160GB Toshiba SATA Notebook HDD in eSATA/usb enclosure

I've got a SATA drive (NTFS) in a 3rd party enclosure that will support eSATA and usb2. Drive works fine on PC (usb 1.1 also) but will not mount on iBook G3 w/ 10.4.10. Just clicks. I only want to access files. Any ideas???

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
I don't know anything about Windows, but from _this Wikipedia article_, it sounds like it may need the _NTFS-3G Driver_ in order to work with Mac OS X?

Similar Messages

Pavilion dv6 2190us esata/usb port and Dual HDD Dock

When I connect a dual HDD dock (BlacX Duet) to the esata/usb port only one drive is recognized. Can this esata/usb port support dual sata drives? How do I make it work?
Windows 7 64-bit
Core i7 Q 720 1.6Ghz

I have the exact same question with my DV6T I bought Nov 2009. Did you ever get an answer? I want to buy a dock that supports 2 sata drives and connects via 1 eSata cable to the laptop. But before investing need to know if the eSata port is multi port aware as the docks require the laptop chipset be able to support. I emailed HP help desk without success so far. Any info is appreciated...thanks.

SAT II 2.5" Solid State Drive installed in my Toshiba U200 Notebook won't bootup

I want to install my SSD in my laptop. Actually, I already have. First, I cloned the old HDD, using Acronis Migrate Easy 7. I also used a USB enclosure to do the cloning. As far as I can tell, I have a perfect clone of the old drive on the new drive. My problem is that the laptop will not bootup with the new SSD. I get error msg: a disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart. I looked in the bios (system setup) and see the Built-in HDD = Primary IDE(IFQH/IRQ14). Can this setting be changed? How do you access it. What I really want to know is did I make a mistake in buying this drive for my old U200? Thanks, stanthemanc

You sound like a couple other threads and people.
The power management in the 2008. 10.8.2 trouble but 8.3 seems okay.
SSDs always take special care and instructions for handling.
You do not want to try do you realize that "Open Firmware" died with PowerMacs and you are on EFI? Actually yours got the first taste of UEFI / EFI64 which is of itself enough "off" the standard that it should have been updated if possible, is not blessed certifed by Apple and Microsoft for UEFI under Windows.
And you have two PCIe 2.x slots and two that are 1.1 slots. Which makes for issues too.
Things that may be issue and not obvious:
PRAM battery
Keyboard or its cable
any and all external devices
PCIe cards
Your video card (which is not listed)
Faulty FBDIMM(s)
The fact 10.8 runs on other hardware has no bearing on how well it was tested and implemented on Early 2008 which are entirely different hardware, firmware, processors, etc.
I saw one person that the front fan had so much dust it was not cooling the system down.
Which leads to: what are you using to monitor system thermal sensor temp readings?
And, please do (on a new fresh clean install of Mac OS) uses SmcFanControl 2.4+
I would hope you kept 10.6.8 and can dual boot, but otherwise, create one for now for testing, some of your reading should have come up with those where it works with SL and had issues with ML (and Lion).
The lack of Rosetta. The need to do a clean install of ML rather than update to new OS over SL (and carry around old stuff for years and multiple OS's).
Sometimes the best test for RAM is to replace with known good new set ($31 Amazon).
Don't rule out video card, especially if it is still the OEM 2600XT or 8800GT.

