Re: Looking for an ARM based Mini-ITX mainboard with at least 5x SATA
On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 2:29 AM, Axel Beckert <abe@debian.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> for personal use I run a backup server based on a Chenbro ES34069[1]
> Mini-ITX case (4 SATA hot-swap bays). Initially it sported a nice VIA
> EPIA SN18000 mainboard[2] (4x SATA, 1x PATA) whose PATA controller
> unfortunately broke -- and VIA no more manufactures Mini-ITX boards
> with more than 2 SATA ports. So I replaced it with a SuperMicro
> X7SPA-HF-D525[3] Intel Atom based mainboard (6x SATA). But despite
> having a dual-core Intel Atom on it, it seems less performant than the
> previous VIA C7 based board.
>
> I now wonder if there are already ARM based server mainboards out
> there, which fit into the Mini-ITX form-factor and have at least 5,
> better 6 SATA-II or SATA-III ports.
not a snowball in hell's chance, sorry axel. there might exist
something in the future (say 1 to 3 years time) when some aarm64
systems come out and become mainstream but the low-power nature of ARM
offerings means that there are very few that have even one SATA port
(and they typically don't support PMP or any of the multiplier or
async parts of the SATA spec), very few that have PCIe, and of those
very few that have PCIe the PCIe interface on the majority of
commercially-available boards is totally ignored. where it's not
ignored, the premium you pay for such a board is far in excess of the
cost of the average mini itx system.
> So far I found ARM-based Mini-ITX (or compatible) boards by VIA,
> Kontron, Habey, Cadia Networks, and Simtec (the latter from 2003
> according to [4] and [5], but still sold according to [6]!) but none
> of the them has more than two SATA ports.
wow. i'm stunned. i'm absolutely amazed that an ARM-based system
with two SATA ports even _exists_.
the only possibility would be to speak to the linux-sunxi community,
someone's currently investigating if SATA port multipliers work on
Allwinner A20 boards. there's 2 or 3 people buying random bits of
hardware to see if any of them work.
actually if you want RAID and can put up with hardware RAID (and the
limitations thereof) you could potentially consider that.
the only other possibility is to use USB-to-SATA converter bays.
l.
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