Read GPT hard disk on Windows XP

[D.Draker]

17 hours ago, Dave-H said:

I suppose there are no such things as PCI-E extender cables which will allow the card to be physically separated from its slot

There are, but you need to choose only the best ones, since their soldering isn't always good. The first image is with an additional power cable (the cap on the photo is simply a filter against spikes, it can be directly connected to a PSU via molex, the second photo is a simple extender. 

 

 

[jaclaz]

The "high quality" ones cost one arm and a leg, though.

I have seen also some "riser" (that is the term to use in search) cards that (mis-)use a USB cable.

They are used (generally) for mining rigs, cannot say if they can be used in this specific scenario, the original idea is being able to use several graphic cards/GPU's, search for "Riser Ver009S", or "riser ver010S" example:

https://www.brainzap.de/crypto-mining-equipment/mining-equipment/pci-express-riser-adapter/brainzap-pci-express-riser-ver010s-plus-mining-karte-adapter-x1-auf-x16-usb-3-0-mining-v010s-10240

 

Here is a comparison between various types:

https://videocardz.com/review/pci-express-riser-extender-test

They are slower, but eliminate the problem with power lines as they are powered separately.

DeLock (to name an usually reliable brand) has many different models on its catalogue:

https://www.delock.com/produkte/G_1176_Riser-card.html

jaclaz

[D.Draker]

No need to buy costly boards with additional power sockets, they are mostly aimed at those who use HDD enclosures without their own PSU, like the small 2.5 ones.

[D.Draker]

6 hours ago, jaclaz said:

I have seen also some "riser" (that is the term to use in search) cards that (mis-)use a USB cable.

They are used (generally) for mining rigs, cannot say if they can be used in this specific scenario, the original idea is being able to use several graphic cards/GPU's, search for "Riser Ver009S", or "riser ver010S" example:

https://www.brainzap.de/crypto-mining-equipment/mining-equipment/pci-express-riser-adapter/brainzap-pci-express-riser-ver010s-plus-mining-karte-adapter-x1-auf-x16-usb-3-0-mining-v010s-10240

I'm afraid this one is too risky to try because of another chip on the board, we don't know how good the compatibility with XP will be, it's mostly for modern mobos' and/or laptop/notebook's low power PCI-E version. I used a similar one to extend it to a "normal" PCI-E, after I decided to try to run my old laptop with an external GPU (they produce them in several variants), it worked only at PCI-E v.1.1 speed, so I'm not sure it will fit Dave's goal. In theory looks good, though.

EDIT: Just measure the space around the PCI-E, that USB stick is huge.

Edited January 27 by D.Draker

[Dave-H]

Thanks again!

One of those extenders could potentially solve my problem, as I could then fit an ASMedia card using it, as long as the 'plug' end will go into the PCI-U socket, which it looks as if it will.

You can see the PCI-U socket, the short blue one, at the bottom left of the board in the picture.
I have a small card plugged in there at the moment which feeds my DVD drive, but that's using the SATA socket on the card top edge, the eSATA socket on the card side edge is inaccessible as that socket has no removable plate beside it like the other six slots above it as it's (I think) designed for an internal expansion card of some sort.

 

Obviously, I wouldn't want the card flying around loose in the case, but I'm sure that can be sorted out!

[Dixel]

The absence of EMI shields in such adaptors scares me.

[jaclaz]

Well, I am notoriously cheap (besides old and grumpy) but I find that a a "high end" simple cable (shielded) costing 80-100 Euro (like the Thermaltake one) is "pure folly".

Risking a few Euros for an el-cheapo one could be a fun experiment, if it doesn't work you have overpaid a short USB 3.0 cable ...

 

 

[D.Draker]

4 hours ago, jaclaz said:

Risking a few Euros for an el-cheapo one could be a fun experiment, if it doesn't work you have overpaid a short USB 3.0 cable ...

jaclaz, I can't add it to cart, can you? After I click on "add to cart", I see a blank white page with "https://www.brainzap.de/cart/ajax_add". I just wonder about the shipping price to the UK. Thank you.

My browser is Opera 97 (Chrome 111).

[jaclaz]

No idea, it works from here (Basilisk/Serpent) up to the basket (Warenkorb) and up to the page where you have to give your data/register.

There is however a page Versandkosten:

https://www.brainzap.de/versandkosten#versandkosten

but there are only tariffs for Germany and EU, our friends on the other side of the Mare Britannicum seem to have not been considered.

Dave however may look for one on local online shops or on e-bay UK, as an example here is one allegedly shipping from Wisbech, United Kingdom:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155420573507

jaclaz

[Dixel]

4 hours ago, D.Draker said:

I just wonder about the shipping price to the UK. Thank you

No shipping to UK available, to Holland it tells 7,00€ (cheapest tracked option). This is only valid for goods well below 100€.

[Dave-H]

Thanks guys!