MobileSTOR MS2UT + esata + USB + mac pro = never-ending problems

Hey gang,
I seemed to have entered a perfect storm here:
I had purchased the *MobileSTOR MS2UT 2 Bay SATA to eSATA/USB 2.0 RAID 0/1* Enclosure initially for a *dual 800 quicksilver G4* mac that I had, looking for a hardware-based Raid solution for back ups and to not burden the G4 processor. I have replaced the G4 with an early *2008 2.8 dual quad core mac pro*. After two machines and two different PCI sata cards, I've had no luck....
(website for the above enclosure)
http://www.sansdigital.com/mobilestor/ms2ut.html
For starters, in the G4, I had a quality Seritek/1ve2+2 controller that had no problem with two other single drive enclosures, but failed with the MS2UT.
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1ve2plus2/
A glib response from Seritek support says that I should use their enclosure. Digging around I find that I need a controller card that can handle a port multiplier enclosure rather than just any serial ata enclosure. Seems silly to me that the user has to dig for this. I mean the USB & FIREWIRE interfaces don't seem to care: it says USB/FIREWIRE on the effing box of both the controller and on the drive, badda-bing, badda boom: it works. Whats with this high maintenance of esata. Well you get roughly 2-3x the performance so Ok, maybe its worth it.
Well, with the macpro on the horizon,, I give up on the G4, close that unsolved mystery. For the mac pro I figure PCIe, a modern computer, no problem. I get the computer, fish around the internet for an esata PCIe card, then I come across this review of the WiebeTech SilverSATA II which appears to be similar to that of the MobileSTOR:
http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/wiebetech/silver2/
It appears that the unit has specific tastes as far as having the right card to make it bootable, multiport aware, etc... (the Sonnet Tempo 4+4 card works but its a PCIx card, not PCIe)
Like I said: install a bootable Mac OS on any USB/firewire drive, plug it into any card, and it works... estata... its russian roulette...
Ok so I round up some vendors, (firmtek, sonnet, Highpoint) send them emails to see what they think: if their latest cards will work with the MS2UT... They are all over the place.. they think it may work, they dunno... it should work, they haven't tested it... then they try to push their own enclosure hardware on me. I mean see an astrologist or have your palm read.. it seems more likely you'll get a more accurate answer from them, rather than vendors... props to Sonnet, though, they list compatibility right on the page with their controller.
then 10.6 comes out... and you email vendors about compatibility on that OS, and they don't even email you back.
So I find this review of the highpoint rocket raid for the mac on the great sight: Barefeats.com
http://www.barefeats.com/hard119.html
to make a long story short:
+KEY FEATURES of the "eSATA for Mac"+
+1. Dual eSATA ports+
+2. 32 and 64-bit EFI onboard+
+3. Able to boot Mac OS X+
+4. Plug and Play for (Oxford and Silicon Image chipset) external storage+
enclosures
+5. 4x PCIe rating+
+6. Support for Direct Attached and Port Multiplied enclosures+
+7. RAID 0, 1, 5, and JBOD support using browser-based manager+
+8. Native support for Snow Leopard+
+9. Compatible with 2006 - 2009 Mac Pro+
I should be set, right? WRONG!
I email highpoint, detailing that I planned to mix both Port multiplied (PM) and direct access (DA) enclosures on the same card at the same time. They say maybe (only describing the PM enclosure, not even mentioning the DA enclosure compatibility as I specified), since its a raid card and I intended to use it with an enclosure with its own raid hardware, however they say they see no issues. Well it shows they don't even know their own hardware: Their docks say that the card supports PM enclosures as well as DA (direct access) enclosures. Their web based software even shows the two as separate categories. What is buried in the manual and not cleared up by tech support or their product page is that YOU CAN'T MIX PM AND DA ENCLOSURES ON THE CARD AT THE SAME TIME!!! I explained more in the paragraph above than any tech support from any company. Unbelievable where support has gone these days.
I discover the above because I found the card at Fry's believe it not and since they have a generous return policy I tried it out and learned the above the hard way. No dice on the MS2UT with what is perhaps the most forgiving esata card for the mac.
So more hunting on the web, this time the enclosure's manufacture site: sans digital.
http://www.sansdigital.com/mobilestor/ms2ut.html
...clicking on the accessories tab I find several esata adapter cards... funny that they include ones that don't appear to support PM enclosures... Anyway, I study two that state they supports port multipliers:
http://www.sansdigital.com/adapters/ha-san-4espcix2.html:
http://www.sansdigital.com/adapters/ha-dat-4espcie.html
Ok, I may not get a bootable enclosure.. I just want to get this thing working in esata since cloning my internal raid on the mac pro takes 8 hours using usb, and my main purpose is to maintain a clone so I make my compromise.
I should be set, right? WRONG!
reading the fine print on both cards it says:
*(Please note that the host adapter card is based on Silicon Image chipset, which currently only support up to MAC OS 10.5.1 by Silicon Image.)*
I do more research, it seems any manufacturer using chips by Silicon Image will have an issue with 10.6 macs! On some websites it says Silicon Image will never release a driver. On firmtek it says they make their own driver and swears that it works. At the Silicon Image website they say they are an OEM provider so don't bother them, and that its up to the vendor to make a compatible driver. Sheesh!!
I don't get it.. whats the point in having an esata sticker if it appears to come in more flavors than an ice cream shop!
Oh and it gets better: I go to the sonnet site, thinking they have to have something that works, looking at their latest tempo SATA E4P:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/temposatae4p.html
well, the fine print is EXHAUSTIVE, but again props to Sonnet for making it crystal clear:
(4) Sonnet Tempo cards are compatible with most external SATA storage. However, external hard drives with USB 2.0/eSATA dual interface based on the Oxford Semiconductor OXU931DS storage controller chip may not be compatible with Mac OS X when connected via SATA. Known issues are kernel panics occurring when the drive is connected, or the drive not being recognized by the operating system.
+Summary of external SATA storage+
+• Storage with eSATA alone +
Compatible
+• Storage with triple interfaces +
Compatible
+• Storage with eSATA plus Firewire 400 and/or 800 +
Compatible
+• Storage with port multiplier support (multiple drives) +
Compatible
+• Storage with RAID 0, 1, or 5 (multiple drives) +
Compatible
+• Storage with eSATA plus USB (based on JMicron 20366) +
Compatible
+ these compatible drives include, but are not limited to:+
+- OWC Mercury On-the-Go USB 2.0/eSATA 2.5" portable+
+• Storage with eSATA plus USB (based on Oxford OXU931DS) +
+not compatible+
+ these incompatible drives include, but are not limited to:+
+- Western Digital My Book™ Premium ES Edition™+
+- Seagate Technology FreeAgent™ Pro+
+Advanced users note that this card is not yet compatible in full 64-bit boot. Snow Leopard default boots in 32-bit mode, except in an Xserve.+
So in short: if you have an enclosure that has both USB and esata, but does not use the JMicron 20366, then it will not be recognized by the card. If you have an enclosure with three interfaes: USB, FW and esata, you're fine. Keep in mind too: most manufacturers don't put the source manufacturer of their chipsets on the box. So I ask..
*HOW IS THE CONSUMER SUPPOSED TO KNOW!*
I swear, a perfect analogy is if I go to best buy, buy a toshiba DVD player only to discover it doesn't play DVD's that contain movies produced by Sony Pictures..because its not a a Sony/columbia House movie. You think consumers would put up with that crap? UNBELIEVABLE...
So now I have this really versatile enclosure that apparently can't run on Mac 10.6 with ANY esata controller for the mac. I really like the design of the enclosure, with its hardware based raid that is hot swappable and has a small footprint. However there seems to be no way to get a controller card for this device that will work on a 10.6 mac.
I guess whats inferred is that you should get an enclosure with the fewest variety of ports, i.e. esata/fw/usb... ironically if it has all three, you are ok, but not if it has usb/esata. Being that USB is the most popular, thats not easy. I'm looking to contact Sans Digital to see if they will exchange it for me, possible for a model with esata/fw800 or an esata only model, if it exists. My last resort is to just use it as a USB drive (my intention was to use it as a clone of my system, with the added security that the enclosure makes a copy of a copy in raid 1), however its like 3x as time consuming than esata.
If anyone has a working MobileSTOR MS2UT/wiebetech SilverSATA II in a 10.5 mac pro, please respond to me with your config. Thanks for reading!

