Problem with Arima HDAMA rev.G with Integrated SiliconImage Sil3114 Serial ATA 4 Ports and 1TB SATA disks. Recomendation for a cheap SATA controller for linux software raid?
Dear Everybody,
I am telling you the whole story, perhaps you can give me a better idea.
Almost 3 years ago I purchased Arima HDAMA rev. G motherboard with integrated Silicon Image Sil3114 Serial ATA 4 Ports SATA I adapter. ( http://www.arimacorp.com/ViewProduct.asp?View=86 ) . BIOS version is 2.13.
My intention is to make a file server, using linux software raid, so I bought 2 new shiny 1TB SATA II disks, and installed them. Unfortunately the system does not boot - hangs in the Sil 3114 BIOS initialization stage. Apparently this is a known problem with Sil3114 and Sil3112: ( http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&message.... )
The Silicon people have issued a BIOS update for this issue, however they explicitly state - only for ADD-IN cards. Perhaps, integrated controlers share the same eeprom chip with the motherboard BIOS, and an attempt to flash it - will render the system unbootable. For integrated controllers - the mainboard producer should provide the update.
Apparently the Arima people have sold their business to http://www.flextronics.com/en/default.aspx. The new site is at http://www.flextronics.com/arima/server/Product/ViewDownload.asp?View=HDAMA%.... The last BIOS update is from 8/30/2006. And I think this patch well predates the 1TB hard disks and has been issued before SiliconImage's patch: ( http://www.siliconimage.com/support/supportsearchresults.aspx?pid=28&cid... ) .
So I am not willing to risk a BIOS update and I have decided to spend additional cash on a cheap but fast 4 port SATA II controller and use it with Centos 5.2.
Where I reside, the following two have caught my attention:
ADAPTEC SATA RAID 1420SA Serial ATA-150/Serial ATA II-300 PCI-X 4ch for 120 USD ( http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/products/Controllers/Hardware/sata/entry/AAR-14... )
and
PROMISE FastTrak TX4300 Serial ATA II-300 PCI 4ch for 160 USD ( http://www.promise.com/product/product_detail_eng.asp?segment=RAID%200/1%20H... )
Do you have any experience any of these 2 adapters, operating as plain SATA controllers, under linux software raid? Which one would you recommend?
Best regards, Alex
On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 12:51 PM, Alexander Georgiev alexander.georgiev@gmail.com wrote:
So I am not willing to risk a BIOS update and I have decided to spend additional cash on a cheap but fast 4 port SATA II controller and use it with Centos 5.2.
If you think $120-160 is cheap, I'm wondering if your company needs more software engineers....
;^)
I have had good luck with Adaptec controllers in the past, and no experience with Promise, but w.r.t. SATA I couldn't give you any input.
FTR, my m/b only does SATA-I, and spent a little time looking for a cheap PCI-SATA-II board (so I could run my SATA-II disks at full transfer speed) but the cheapest one I found was $60-70, and if I'm going to spend that much, I might as well get a new m/b that supports SATA-II (they're cheaper!).
I know that's not much help - sorry. Hope someone else will have more info....
mhr
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Alexander Georgiev -
MHR