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OT: Experiences with SATA, Intel ICH5, Kernel 2.6



Hello everybody,

we are currently running a web- and mailserver with a Tyan S5102G3NR Board, Linux-2.6.8.1(kernel.org) and Debian Woody. The disks are 2x 36 Gb, U-320 SCSI, RAID 1 (ICP-Vortex GDT8114RZ). We now need additional disks in this server, but not at the same speed (not SCSI), not redundant (no RAID) and effordable.

Onboard options are:
* 2 ATA-Ports (one already has a CD-ROM attached)
* 2 SATA-PORTS (Intel 82801EB ICH5)
* 2 SATA-PORTS (Promise PDC20378, RAID 0,1)

At this time we need 2 additional disks and would like to use the ICH5-SATA Ports. I did not use SATA before and http://www.kerneltraffic.org/kernel-traffic/kt20040807_270.html#6 says

---8<---
Serial ATA (SATA) for Linux
status report
July 8, 2004

Intel ICH5, ICH5-R, ICH6

libata driver status: Production, but see issue #2, #3. Recently work on issue #2 has improved the state of that issue.

drivers/ide driver status: Production, but see issue #1, #2.

Issue #1: Depending on BIOS settings, IDE driver may lock up computer when probing drives.

Issue #2: Excessive interrupts are seen in some configurations.

Issue #3: "Enhanced mode" or "SATA-only mode" may need to be set in BIOS.
--->8---

Could someone share experiences with this chipset/board or comment on the issues. Do you think the SATA-Ports might interfere in any way with the ICP-Vortex controller?

Another question is -- would you avoid the Promise controller by all means? (another 2 disks could be needed in the future). Has someone experiences with this one. I often heard that Promise is crap and a performance hog compared to other raid solutions. I would use it just to have another 2 SATA-Ports.

Best regards,
Henrik

--
Henrik Heil, zweipol Coy & Heil GbR
http://www.zweipol.net/



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