Thank you hatter for your reply.
I'm familiar with OWC, as I've done business with them since 2001, as well as XLR8.
I have a 2008 mac pro so the 2009 model related problems are not an issue in my situation
As I stated above I go to reputable vendors for my hardware who have specific mac experience. I look specifically for hardened compatibility so that there is support for things like deep sleep. The Sans Digital enclosure was over $200..it was not cheap. The USB/Esata combo is the most common interface for the enclosure storage market. Having a compatibility issue is a vendor fault, not the buyer. Having minutiae flavors of esata compatability based on chipsets roulette wheel is inexcusable. The enclosure needs that I have is for the medium to be removable and be able to be rebuilt at the hardware level, i.e. at the enclosure's control panel. To the mac its just a drive. The hotswap and back up is transparent to the OS and mac hardware, and allows me to change from raid 0/1 and do back up right from the enclosure interface.
So far I haven't had problems with USB/Firewire. Meanwhile Esata to me has been nothing but beta testing for vendors and seeing how the chipset manufacturers have gone loosey-goosey on following spec and just dump cheap chinese crap into the market with no pride.
for comparison:
USB/FW, PATA, SATA, SCSI
1) industry standard
2) native drivers
3) bootable. Period.
4) buy a controller card/raid card, plug it in, format, it works even through major OS upgrades.
5) USB/FW: Hot-swapable. Yes it really does work.
Esata:
1) Multiple standards (again, look at the Sonnet website to see the minefield one has to walk through to mate a controller card to an enclosure)
2) non native drivers. Buying an esata card is like marrying into the vendors family. Plus if you manage to get things working and do an OS upgrade, you are playing russian roulette. If you system boots off it, then get life insurance because you may kill yourself.
3)Not bootable and no one seems to care to explain why. Whats odd is that some earlier PCIx cards were bootable (like sonnet Temp 4x4) but their PCIe successors aren't. Not sure if this has to do with the host computer BIOS and/or the current chipsets from SI which rely on custom drivers from the vendors. Another lovely example of this are the ODD_SATA ports on the Mac pro: storage only, not bootable. Sure it makes sense now that I've learned it the hard way, however to users of FW/USB and even IDE, one would think that motherboard ports are bootable. Yes I know this is a mac bios thing and its not even considered as part of the feature set of the computer
4) As I've shown, each controller card seems to be unique, even if its from the same vendor. Even the drivers vary from card to card! Heck even the vendors are unsure as to how compatible their controller cards are with various enclosures. That is proprietary, not industry standard. OS upgrades doesn't seem to provide native driver support for Direct access and/or port multiplying interfaces. The problem with this is that film/video users like myself like to build bullet proof systems, and with raids that I've built from IDE, FW, or USB, I've never had the minutiae of compatibility issues as I've had with esata. I installed an Acard raid controller in my dual 800 back in 2001, installed the drives and forgot about it. it just worked through multiple OS upgrades. Not sure whats gong on with esata.
5) Can't call it hot swappable if I can't get the **** thing to wok in the first place.
My analysis is this: Esata is basically a proprietary format to the vendor that sells the hardware, while USB/FW is an industry standard. I bought a quality enclosure that said "esata", I bought a quality controller that said "esata", it didn't work. I had to learn the hard way about DA and PM enclosures and now about chipset conflicts. I've built computers since the late 80's amiga days, hot-rodding that computer well beyond spec and with custom cooling. SCSI terminators and IDE master/slave issues were easy-cheesey because they followed straightforward rules. This esata stuff is just plain sloppy work on the part of vendors and as Danny Glover said I'm getting to old for this **** as far as being a beta tester for hardware.

