Re: [gentoo-user] Questions about SATA and hot plugging.

[Dale]

Mark Knecht wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 9:13 AM, Dale<rdalek1967@×××××.com>  wrote:
>
>> Mark Knecht wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 8:42 AM, Dale<rdalek1967@×××××.com>    wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I got one more hard drive to move over and it is SATA.  Question one, can
>>>> the new mobo's do hot plugging for SATA drives?  I have a plug on the
>>>> front
>>>> of the case and was wondering since it is on the front if they can be hot
>>>> swapped or if I need to shutdown then hook it up.  If I can hot swap,
>>>> where
>>>> does the power come from?  I know the drives I put in the case have a
>>>> separate power connection.  How's that work exactly?  Is that just for
>>>> external drives that have their own power?
>>>>
>>>> I have two dries in here already.  One I bought and one that was donated.
>>>>   This is what hdparm reports:
>>>>
>>>> fireball ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/sda
>>>>
>>>> /dev/sda:
>>>>   Timing cached reads:   6788 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3395.32 MB/sec
>>>>   Timing buffered disk reads:  328 MB in  3.01 seconds = 109.06 MB/sec
>>>> fireball ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/sdb
>>>>
>>>> /dev/sdb:
>>>>   Timing cached reads:   6736 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3367.58 MB/sec
>>>>   Timing buffered disk reads:  324 MB in  3.01 seconds = 107.69 MB/sec
>>>> fireball ~ #
>>>>
>>>> Is that about normal?  The mobo is 3Gbs/sec and the drives are too.
>>>>   Shouldn't they be faster than that?  I read at one time that SATA is
>>>> basically plug up and it works.  Just checking if there is a setting I
>>>> need
>>>> to change.
>>>>
>>>> Related to the above, in the BIOS, it is set to Native IDE.  Should that
>>>> be
>>>> set to AHCI instead?  Is that why it is slower than expected?  Is that
>>>> good
>>>> to go with Linux as well?  I have this set in the kernel and built in as
>>>> usual:
>>>>
>>>> AHCI SATA support
>>>>
>>>> Let me know if I am somewhat right on anything.  Oh, I decided to name
>>>> the
>>>> new rig fireball instead of lightening.  ;-)  You may notice that in the
>>>> paste up above.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks.
>>>>
>>>> Dale
>>>>
>>>>
>>> The SATA spec allows for hot plugging, so technically yes, but it also
>>> assumes the drives are in some sort of container so that power and
>>> signals are applied at the right time.
>>>
>>> The plug on the front of your case is probably eSATA which looks
>>> similar but has some small changes. What you want to do is figure out
>>> which of your MB SATA ports are eSATA compatible and then run one of
>>> those channels to the connector at the front inside your case.
>>> Typically SATA drives are converted to eSATA external drives by
>>> putting them in a case you can get at most computer shops for<    $30 or
>>> so.
>>>
>>> Hope this helps,
>>> Mark
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> I did hook the eSATA cable that goes to the front of the case to the eSATA
>> connector on the mobo.  Thing is, I think they are all eSATA compatible tho.
>>   I think that is what I read in the mobo book.  Yea, I read the book.  I
>> even followed the instructions for the CPU cooler too.  lol
>>
>> I was thinking it needed some sort of power for the drive tho.  I didn't
>> think it was like USB stuff.
>>
>> Thanks for the info.
>>
>> Dale
>>
> One of my MBs had 6 SATA connectors but only two were eSATA compatible.
>
> Power for my eSATA drive is supplied by the case.
>
> Hope this helps,
> Mark
>
>

It does.  It was the one on the front that made me curious tho.  I have 
used USB for a while but was curious about how it works on the front 
with no power for it.   I think I'll leave that one alone for now.  May 
get brave another day tho.

Thanks.

Dale

:-)  :-)