One of the features on the FreeAgent™ | XTreme model drive is an eSATA port. eSATA is a newer technology that allows you to run a drive at faster eSATA speeds, removing some of the restrictions caused by slower USB and Firewire 400.
These are a few items to keep in mind when using eSATA.
- Use the latest drivers for your eSATA card. During testing several issues were discovered with older eSATA card drivers.
- If using a Promise TX2 or TX4 based card, be sure you are using the latest driver (released August 2008 or newer).
- If using a card based on an Initio 1620 chipset, be sure you are using drivers dated January 2008 or newer.
- If using a card based on a JMicron JMB36X chipset, be sure you are using driver version 1.17.46 or higher.
- Other cards may have similar issues, so please check for the latest driver for the eSATA card being used.
- The following eSATA cards were tested with the FreeAgent XTreme:
Card Manufacturer
Card Model
Driver version
Promise TX2 / TX4 Requires drivers dated August 2008 or newer. SIIG SA2012 & SA1012 Requires driver version 4.12.07.0910 or higher. JMicron JMB36X Requires driver version 1.17.46 or higher (the drive will not be detected by Seagate Manager software with older drivers)
- When purchasing an eSATA cable, keep in mind that all cables are not the same. View this Knowledge Base article for information about cabling in general.
- Some of the software functionally may not be available via eSATA. For example, drive diagnostics are not available through eSATA due to variations of supported commands between vendors. If you need to test the drive, please connect it to the USB port on your computer. Some eSATA cards may restrict the software even further, making it so the software cannot see the drive at all. Please check the Autoupdate feature of the Seagate Manager software to confirm you are using the latest version.