Compaq Presario CQ61-424SA Laptop - eSATA/USB combo port does not allow eSATA connection

Hi,
I recently purchased an external HDD with eSATA connection for use with my Compaq Presario CQ61-424SA laptop.
The specification on the laptop states it has a eSATA/USB combo port however there doesn't appear to be one. On closer inspection there is 2 USB ports on the right hand side of the laptop (which work fine with USB devices) and one on the left which is slightly wider than the other 2 (which also works fine with USB devices). However when trying to connect an eSATA cable to the port it does not fit and on closer inspection it does not look like the conventional eSATA/USB combo ports.
Does anyone know if this laptop was spec'd incorrectly or does indeed have an eSATA/USB combo port.
The cable I'm using was supplied with the external HDD I brought with connections as shown in this link.. http://www.comesource.com/storeweb/images/cable%20esata%20to%20esata.jpg
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, I am having the same problem with the "e-sata/usb shared port" , which does not look like a normal e-sata port, and the e-sata connector won't fit in it.
Can anybody help us?

External Firewire box for PATA and/or SATA I - SATA II HDDs

Hi all,
I'm looking for a weird thing, and I don't know whether it exists or not.
I've got a bunch of PATA HDDs now on shelf, and I'm wondering how to use them as external backup.
I googled to find a Firewire box for 4 or 5 PATA and/or SATA I - SATA II HDDs, I didn't find anything, do you know about something similar ?
Thanks,
Peloche,
MacPro 2.66, 6GB, 1TB; Mini G4, 1.45, 1GB; iPod 60 GB; 30" & 20" ACD; Apple IIC Mac OS X (10.4.8) X1900XT

Briefly,
This item Stardom SOHOBANK U6-4S-S2 Backplane cost :
220 euros +
20 euros transport +
10 euros eSATA cable +
100 euros PCIe eSATA card =
Roughly 350 euros and I have to supply HDDs.
I investigate about my existing HDDs stock :
1 x 250 Go +
2 x 120 Go +
1 x 80 Go =
570 Go and the enclosure is full.
I've had a look at French Apple Store they have a MiniMax 640 Go Iomega + hub FireWire / USB integrated for 399 euros (not available on US Apple Store).
They have also Iomega 320 Go USB 2.2 for 149 euros.
But I'm concerned about the next future, that means tomorrow, when Leopard starts to hunt beginning of 2007, a nice feature called "Time Machine" will be available.
This real time backup (if I understood well this feature) will oblige the backup disk to be "on" permanently, that is to say more permanent noise if backup storage is external.
I've had a look at my existing Mac Pro configuration, I've got:
Bay 1 : free
Bay 2 : 1 x 300 Go SATA II
Bay 3 : 1 x 250 Go SATA II
Bay 4 : 1 x 250 Go SATA II
Port 6 : 1 x 150 Go SATA I (Motherboard)
I'm considering buying a 500 Go Maxtor pro line for Bay 1 for backup purpose only, what do you think ?
Thanks,
Peloche,
MacPro 2.66, 6GB, 1TB; Mini G4, 1.45, 1GB; iPod 60 GB; 30" & 20" ACD; Apple IIC Mac OS X (10.4.8) X1900XT

