How to make USB3 dock compatible with eSATA dock?

Discontinued Products USB3-SATA-U3
1

I have a USB3 docking station (model USB3-SATA-U3) and an eSATA dock from Vantec. I purchased the USB3 dock because my old computer’s eSATA ports weren’t 3TB+ compatible.

I recently upgraded my computer so that the eSATA ports are now 3TB+ compatible. But then I noticed something weird. When I take a 4TB drive from my eSATA dock and put it into the USB3 dock, I can’t use the drive. It comes up as a “GPT protected partition”. But when I format the drive in the dock and then put it on in the eSATA dock, I can’t use it either. Instead of one single large partition, there are several small partitions . I’m guessing it’s part of the overlay scheme employed by the USB3 dock to make it compatible with older computers.

So is there anyway to make the USB3 dock compatible with my eSATA ports or am I going have to segregate the drives (i.e. one pile for USB3 and another pile for eSATA)?

Thanks.

2

No one knows how to make large drives formatted on the motherboard compatible with the Plugable USB3-SATA-U3 USB3 dock?

That’s too bad. I guess I will have to stop using this USB3 dock as I find using eSATA and hotswap SATA much easier and faster. Oh well, that’s $25 down the drain.

I should have known that overlay software would cause problems. :frowning:

3

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Plugable support! I’d be more than happy to assist you with this issue.

This is likely due to firmware and chipset differences on the docks. Can you find the model number for the Vantec and I can check?

For our dock, we have a utility to see what firmware version it is running:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/plugable/bin…

Please don’t hesitate to let us know of other questions.

Thanks again for contacting Plugable support and best wishes!

Joshua Henry
Plugable Technologies

4

Hi,

Sorry to have taken so long. I hadn’t been using the dock so I forgot about it.

The Vantec is a NexStar dual interface (USB2 & eSATA) dock.

http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/v…

The USB2 interfaces isn’t compatible with large drives but since the eSATA connection is a direct link to the motherboard, as soon as I upgraded to a Z87-based motherboard, I can use large drives again.

As for the Plugable USB3 dock, it’s running firmware 12092681f601

Thanks!

5

Hello,

We’ll want to update the firmware on your Plugable dock.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/plugable/bin…

Please don’t hesitate to let us know of other questions.

Thanks again for contacting Plugable support and best wishes!

Joshua Henry
Plugable Technologies

6

Hi Josh,

Thanks for the tip about updating the firmware.

Everything is working great now.

Thanks again!