I've tried each suggestion....neither works for me. I found one source that said Windows 7 would recognize the eSATA on bootup, but in the case of Windows XP Pro, it appears that I've got to go through a bunch of agony yet to get this thingy to finally work. I can index F12 at bootup, go into the BIOS Setup and change the ATA setting to ACHI and I see that it recognizes the external HD at that point, but then when I exit out of that, it won't go ahead and boot on into the initial Windows screen. It just cycles through the Windows boot up screen repeatedly until I stop it.

I'll try any other suggestions in the meantime....I've called the Dell technical helpline, and what a joke that turned out to be. They initially acted like they knew what to do, but then wanted to sell me a longer term support service and also wanted to log into my computer remotely....no thanks!!!

Thanks for previous suggestions....the eSATA port is just sitting there, waiting for me to use it (cough, cough)!!
cchallum