That one on eBay looks interesting, I think I can risk a fiver on that, if only to just play with it!

I've ordered it anyway, if I think it will do the job I'll then look into sourcing an ASMedia eSATA card.

Cheers, Dave.

 

[jaclaz]

17 hours ago, Dave-H said:

 I think I can risk a fiver on that

Which reminds me of the good ol' times:

https://boakandbailey.com/2014/04/six-pints-for-less-than-a-fiver-1978/

jaclaz

[Andalu]

A few days ago I noticed a strange behavior on two different systems with XP installed, copying many files (the total amount of data was about 2TB) from an external USB3 drive to an empty 8TB GPT HDD connected to the eSATAp port of an Asmedia card with the driver asahci32.sys v2.0.3.2 installed.

The copying continued smoothly until about 1.5 TB, when it slowed down and then stopped almost completely. I was forced to block it. From this moment I could no longer access the files just copied. After disconnecting the disk via the safe removal feature and then reconnecting, in Disk Management the drive was detected as RAW, in Windows Explorer I was prompted to format the drive:

 

After reformatting the disk in Win10 and initializing it as GPT, I repeated the copy operation in XP but again the same issue occurred: the copy operation blocked after about 1 TB of copied data and the disk was no longer accessible.

I tried again to use another 3TB HDD formatted and initialized as GPT using a boot disk from a disk management software, but again I had to find that in XP the disk was no longer detected after copying about 1.25 TB files to it.

I have two other different models of 4 TB GPT hard drives into which I had started copying files some time ago by using Win10. Later, after discovering that the asahci32.sys driver allowed GPT disks to be recognized even in XP, I started copying files only using this OS without encountering any problems.
Here an image ot the two disk (the total data for each is nearly 3TB, the files copied under XP are almost 500GB):

 

So I thought I would also repeat the same procedure with the disks that had given problems: for the 3TB disk, I first copied about 460GB of data in Win10 and then continued the copy in XP until it reached 1.51TB: copy completed without issues.

I repeated the same procedure with the 8TB GPT disk, but this time the files copied in Win10 were smaller in number and size (4GB) while another 1.70TB of data I copied from XP and again this time did not detect any more problems.

Both disks connected and disconnected several times are always detected in XP as GPT. Also tried in two different systems and with 3 different sata controllers (driver is always the same, asahci32.sys v2.0.3.2), same result. Below is an image of the two disks as they are now detected:

 

Thus, to use a GPT disk in XP, it seems to be necessary to first copy some files to it under Win10.

Below is the information detected in Win10 for all the disks mentioned above (all the disks seem to have the same specifications):

Of course I will continue to copy the files under XP, but I wonder what could have happened.
If anyone has an explanation, it would certainly be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dave-H]

That is a bit worrying, but I can't imagine that I would ever want to copy that much data all in one go!

My PCI-E 'extender/riser' is coming soon, I hope.
Any recommendations for exactly which ASMedia eSATA card I should look to buy?
A half height one would be ideal, as with the appropriate bracket I can then hopefully get it into the spare PCI-X slot space that I have, with it plugged into the extender rather than the actual PCI-X socket on the board of course!

[Andalu]

22 hours ago, Dave-H said:

That is a bit worrying, but I can't imagine that I would ever want to copy that much data all in one go!

My PCI-E 'extender/riser' is coming soon, I hope.
Any recommendations for exactly which ASMedia eSATA card I should look to buy?
A half height one would be ideal, as with the appropriate bracket I can then hopefully get it into the spare PCI-X slot space that I have, with it plugged into the extender rather than the actual PCI-X socket on the board of course!

I tried some ASMedia eSATA cards with the asahci32.sys v2.0.3.2 driver installed:

- ASM1061: correct recognition of GTP disks, safe disk removal feature working;
- ASM1064: correct recognition of GTP disks, safe disk removal feature not working;
- ASM1166: no recognition of GPT disks.

The asahci32.sys driver works also for a card with the JMicron JMB585 chipset : correct recognition of GTP disks but safe disk removal feature not working.

The ASM1061 card is the one I prefer. You might choose one like this:

although it has 2 external eSATA ports + 2 internal sata ports, only two of them can be used simultaneously (jumpers must be set):
a) two external eSATA ports
b) one external eSATA port and one internal sata port
c) two internal sata ports.

Or you could choose another card like this one, with two external eSATAp ports:

to its eSATAp (Power on eSATA) ports you can connect the normal eSATA cable (suitable for 2,5" HDD/SSD drives) and the eSATAp cable with 5v and 12v voltage (suitable for 3,5" HDD drives) like this:

You can connect your 3TB GPT drive to the eSATAp port even without its USB3 enclosure.

For the first card mentioned, it is also possible to connect a 3,5" HDD, but in this case the drive must be connected to the eSATAp port of the followed adapter, which in turn is connected to the sata port of the ASMedia board: