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

[Dale]

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

:-)  :-)