e-SATA port, powered (power over eSATA) or not?

[andy1808]

I have just bought a Vaio VPCEB2C5E. On the delivery note spec it says e-SATA/USB and above the port itself it says eSATA followed by the USB symbol.  Therefore I am assuming if it says "USB" that it is a powered combo port that will work with the new Seagate GoFlex portable drive combined with its eSATA upgrade cable (which states it will only work with a combo powered eSATA port and not a standard eSATA port).

Anyone know how I can find out whether the eSATA ports being put into new Vaio's are definitely the "powered" version?

[Blencogo · Accepted solution]

Hi Andy,

I believe ALL USB/eSATA ports are 'powered': -

http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=235

Although it does say that you cannot use both USB and eSATA at the same time - it is in fact two ports with the four central contacts for USB/Power and the new 4 outside contacts for eSATA.  You will need to set the access mode to eSATA as it will not work in IDE Mode.

[andy1808]

Thanks very much Blencogo, the link does seem to confirm that.

Apologies if this sounds thick but how do I "set the access mode to eSATA"?

[Blencogo]

I think you should be OK.

Some earlier USB/eSATA ports would only connect using eSATA if the hard drive in the laptop was set to eSATA mode.

Ignore this it should work OK.

[andy1808]

Thanks