Is it possible to install a 160 GB Toshiba slim-fit HDD from an iPod Classic 2009 model into a iPod 5th Gen Late-2006 model that originally had a 30 GB Toshiba drive?

Is it possible to install a 160 GB Toshiba slim-fit HDD from an iPod Classic 2009 model into a iPod 5th Gen Late-2006 model that originally had a 30 GB Toshiba drive?
I have had my 30 GB iPod video for about 7 years, it was a gift and has served me well. Unfortunately it was in my pocket when I brushed up against a very powerful magnet which latched onto the unit and scrambled the hardware. Sad iPod icon.
I was told I probably need to replace the HD in order to get it back to working order. What I am wondering is, would I be able to replace it with a larger capacity drive so long as I got a unit that was slim enough to fit into the casing?

Have you tried resetting the PRAM? http://gigaom.com/2011/07/26/when-to-reset-your-macs-pram-and-smc/
Which Windows version are you trying to install? If I remember right, you can't use windows 8 on these older machines.
Other than that it's hard to say what could have gone wrong. I can only suggest going through the steps again carefully and making sure everything worked the way it should.
Have a look at this article too for a slighly more verbose instruction on making a drive bootable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Install-Windows-7-without-USB-or-DVD-without-upg ra/

Does dv6-6153cl support SATA III HDDs?

I'm having trouble with my laptop and I think I've narrowed the problem down to the HDD. I want to replace it, and upgrade it, but I'm not sure what HDDs I can use.
I'd like to know if I can install a SATA III HDD into my dv6-6153cl laptop. From what I can tell it currently has a SATA II HDD installed. Can I upgrade to SATA III or am I stuck with SATA II?
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Get the SATA-III. Even if the motherboard would only support SATA-II (not true in your case) you can use SATA-III drives. SATA is fully backward compatible. But, again, your motherboard has the HM65 chipset which supports SATA-III. A good rule of thumb is if it has USB 3.0 it also has SATA-III. Not 100% true but awfully close to always true.

ESATA/USB-Combo-Port on T520 connect to external Harddrive case

Hello.
I have a eSATA/USB-Combo-Port on a T520. I think there are cables to connect a 2,5" Harddisk direct to the Port with only one cable for eSATA and Power.
I am looking for an external case for a 2,5" Harddisk that have a USB-Port (to connect to other Computers) AND a Port for my eSATA/USB-Combo-Port.
Does anyone know where to buy a suitable Case?
I Want to connect the Disk to my T520 using the eSATA speed (with one cable) with the option to connect it to other computers who only have USB 2.0.
Thank you very much.
Jens

Hi Jens,
I haven't thought to look for one of those before. Is this the kind of thing you're after?
http://www.amazon.com/eSATAp-eSATA-USB-External-enclosure-SATA/dp/B009OLHYLO
http://www.amazon.com/eSATAp-Enclosure-2-5-Inch-Aluminum-43106/dp/B007VB79JG
I think eSATAp is the key here, if I understand your question.
[edit] the 1st link is an eSATAp only cable, so it doesn't help with your "other computer" connections.
Z.
The large print: please read the Community Participation Rules before posting. Include as much information as possible: model, machine type, operating system, and a descriptive subject line. Do not include personal information: serial number, telephone number, email address, etc. The fine print: I do not work for, nor do I speak for Lenovo. Unsolicited private messages will be ignored. ... GeezBlog
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ESATA/USB combo port on T410?

