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

[Mark Knecht]

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