990FXA-UD3: are the eSATA ports powered or not?

[Lele81]

Hi all,
I want to be sure, before purchasing, if this motherboard have power over esata ports, or only normal esata.
I saw that all the USB 2.0 ports are colored in RED, all the USB 3.0 are BLUE and the eSATA ports are one RED and one BLUE.

Has the color the meaning of the power provided?
On the website it tells power esata, but then, in the actual box (that I saw in a shop) it tells only "esata".

Which is the thrut?

Thanks all

EDIT: I also wanted to know: in case of the power over esata, in order to use hot plug of my external hard disk, should I formati the pc using the AHCI SATA mode? Or will it be ok even in IDE mode?

[absic]

Hi there,

let's answer the easier question first. If you want to use e-SATA then you need to set the controller in BIOS to AHCI for hot swap capability.

Now the thorny question of power over e-SATA. Most e-SATA devices actually need an external power source to work properly. The e-SATA ports do supply power but if your devices will work may be dependant on the e-SATA cables used and also on if your devices are designed to run this way.

[Lele81]

Hi there,

let's answer the easier question first. If you want to use e-SATA then you need to set the controller in BIOS to AHCI for hot swap capability.

Now the thorny question of power over e-SATA. Most e-SATA devices actually need an external power source to work properly. The e-SATA ports do supply power but if your devices will work may be dependant on the e-SATA cables used and also on if your devices are designed to run this way.

Thanks, well, the fact is this:
I have an external Hard disk, a Seagate Freeagent Goflex (portable hard disk): on the website it tells that it can run under esata (using the right cable) but I have to be sure that the esata port is a "power over esata" port, and not a simple esata port. (it will work at 5 volts).

So, knowing this, is the esata on this motherboard good for my hard disk?

[absic]

The information I have says that the e-SATA ports do supply 5V so it should be OK.

[Lele81]

Well, thanks than, this information should be enough for me

By the way, do you by any chance know why one of the esata port is coloured in RED and the other in BLUE?

[absic]

Sorry, I don't know why there are different coloured ports. 

[Lele81]

Ok thanks anyway, this is only a curiosuty, the importanti thing is tho know about the esata powered.

Knowing that, I think I'm going to buy this motherboard!

[Lele81]

I went to my shop, I bought this motherboard and installed it.
I used AHCI for the esata ports from the bios, I installed the marvel driver, but it doesn't work at all with my hard disk. It doesn't power up. I also tryed to start the pc with the Hard disk connected...nothing, no power up.

A friend of mine has a power over esata external connector (+5V) that uses the power suply energy and an internal sata port to make an esata one, I tryed to use this one: this time the hard disk powered up, but it was not recognized by the system. Booting the pc with the hard disk connected: it works correctly.

So, the only conclusion that I can tell is that this motherboard has only esata ports, and not power over esata. Why the hell in the website it tells' power esata?