From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: "Milo Medin " Subject: RE: FW: ICH10R PMP support Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:13:34 -0700 Message-ID: <002101c8d658$4e9bf950$ebd3ebf0$@com> References: <023701c8d4dd$d737fa10$85a7ee30$@com> <485F6830.1040000@pobox.com> <028401c8d549$7dfab390$79f01ab0$@com> <48609E28.8040300@pobox.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Return-path: Received: from exsmtp012-2.exch012.intermedia.net ([64.78.20.46]:35795 "HELO exsmtp012-2.exch012.intermedia.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id S1753365AbYFYANj convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:13:39 -0400 In-Reply-To: <48609E28.8040300@pobox.com> Content-Language: en-us Sender: linux-ide-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org To: 'Mark Lord' , 'Milo Medin' Cc: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org Thanks. Just to confirm, non highpoint 88SX7042 based cards don't have this issue right? This seems silly for them to do such a thing, but some people like their management tools... Thanks Milo -----Original Message----- From: Mark Lord [mailto:mlord@pobox.com] Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 12:12 AM To: Milo Medin Cc: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: FW: ICH10R PMP support Milo Medin wrote: > Mark, thanks very much for the reply. Sounds like the 88SX7042 is a good solution. A couple more questions: > > 1) There seems to be talk on the mailing list about a bug where on highpoint controllers using this chip the controller corrupts some data on non-raid disk members. I assume this is caused by the specific firmware on highpoint controllers using this chip, and that if I use a non highpoint version of the 88SX7042 that I won't see this problem. .. The firmware on the Highpoint RAID cards unconditionally overwrites sectors on any attached drives, before booting any O/S. Never plug a drive that already has data on it into any Highpoint RAID card. But for new drives, just partition around the firmware areas and you'll be fine. There are notes (and a WARNING) in the driver source code regarding those. Avoid sectors 1..63 (cannot boot from this controller as a result), and avoid the final (full!) GB of each drive. > 2) You said this is the best marvell solution for Linux at this time. Is there a better SATA controller that I should be thinking about other than the 88SX7042? I know the ICH9R's had good performance, but no FIS switching for PMP's. .. Dunno. I think everyone in the biz is going to AHCI style controllers now. Cheers -- Mark Lord Real-Time Remedies Inc. mlord@pobox.com