Will Windows 7 run (read and write) my external hard drive?

I am getting a new computer and will be installing either the x64 or x32 bit version of Windows 7 and am looking into compatibility.

I had planned on just plugging in my external drive (plug-and-play) and am afraid I have totally confused myself.

My question is simple: Will Windows 7 run (read and write) my external hard drive? (and if so, should I go x32 or x64?)


Here’s what I have:

“Beyond Micro” external 320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive connected to my current laptop through a PC card adapter.

When I click on my “Safely remove hardware” link it displays this option “Silicon Image SiI 3512 SATALink Controller.”

I also ran a system information program called Everest which reports the following:
Under Storage, SCSI/RAID Controller: Silicon Image SiI 3512 SATALink Controller
Under Storage, Disc Drive: Hitachi HDT725032VLA360 SCSI Disk Device (298 GB)

I went to the Silicon Image site and the only “3512” item they have is a “SATALink PCI Express to 2-Port Serial ATA II Host Controller,” and I have no idea if this is what I have or not. It seems that if I approach the site from different angles I am getting different results. Now I find there: “SiI 3512 –PCI to 2 Port SATA150” and “SATALink 2-Port PCI Host Controller.” I did download a 126 page data sheet. The cover says “SiI PCI to Serial ATA Controller.”

This page MIGHT be the right one for the driver, but I am not sure if it’s for what I have.


Hitachi Link:
When I search Hitachi for the “HDT72...” I’m taken to this page
then next to this one where they might call the disc a Deskstar T7K500

I see on the back of the unit my SATA port (in use) and a square-ish USB port – maybe that’s why it’s a 2-port?

I have lost track of what I am supposed to check for a driver for.

Can someone please help me get unconfused?



TIA

--drcarl

 

Yes. It won't matter if you get the 32bit or 64bit version, but I recommend the 64bit version unless you have a laptop PC or older desktop PC. The 64bit version has no limitation on RAM usage; the 32bit can only address a maximum of 3.25gb or so (it depends on some other hardware factors like video memory usage, but it comes out to 3gb to a max of 3.5gb). I have 4 external hard drives that I use extensively, and the were all used previously with Windows XP. When Win7 hit the market, I saved what I wanted from my PC hard drive to the externals, then wiped XP and installed Win7 X64 and haven't looked back. All 4 of my externals work perfectly. You will not a need any drivers, they are built-in to Windows and have been since Windows ME which came out in 1999 (I think). The SATA port on the back of your PC is an eSATA port (the "e" is for "external") and it has a slightly different connector than a standard SATA drive port. Again, once you get Win7 installed in your system, and you install all the needed system drivers, the eSATA will function with an external hard drive just like an external hard drive that uses a USB port. The "Silicon Image Sil3512" is simply the motherboard SATA/RAID controller, and any drivers you may need for it will be included with the system or motherboard drivers CD, or should be available from the motherboard maker's web site. The external drives themselves have no independent drivers of their own. However, upon reading your post a 2nd time, the following statement has me a bit confused:

When I first read this, I thought the "unit" was the PC, but now I think it may be the external drive. Regardless, if you simply connect the external drive to the PC via a USB port, then open "Computer", you should see it listed. At this point, you can then simply double-click it to open it and you can then drag-n-drop files to and from the drive....

 

THE MEMORY! - x64 of course, I forgot ( lol? ).

I have put together a custom machine from the ground up. This is my first desktop (described here) --I have had numerous laptops over the years.

I will be starting with 6 GB or RAM onboard. An IT person was telling me that Win7 x64 is not ready for prime time because of hardware incompatibility. I think his clients might have 50 or 100 printers, and faxes, and scanners, etc. I'm just me. The only hardware I have is a printer and it's supported; I don't need my computer to have software to run any cameras or anything else that I can think of. Then it occurred to me that the eSATA is hardware...and so is the monitor, hence my posts. It looks like I'll be OK with both.

Sorry for any confusion. Yes, the external hard drive is "the unit" I was wondering about. It's got both eSATA and USB ports. My current borrowed, limping, antique, XP laptop computer interfaces with that drive via a PC Card that takes the eSATA connectuion. The ~new~ computer's MoBo has eSATA, USB 2.0 and 3.0, and a whole lot more including Win7 x64 and Office Pro 2007 [12] which I will upgrade to Office [14] (which supports x64) once it's released. I am even tempted to run the beta that is out now.

Looks like I'm in good shape since the new computer and the existing external drive both have USB and eSATA connections....and someone else says my monitor will work just fine, too.

Thank you for sharing your experience!

--drcarl

 

thanx ploder, --tempers my excitement while I await delivery (perhaps next Friday).

If the external drive doesn't just plug and play, I'll then be wondering which of the last 3 links in my original posts are relevant. Meanwhile, I'll be considering other solutions for to get about 280 GB of data into my new machines data drive. My sweetie has a new Toshiba external hard drive with maybe 120 GB of unused space. If my external drive fails and hers works, I'll get my data onto hers, then from hers into my new machine.

It might even just be easy!

Easy is good.

PS - thanx for the hotfix link. I wonder how I can tell if I will have "NVIDIA USB Enhanced Host Controller Interface"? Is that something on the MoBo or within Windows or what?

 

If your computer has an nVIDIA chipset then it will have a nVIDIA EHCI interface. If my memory serves me correctly, this chip controls the access to the USB, PCI ports, and a few other things on the motherboard.

Don't worry too much about this, I don't think you will have a problem, and if you do, there will probably be more hotfixes out there to deal with it if plodr's one does not work.

 

OK - totally not worrying about it...there's always a way.

BTW, if the "chipset" is a motherboard thing, I found this in the specs:

"Based on the Intel X58 and ICH10R chipset, which is the high-end platform for Intel's LGA 1366 Core i7 processors with QPI 6.4 GT/s, the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R delivers bulks of next generation features that gaming enthusiasts and power users have been waiting for."​

I thought I had it wired until I saw that the next paragraph mentions NVIDIA...and I don't know if that references the same chipsets....

"The Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R includes Gigabyte's 333 Onboard Acceleration features. Incorporates USB 3.0, Serial-ATA Revision 3.0 (6Gbps) and a 3x USB Power Boost, as well as multi-GPU support for NVIDIA 3-Way SLI and ATI CrossFireX and support for Intel's high performance processors, every part of the system performance is reaching to the cutting-edge levels. With the memory controller integrated directly into the processor die, the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R also supports triple channel DDR3 memory for blazing fast memory performance."​

​

Hmmmmm....just found this (below)...I wonder how a second BIOS chip would be used in the real world? (I know...for a different thread)

"System durability and security are as important as ever. Gigabyte's DualBIOS system has a second BIOS chip on the motherboard for quick and painless recovery from crashes and viruses."​

 

This means that you do not have an nVIDIA chipset, you have Intel. Rather stupid of me really, I forgot that the new i7s only have Intel chipsets at the moment.

This is in reference to the supported graphics card types, meaning that the board will support nVIDIA tri-SLI or ATI CrossFireX. It is nothing to do with the chipset.

This means that the motherboard has a backup BIOS in case the settings on the first one get corrupted or erased the second one will kick in and replace the settings on the first one with the defaults.​

 

Update: everything went seamlessly.

The machine rocks.

Thanks to everyone

drcarl