It's listed in the specs as a eSATA/USB combo port.
I've looked at the port and I just don't see how a USB connector can fit in there.
So what does this mean exactly?
T410(2537) -- i7 620M - Intel HD GPU (1440 x 900) - 8GB RAM - 128GB Crucial M4 SSD - 250GB Hitachi HDD - Windows 7 & 8 Pro
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Its ok. Ive found out that in fact it isn't a combo port.
Thanks.
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Is-the-eSATA-in-the-T510-powered-or-non-pow...
T410(2537) -- i7 620M - Intel HD GPU (1440 x 900) - 8GB RAM - 128GB Crucial M4 SSD - 250GB Hitachi HDD - Windows 7 & 8 Pro

Toshiba 1TB external HDD

I purchesed one of these about amonth ago, to day when I plugged the machine into the mains an turned it on nothing happend. i have left it for about an hour and tried again, still nothing happens, what could be the problem and how would i go about fixing this.
Cheers in advance.

I had a similar problem with my Toshiba 320GB external HDD. It would work when connected to by Dynadock, but not when connected to any of the USB ports on my Qosmio G50. I tried removing all the USB drivers and restarting without luck.
It turned out to be the fact I wasn't using the original USB cable that came with the HDD, but a stock stadard USB cable. The original cable that came with the carries 5volts whereas a std USB may not. And the reason the Dynadock worked is that it has a mains power source.

SATA II HDD in late 2008 MBP 15"

my MBP came witha 320 gig, was looking to install a western digital Scorpio 7200 500 gig SATA II HDD.. Will this work?

Not sure why your external USB optical drive isn't working, but...
...how in the world did you get a Thunderbolt port on a 2009 MBP?
Clinton

Esata/usb port

On my Protege R600-ST520W the eSATA/USB port works doesn't work all the time, I want to see if this is a software issue, is there some power setting or some aspect of XP that would not allow interfere with the eSATA/USB port?

It's a skewed view. people rarely post when their system is working right.
The odds are it does not support port multiplying, you will need to get an express card adaptor that supports that. I have one on my laptop and have a four drive esata bay attached to it with no issues. I did notice on mine that when clean installing windows you want to disconnect the external drives, or they will be seen as the first drives by windows setup, and it will want to put boot files on them.
Welcome to the Toshiba user forums.
For those of you who do not know what a user forum is, it is a community of users who volunteer time to help other users. Anyone can participate. It's 100% voluntary.
Being super active is never a requirement

Does Satelite R630-146 support SATA II (SATA-300) HDD

Hi,
I am planning to change my current HITACHI 5K320 320GB HDD (HTS543232L9SA00) which is SATA I (*SATA-150*) to new HDD, but I can't find any information will my Toshiba Satelite R630-146 support new SATA II (*SATA-300*) HDD.
Maybe anyone has any ideas where I could find such information?
Thanks,
Vaidas

Hello
SATA II HDDs are downgrade compatible to older SATA I interface. They have the same power and specification so its no problem to change the HDD to SATA II.
Furthermore there is no HDD capacity limit so you can install every 2.5 HDD. You can buy one with 500GB, 750GB or more, thats no problem :)

SATA Problem: Can see hard disks in USB enclosures, but not internal

I have a mid-2010 macbook pro 13". The other day, it crashed on wake-up, and would not boot. I had a OCZ Vertex SSD boot drive, and the OEM hard drive in an optibay enclosure (replaces the optical drive and used only for data). I used this setup for one year with no problems. After much troubleshooting, I found that I could see the SSD drive by booting into a recovery partition that I have on a USB stick, and putting the SSD in a USB enclosure. Then disk utility could see it, but not mount it. The label on the boot partition was "lion", but it changed to "disk1s2". I was able to repair the drive using disk utility, and then boot from it using the USB enclosure.
Once booted, I could still see the OEM hard drive with no problems. So I powered down and put the SSD back inside the case and rebooted. It booted in safe mode, but it booted fine. The next time I rebooted, it would not boot. I swapped the OEM drive and the SSD drive, and then the sytem booted with no problems and I was able to use both drives.
One day later, I noticed my OEM drive was no longer mounted in OSX. I took it out, put it in a USB enclosure, and OSX could see it fine. There were no errors on the disk. I put it back in the macbook and reboot but OSX couldn't see it.
So, the primary SATA port seems to be working intermittently. Three times now, a drive has stopped working on this port. Each time, I could use the drive in an external enclosure (or using the other SATA port normally used for the optical drive. Does anyone have any ideas? Could it just be the cable? It is the motherboard?
I'm trying to make this computer last at least another month or so because I need to upgrade to a larger model, and am holding out for the 2012 release.

Could be something as simple as the cable...they have been known to go bad. Got an Apple store nearby? If so, it's a cheap/easy replacement.

160GB Toshiba SATA Notebook HDD in eSATA/usb enclosure

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