From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Steven Haigh Subject: Re: Recommended pci-e 1x SATA cards. Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:14:39 +1000 Message-ID: <4DA6D71F.6000007@crc.id.au> References: <4DA6CCFE.8020708@crc.id.au> <20110414165433.7a7d1cdc@natsu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: In-Reply-To: <20110414165433.7a7d1cdc@natsu> Sender: linux-raid-owner@vger.kernel.org To: Roman Mamedov Cc: linux-raid@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-raid.ids On 14/04/2011 8:54 PM, Roman Mamedov wrote: > On Thu, 14 Apr 2011 20:31:26 +1000 > Steven Haigh wrote: > >> I'm looking at adding a couple of SATA ports to my home server and >> figure its probably better to get a 1x pci-e card instead of using the >> PCI bus. >> >> Has anyone got any recommendations on cheap pci-e SATA cards that work >> well with linux? >> >> Any comments on these? >> http://cgi.ebay.com.au/PCI-E-PCIE-RAID-Express-Card-SATA-II-Controller-A24-/220762966195?pt=AU_Computer_Components_Controller_Cards&hash=item33667f88b3 >> >> http://cgi.ebay.com.au/PCI-E-PCIE-RAID-Express-Card-2-SATA-II-2-eSATA-A25-/300543913241?pt=AU_Components&hash=item45f9d02d19 >> >> This is a jMicron adapter - but I haven't heard much good or bad about them. >> http://cgi.ebay.com.au/PCI-E-PCIE-Express-Card-2-SATA-RAID-II-Controller-/260745100434?pt=AU_Computer_Components_Controller_Cards&hash=item3cb59e7c92 >> >> Any others that people recommend? >> > > JMicron is okay, it's an AHCI compatible controller, so does not even require > its own driver module, it just uses 'ahci'. Keep in mind that it is not a > PCI-E 2.0 device, and the transfer speed will be limited to 250 MB/sec over > both ports (and because of various overheads, something closer to 200 MB/sec). > A couple of modern disks can easily reach and become limited by that. Hmmm - this might be an idea... I have two 1x slots on the mainboard - and I have 8 x hotswap bays. The current setup has 5 drives (2 x 80Gb RAID1, 3 x 1Tb RAID5) plus one eSATA drive off the mainboard. Speed is great, but I can't see myself getting more than 8 drives in this unit - ever. > I suggest that you avoid Silicon Image 3132, they have data corruption issue > (on some board designs?), triggered or amplified by transferring via both > ports at the same time, at full speed. Thanks for the pointer! > If you can spend a bit more, try finding a controller based on Marvell 9123, > which is a 2-port SATA3 chip for PCI-E 2.0. For example "ASRock SATA3 Card" > which is sold separately (from motherboards) for about $33. > https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=ASRock%20SATA3%20Card > The only downside of that device, is that it doesn't seem to be compatible > with PCI-E 1.0, it is 1.1/2.0 only, so will not work on many old motherboards. Hmmm - I tried looking for these anywhere in Australia and came up empty. ebay is probably my preferred source for any card - as a lot of the time stuff like this is just not available in Australia at any kind of decent cost. -- Steven Haigh Email: netwiz@crc.id.au Web: http://www.crc.id.au Phone: (03) 9001 6090 - 0412 935 897 Fax: (03) 8338 0299 There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet. -- Admiral William Halsey