[robertino01]

Hello,

I am looking for a replacement of my incredible MS XBOX and lousy HDX1000.
The Asrock Ion 330 HT is in my humble opinion the most likely candidate.
This system will be running Ubuntu / XBMC.

I have the 3.5 inch hard disk (SATA) from the HDX formatted in EXT3 containing all my data.
Does the eSATAp (powered eSATA, or eSATA/USB) connector on the Asrock provide the 12V needed to run a 3.5 inch hard disk? Or does it only provide 5V for a 2.5" disk?
Or put in another way: Can I access my movies directly from this disk without an extra power supply? The EXT3 format will probably not be an obstacle.

I'm hoping on a positive answer, so I can go out and buy the system soon.

Kind regards, Robertino01

[Ninjahblu]

According to Newegg it looks like the 330-HT only supports 2.5 inch drives. This is common for most ion-based builds unless you use a custom case.

[PatrickVogeli]

does an eSata powered connector with 12V even exist I don't think so. The power for that sata port comes, if I'm not completely mistaken, from the usb port, so the limits are clearly set: if it was 12V some very bad thinks could happen, don't you think?

[robertino01]

Thanks for the input guys,

I based my question on the possibility of having 12V present.
the wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESATAp clearly states 5 V is always present, 12 V is depending on the PC board.

eSATAp devices are self powered as compared to eSATA devices which requires external power source.

On a notebook, eSATAp can supply up to 5v to power up a 2.5" HDD/SSD. On a desktop worksation, it can supply up to 12v to power up larger devices including 3.5" HDD/SSD or 5.25" optical drives.

All current standard eSATA devices or USB devices can be used in the eSATAp port. However, only one type of connection can be used at the same time. The port has power for the USB part of the port. Older eSATA devices will still need an external power source.

Is the Asrock PC board considered to be a notebook supplying only 5 V, or a desktop supplying both?

[321liftoff]

I emailed ASRock about this. Didn't get a very coherent response... Can someone provide some good answers?

Does the powered eSATA port on the ION 330HT supply 12V or does it only supply 5V?

With a powered eSATA port, the idea is to be able to connect an external harddrive without needing a power supply. With laptops, only 2.5" (mobile type) hard drives are supported because the laptop doesn't have a 12V rail in its power system. In a desktop computer, both 3.5" (desktop type) and 2.5" harddrives are supported because a desktop computer has a 12V rail and it's connected to the eSATA port. Since the ION330HT is low-power, I'm guessing it is geared more towards mobile components and doesn't have the 12V rail, but I want to verify.

Dear ASRock Costumer ;
The ASRock model you describe support eSATA interface devices , normally this kind of devices are supported by additional power supply adapter which comes with the storage devices .
eSATA connector supply 5 volts which is normal to devices like 2.5 HDD ,
eSATA p connector interface are normaly to supply 12 votls to devices like 3.5 volts HDDs.
In your case your system is eSATA interface connector ,therefore it supply 5 volts .

ASRock America Support

[robertino01]

Thanks for these quotes.
It looks like it is 5V only. The power to 3.5 inch drives must be supplied by an external power supply.
2.5" drives will be powered from the eSATAp port correctly.

Kind regards, Robertino

[321liftoff]

Are you saying that it supplies 5V based on their response posted above, or from some other information? I sent another e-mail:

QUESTION:

I'm confused. You say that the "system is eSATA interface connector, therefore it supply 5 volts" but on the ION 330HT product specifications website, it states that there is a "1 x Powered eSATA/USB" so this makes me think that it would supply 12 volts. Please clarify.

ANSWER:

Please use the address below as reference for eSATA
http://www.darkwire.com.au/html/cable_es...2_pin.html

eSATA with 12 and 5 volts
http://www.darkwire.com.au/html/esatapd_...apter.html

You can check all information
http://www.darkwire.com.au/html/power_over_esata.html


ASRock America Support

They still are not speaking as to what their hardware supports, 5V vs 12V. Was I not clear in my question? Any other thoughts? There's also a 5V/12V cable available at the same site, so it's still unclear to me.

[stiwi]

I was also very curious about that as I wasn't keen on connecting the external power supply to get my 3.5" disk working with ION 330ht-bd.

So I went ahead and bought a Delock 84430, which apparently was not so easy to get:
http://tinyurl.com/2b2zvl8

According to specification, this cable would perfectly suit my external enclosure which has: eSata + USB-B + MD6 power connector exactly the same as external power supply.

I spent half day trying to figure out why it doesn't work, neither with power + eSata connected, nor with power + USB-B, not even with all 3 plugged in to my external enclosure.

I came to conclusion that there is simply not enough power coming out from Asrock's Powered eSata port, despite the external power supply that I got with the 3.5" disk is also 12V. When I connect this external power supply, the disk works well through firewire or USB.

I checked the settings in BIOS, thinking that it might not be enabled or something like that, but it was not the case apparently. With the Delock cable I bought this eSata disk is not even detected in BIOS which would confirm there is not enough power.

It is a bit disappointing to be honest, according to eSATAp specification it is able to support 12V, but apparently not the one implemented in Asrock's nettop.

If someone would somehow figure out how to make it working, I would appreciate some help on this.