Hello

 

• I might need more SATA ports…What can a be a good PCI-e SATA controller card (with 2 internal ports minimum) and cheap (when I say cheap, I mean around $20/$30)

• 1 more question: what is the real advantage of the cache disk? What will be the improvements?

 

Thanks

 

Hello

 

• I might need more SATA ports…What can a be a good PCI-e SATA controller card (with 2 internal ports minimum) and cheap (when I say cheap, I mean around $20/$30)

• 1 more question: what is the real advantage of the cache disk? What will be the improvements?

 

Thanks

 

 

I've had good success with Syba PCIe controllers.

 

Cache disk has these main uses:

a) Since not parity protected, sustained writes are faster (assuming GigE network connection and fast source).

b) Provides a place for you to create files outside the array, e.g., a swap file.

My favorites by far are these:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132008&cm_re=roswell_sata-_-16-132-008-_-Product

 

I have a pile of them. They work great in Windows, OSX, Linux, etc. They are based on the Sil 3132 chipset, much like the Syba ones. I just prefer the Roswell ones because I have a lot and they have never failed me.

 

To use them for Unraid, you MUST flash them to a non-raid bios. Here are the downloads for the bios:

 

http://www.siliconimage.com/support/searchresults.aspx?pid=32&cat=15

 

You want the b7703.bin version. The easiest way is put it in your Windows machine and use the bios software to flash it.

 

If you decide to flash it via dos via floppy (like what I do) then the correct command for the DOS flash is as follows:

 

UpdFlash b7703.bin -a -d -v -ID3132

 

After the flash they work great in Unraid. I am running a parity check right now at 70,101KB/sec, so the performance is great!

 

 

To use them for Unraid, you MUST flash them to a non-raid bios. Here are the downloads for the bios:

 

http://www.siliconimage.com/support/searchresults.aspx?pid=32&cat=15

 

You want the b7703.bin version. The easiest way is put it in your Windows machine and use the bios software to flash it.

 

 

Will this bios also the right one when using the card with portmultipliers?

 

I like this one. Although I never reflashed the bios.

 

MASSCOOL PCI-e 4 port SATA2 (SIL3132 Chip)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815280008

 

Only 2 of the 4 ports are available at one time.

I like having the option of switching to eSATA if I need to (sometimes I do it for port multiplier testing).

 

This one is confirmed to work with port multipliers.

 

 

I also have this one. It's similiar to the adaptec 1430SA

 

Rosewill RC-218 PCI Express x4 (x8 and x16 slot compatible) SATA II 3G Controller Card/ 4 internal SATA with 2 external eSATA

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132018

 

I have tested it with port multipliers too.

 

Sometimes they have it on sale for $59.00.

I also have this one. It's similiar to the adaptec 1430SA

 

Rosewill RC-218 PCI Express x4 (x8 and x16 slot compatible) SATA II 3G Controller Card/ 4 internal SATA with 2 external eSATA

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132018

 

That one is awesome because it uses a Marvell chipset. I bet with a port multiplier this one would be much faster than a Sil 3132 model. I am looking to get one of these when they go on sale to max out a build to 20 drives.

 

Will this bios also the right one when using the card with portmultipliers?

 

 

Hmm..maybe. But honestly since this card only does internal sata, I wouldn't use it with a port mutliplier. What you want is this:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132020

 

Or just use the card that comes with most power multipliers:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=16-132-029-Z04&SCList=16-132-029-V10,16-132-029-Z02,16-132-029-Z03,16-132-029-Z04,16-132-029-Z05,16-132-029-Z06,16-132-029-Z07,16-132-029-Z08,16-132-029-Z09,16-132-029-Z10,16-132-029-Z11&S7ImageFlag=2&Item=N82E16816132029&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=Rosewill%20RSV-S4-X%204%20Bay%20SATA%20to%20eSATA%20(Port%20Multiplier)%20JBOD%20/%20RAID%200,%201,%201%2b0,%205%20Enclosure

Here is one that I use.  http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10407&cs_id=1040702&p_id=2530&seq=1&format=2

 

It's hot pluggable and works with eSata PCI adapter cables as I'm using one of it's ports that way.

I also have this one. It's similiar to the adaptec 1430SA

 

Rosewill RC-218 PCI Express x4 (x8 and x16 slot compatible) SATA II 3G Controller Card/ 4 internal SATA with 2 external eSATA

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132018

 

That one is awesome because it uses a Marvell chipset. I bet with a port multiplier this one would be much faster than a Sil 3132 model. I am looking to get one of these when they go on sale to max out a build to 20 drives.

 

In my experience, the silicon image controller to PMP is faster.  Not by very much, yet still slightly ahead. 2-3Kb/s.

 

I am looking to get one of these when they go on sale to max out a build to 20 drives.

 

PMP support is not the best solution when there are others out there.

I would not build a machine based solely on PMP unless I had to.

I.E. like the back blaze which has 40 drives in it.

With PMP you are limited to a certain bandwidth per drive.

With the right motherboard and controllers you can attain very high density and higher throughput.

 

With my X7SBE, I could probably get 4x8 ports (using PCI-X) and 2x8 (using PCIe).

Higher density is achievable on the PCIe x8 port with the use of a high end Areca card.

 

Here is one that I use.  http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10407&cs_id=1040702&p_id=2530&seq=1&format=2

 

Wow, I like the cheaper price. I might get a pile of those. Do they come with the non-raid bios?

 

PMP support is not the best solution when there are others out there.

I would not build a machine based solely on PMP unless I had to.

I.E. like the back blaze which has 40 drives in it.

With PMP you are limited to a certain bandwidth per drive.

With the right motherboard and controllers you can attain very high density and higher throughput.

 

With my X7SBE, I could probably get 4x8 ports (using PCI-X) and 2x8 (using PCIe).

Higher density is achievable on the PCIe x8 port with the use of a high end Areca card.

 

I completely agree its not an optical solution- shear math tells me any more than 2 drives on a PCIe 1x bus is maybe too much. The problem is that it is very hard (or expensive) to get 20 drive server builds that aren't based on rackmount equipment, but its not that expensive at all to build a 12-16 drive machine and add one or two of those $150 4 bay port expanding exclosures to get to the 20 drive maximum.

 

I am actually building two servers to avoid needing PMP expansion for now. One is a 10 bay with only 7200 RPM drives, and one is a 16 bay with 5400 RPM drives. If I run out of space, I could see adding a $150 4 bay port multiplier to my slower/larger server as preferable to building a third server. Since Unraid lets you exclude drives from users shares, maybe you could get by with one if it only served low bitrate stuff....

 

 

The PMP drives only become an issue on Parity Checks, Parity Rebuilds and if your usage pattern has concurrent reads or writes to more than 3 of the drives PMPed. You should be fine streaming HD off the PMPed drives to at least 3 clients. BluRay bitrates never exceed 45 MB/s for audio and video. Your typical x264 encodes are significantly lower too.

Very true.

Parity checks will probably max out around 60MB/s with a 5 port PMP. (I think this depends on the type of PMP.

As cool as it is to have a 40 drive array one day. I would not want to recreate parity limited @ 60MB/s

 

For average reads/writes, PMP's are fine and do the job.

Here is one that I use.  http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10407&cs_id=1040702&p_id=2530&seq=1&format=2

 

Wow, I like the cheaper price. I might get a pile of those. Do they come with the non-raid bios?

 

There is a non-raid firmware revision you can download.