I recently picked up an eSATA cable for use with the Xavier USB3.1/eSATA port. The connector provides a standard combined data+power to an ordinary 3.5" hard drive, and a single connector to the developer kit port (I think this is J507 on the schematics). So far as I can tell all kernel features required for this are installed as integrated with the kernel, under L4T R32.4.2, and I also added some SCSI utilities to rescan the bus, but I get no dmesg output, nor any other indication the drive is even visible upon insert. No power either, and the failure is with multiple hard drives.
Unfortunately I do not have any other eSATA compatible computer to test the cable on. Since I see neither any event to indicate the hard drive was seen in any way, nor do do I see any sign of power to the SATA drive, I have to wonder if this is either a hardware failure, or an indication of need for external power? Since the cable I have is designed for integrated power+data I’d have to get a different cable if this is the case, but I’m thinking the lack of any event implies hardware failure.
Are there any special requirements for the eSATA port other than the existence of the correct kernel features and user space software? Is the eSATA port capable of providing power to the SATA drive?