# Transferring files via eSATA - How does it work?



## jwbryson1 (Jan 3, 2012)

I just installed an eSATA card on my computer and bought a new external hard drive.  I now want to transfer a bunch of photos between my internal hard drive and the new external drive.

How do I prompt the computer to transfer over the eSATA cable instead of the USB cable?

Thanks.


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## snowbear (Jan 3, 2012)

You are only connecting the external drive to the eSATA, so that's what it will use.


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## cgipson1 (Jan 3, 2012)

Do not connect both cables.. only the esata. The drive should show up in your drive list... just treat it like any other drive, it will just be faster!


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## jwbryson1 (Jan 3, 2012)

snowbear said:


> You are only connecting the external drive to the eSATA, so that's what it will use.



Right now, the external drive is connected to a USB port with 8 ports (which is then connected to the  computer's main unit) and also to the main box with an eSATA cable.  Will eSATA be the default or do I need to unplug the USB cable too?

This is new to me.  Thanks.


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## snowbear (Jan 3, 2012)

Disconnect the USB from the drive.


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## jwbryson1 (Jan 3, 2012)

snowbear said:


> Disconnect the USB from the drive.



Going to try that now.


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## jwbryson1 (Jan 3, 2012)

Whoa!  I pulled the USB cable out of the USB port and the external drive immediately disappeared from My Computer as if it does not exist.  I think that means the files were transferring via the USB cable, right?

STRIKE THAT.  It's still there.  Just moved.  I'm going to try again.


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## snowbear (Jan 3, 2012)

For the future, you want to eject/dismount a drive before you physically unplug it.  For USB, theres a green arrow-like icon in the tray.  For the eSata, you may just need to right click the drive icon and look for an "eject."  I've been using a mac for a few years now, so I'm not that up on Windows.


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## iresq (Jan 3, 2012)

You might also have to enable esata in your bios settings.


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## JClishe (Jan 4, 2012)

jwbryson1 said:


> Whoa! I pulled the USB cable out of the USB port and the external drive immediately disappeared from My Computer as if it does not exist. I think that means the files were transferring via the USB cable, right?
> 
> STRIKE THAT. It's still there. Just moved. I'm going to try again.



It will appear as a different drive letter while connected via the eSATA cable than it did while connected via the USB cable, since USB and eSATA are routing through 2 completely different internal controllers (paths) to get to the external disk.

Sounds like you got it figured out though. If the USB cable isn't plugged in then obviously your file transfers won't occur over USB.


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## jwbryson1 (Jan 4, 2012)

JClishe said:


> It will appear as a different drive letter while connected via the eSATA cable than it did while connected via the USB cable, since USB and eSATA are routing through 2 completely different internal controllers (paths) to get to the external disk.



In both cases, it used the drive letter I assigned to it.  I think it's working now.  I guess my one other question is how do I measure the speed of the transfer for both the USB and the eSATA?  I understand that the eSATA should be way faster than the USB, but I'd like to confirm that.

Thanks.


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## JClishe (Jan 4, 2012)

jwbryson1 said:


> In both cases, it used the drive letter I assigned to it. I think it's working now. I guess my one other question is how do I measure the speed of the transfer for both the USB and the eSATA? I understand that the eSATA should be way faster than the USB, but I'd like to confirm that.
> 
> Thanks.



Use your stopwatch 

Note that transferring 1, or a few, very large files may transfer at a different rate than many (ie., hundreds or thousands) of very small files.


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