eSATA seems incompatible with Windows 10

This is purely out of curiosity, so there's no rush.

Is Windows 10 incompatible with eSATA? I have a couple of eSATA docks that used to work perfectly with Windows 7, but with 10 either they're recognized and dropped after a few minutes, or they're not recognized at all. I remember reading that this appeared to be a bug when 10 was introduced, but my PC is updated to Version 1903, Build 18362, and the problem prevails.

I finally threw in the towel and bought a nice USB 3.0 dock, but this is one of those things that sits at the back of my mind, nagging me from time to time. As I noted at the top, there's no rush on this; I'm just curious whether MS has chosen to leave eSATA by the roadside.

Thanks in advance!

cpmusic said:

This is purely out of curiosity, so there's no rush.

Is Windows 10 incompatible with eSATA? I have a couple of eSATA docks that used to work perfectly with Windows 7, but with 10 either they're recognized and dropped after a few minutes, or they're not recognized at all. I remember reading that this appeared to be a bug when 10 was introduced, but my PC is updated to Version 1903, Build 18362, and the problem prevails.

I finally threw in the towel and bought a nice USB 3.0 dock, but this is one of those things that sits at the back of my mind, nagging me from time to time. As I noted at the top, there's no rush on this; I'm just curious whether MS has chosen to leave eSATA by the roadside.

Thanks in advance!

I have used 3 different external enclosures, which feature dual USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces, in Windows 10 V1903 using a Bytecc USB3-to-eSATA bridge cable, and they work perfectly.

cpmusic said:

This is purely out of curiosity, so there's no rush.

Is Windows 10 incompatible with eSATA? I have a couple of eSATA docks that used to work perfectly with Windows 7, but with 10 either they're recognized and dropped after a few minutes, or they're not recognized at all. I remember reading that this appeared to be a bug when 10 was introduced, but my PC is updated to Version 1903, Build 18362, and the problem prevails.

I finally threw in the towel and bought a nice USB 3.0 dock, but this is one of those things that sits at the back of my mind, nagging me from time to time. As I noted at the top, there's no rush on this; I'm just curious whether MS has chosen to leave eSATA by the roadside.

Thanks in advance!

Its probably a MB Driver problem. My MB doesn't support eSata natively, but I installed PCI Express card PCI Express eSATA 3.0 Card - External SATA 6Gbps | 2-Port | StarTech.com I have several external drive enclosures with eSata support and all have worked flawlessly. This system had the first version of W10 (1511) installed and has seen every update to today (1909), with no issues. So its got to be a driver problem.


Since that is probably a pretty old MB, the vendor probably won't be of any help. Sorry

storageman said:

Its probably a MB Driver problem.

Possibly, when attaching an eSATA cable to the MB's SATA ports, but I tried a PCIe eSATA card with its own drivers, with no luck. I then bought a straight PCIe SATA card that didn't work with an eSATA attachment. (The card is fine; I bought it mainly because it supports SATA III, which is in short supply on my MB.) I bought a PCIe USB 3.0 card that's working perfectly, so I'm not going to spend more time on this.

Thanks for the feedback, though. I really do appreciate it.

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mike s said:

I have used 3 different external enclosures, which feature dual USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces, in Windows 10 V1903 using a Bytecc USB3-to-eSATA bridge cable, and they work perfectly.

Well, this is what I get for reading posts from the bottom up -- I didn't know there was such a thing as a bridge cable. I'll keep that on the back burner as a possibility. Thanks!

You simple need to refresh the device manager when you attach the esata hard drive.

cpmusic said:

Possibly, when attaching an eSATA cable to the MB's SATA ports, but I tried a PCIe eSATA card with its own drivers, with no luck. I then bought a straight PCIe SATA card that didn't work with an eSATA attachment. (The card is fine; I bought it mainly because it supports SATA III, which is in short supply on my MB.) I bought a PCIe USB 3.0 card that's working perfectly, so I'm not going to spend more time on this.

Thanks for the feedback, though. I really do appreciate it.

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Well, this is what I get for reading posts from the bottom up -- I didn't know there was such a thing as a bridge cable. I'll keep that on the back burner as a possibility. Thanks!

I too have that Bytecc Bridge cable that I use on my USB 3.0 only laptop so I can access the eSata drives there.

boombastik said:

You simple need to refresh the device manager when you attach the esata hard drive.

Please let us know how you refresh Device Manager ?

boombastik said:

You simple need to refresh the device manager when you attach the esata hard drive.

More often than not, the problem occurs after the esata drive has been running for a bit. But either way, refreshing the device manager doesn't help. Rebooting sometimes helps, but that's a pain.

I got an esata to USB 3.0 adapter and so far that's working perfectly, so my problem has essentially rendered moot.

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storageman said:

Please let us know how you refresh Device Manager ?

Open the Device Manager, expand Disk Drives (click on the arrow next to the item), right-click on Disk Drives, and click Scan For Hardware Changes.

When I first installed Startech eSATA card in 1505 windows did not natively recognize it until I installed the driver. It has since updated flawlessly to every version including 1909

Well I am now having probs with my

Startech PEXESAT322I eSata Multiplier

Search Results Page | StarTech.com Australia



This allowed me to plug in a ext box with 4 drives in it using one eSata connection to the card in the Dell 9020.


It worked in 1903 until 1909 and then stopped working.
Still stopped in Win10 version 2004.

In Dev Mgr under Storage Controllers it shows the Asmedia 106x driver and say it has the latest driver.

When I have one drive in the box, it shows in Disks or Portable Devices


Startech do not know about any driver changes in 1990 update from 1903.



Where can I find out what changes were made in Win 10 to stop it from working.



Seems like it is not the card or the box.

It still works fine with that same eSata card in another Win 10 1903 box.



Thanks