[stelorone]

I just picked up a Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.10 16MB SATA2 drive along with a Vantec NexStar 3 eSATA enclosure. The drive works and is recognized and I was able to format it HOWEVER, my computer will only recognize it using the USB 2 port. I had to use the included SATA to eSATA bracket as my system did not have an existing eSATA port.

I've hooked up the eSATA cable that came with the enclosure but there's no communication between the drive and the motherboard. I'm not too sure what else I should or can do. I have SATA hard drives installed in my system (4 of the 6 SATA slots are already occupied) so all I did was take the next available slot.

To clarify what I already have installed:

1 WD 36.7gb 10,000 RPM Raptor (OpSYs drive) SATA
2x WD 74.8gb 10,000 RPM Raptor Striped array RAID 0 (Data drive) SATA
1 WD "MyBook" 250gb external HD
1 Seagate 500gb Barracuda 7200.10 SATA in a Vantec NexStar 3 eSATA-capable enclosure THIS IS THE NEW DRIVE

MSI K8N Diamond Plus motherboard (which appears to have 6 SATA slots)
2gb Mushkin EM3200 DDR SDRAM
eVGA e-GeForce 7900 GT KO SLI-configured video cards

I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Thanks!

[Dave Hybrid]

So in short the drive works via USB but not when plugged directly into the motherboard?

[stelorone]

Yes. It works in USB but not in SATA mode. I'm wondering if the last 2 SATA ports on the MB are active or not. I'm not a computer wizard by ANY stretch of the imagination and am wondering what I need to do to get this thing working.

[Dave Hybrid]

Obviously make sure it has power as well as the SATA data lead plugged in.

Try looking in the BIOS for any options to turn on the other channels.