Thank you very much for your suggestion....

I should make it clear: It's a typo:

It is SATA-0 (the first SATA interface) instead of SATA version 1.

You are right, the boot device it mater IDE.

I have set the boot sequence to IDE-0 and CD-ROM and excluded the SATA but it still ignors my setting.

I just want to use the eSATA as removable storage. I am not going to make it permanentin the PC. So for regular use, I can always use USB. I am only interested in why it does not work in the way that I want it to.

Thank you again!