot plug an e-sata device.

Problem is if it is not enabled when windows was installed, it cannot be enabled after unless it is W7 or Vista, if you are using  XP, then you need to enable ahci in the bios and reinstall XP.

If you are using Vista or W7, see this article, enable AHCI in the registry, shut down, enter the bios and enable AHCI, save bios changes and exit bios, start windows, see if it works now.

.

[gotdamsg]

AHCI already been enabled since I got this notebook. Other than AHCI, there is RAID option, should I change it to RAID?

[Mumbodog]

No, raid will not help, it must be another problem, try this shut the PC down (not restart), connect e-sata drive and turn it on, start up the PC , see if it shows up anywhere now.

[gotdamsg]

I've restarted the notebook but still can't be detected. Any other solution?