From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Roman Mamedov Subject: Re: Inexpensive RAID1 controller for home server? Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2012 15:34:43 +0600 Message-ID: <20120819153443.7f697ca6@natsu> References: <50306707.40302@hardwarefreak.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=PGP-SHA1; boundary="Sig_/DR7=t55jDAm9Nnpg4m/qGK9"; protocol="application/pgp-signature" Return-path: In-Reply-To: <50306707.40302@hardwarefreak.com> Sender: linux-raid-owner@vger.kernel.org To: stan@hardwarefreak.com Cc: Mark Knecht , Linux-RAID List-Id: linux-raid.ids --Sig_/DR7=t55jDAm9Nnpg4m/qGK9 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:09:43 -0500 Stan Hoeppner wrote: > On 8/18/2012 2:18 PM, Mark Knecht wrote: > > Hi, > > I wonder if there is direct knowledge here about this controller? > >=20 > > http://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Rocket-SATA-PCI-Express-Controller/dp/B= 002VEWBGO > >=20 > > I'm looking to add an inexpensive 2-port controller for a home > > server that's out of ports on the MB but has room in the chassis for a > > couple more drives running RAID1. The machine has been successfully > > running mdadm for the last couple of years and the power supply is > > plenty big enough to take on the new hardware. > >=20 > > According the the Highpoint site is has native Linux support so it > > doesn't appear there are any major driver availability issues. The one > > problem I've read about that concerns me is it may conflict with > > existing on-board Marvell eSATA controllers which this machine has. >=20 > Given the potential Marvell conflict issue, go with Silicon Image: >=20 > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=3DN82E16815124027 >=20 > All Silicon Image chips are supported in mainline, have been forever. >=20 Now, maybe I am missing something and Mark Knecht is your worst enemy -- because I see no other explanation why give him such a terrible advice. Silicon Image chips are well known for having caused data corruption to many people including in discussions on this list, usually this triggers when bo= th ports on the card are accessed at high speed in parallel. There is also a performance-related reason to avoid Silicon Image (if having them corrupt data isn't enough for someone): "Warning: the overall bottleneck of the PCIe link is 150-175MB/s, or 75-88MB/s/port, but the chip has a 110-120MB/s bottleneck per port. So a single SATA device on a single port cannot fully use the 150-175MB/s by itself, it will be bottlenecked at 110-120MB/s." =20 -- http://blog.zorinaq.com/?e=3D10 Now, what to choose instead: I highly doubt having two Marvell controllers in a system would lead to a conflict; and as the article linked above concludes, a Marvell 88SE912x wou= ld be an excellent choice, as it "supports PCIe gen2 [...] is also fully AHCI compliant, in other words robust, well-designed, and virtually compatible w= ith all operating systems". But if Mark believes there could be a conflict, and wants a non-Marvell recommendation, I'd say take a look at a JMicron, which is also the second recommendation in that article. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=3DN82E16816124047 --=20 With respect, Roman ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Stallman had a printer, with code he could not see. So he began to tinker, and set the software free." --Sig_/DR7=t55jDAm9Nnpg4m/qGK9 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=signature.asc -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAlAwszMACgkQTLKSvz+PZwjbDQCeOkqDTfm6jdtW4y70hzR3J82j Jx8AoJTeKOv/BomyR05JQsmBsBDLy7gc =XWpp -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --Sig_/DR7=t55jDAm9Nnpg4m/qGK9--