OT: motherboard expert please :-)

[RJK]

I've been trawling through boards with an e-SATA port on the back panel,
rather than a e-SATA pin header that goes to a 'blank' backplate - if you
see what I mean,
and I've been ogling :-
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=2268&l1=3&l2=149&l3=643&l4=0

....which specifies :-
Chipset
1 xUltraDMA 133/100
5 x SATA 3Gb/s ports (Use SATA1-3 for IDE mode.)
NVIDIA® MediaShieldT Chipset built-in, , RAID 0,1,0+1,5, JBOD

....now, does this mean, (re: above board), that if I use 2 x IDE drives on
the single IDE port, that not all four SATA ports will be available ?

e.g. I have an Asrock AliveNF6G in my 2nd machine, with 2 drives connected
to the single IDE port, and four drives connected to the four SATA ports i.e
all 6 are working.

TIA,

regards, Richard

I suspect that
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2859
...with its' all solid capacitors, would be a better bet ...but, it's a lot
more expensive that the Asus I mentioned - above.

 

[Paul]

I've been trawling through boards with an e-SATA port on the back panel,
rather than a e-SATA pin header that goes to a 'blank' backplate - if you
see what I mean,
and I've been ogling :-
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=2268&l1=3&l2=149&l3=643&l4=0

...which specifies :-
Chipset
1 xUltraDMA 133/100
5 x SATA 3Gb/s ports (Use SATA1-3 for IDE mode.)
NVIDIA® MediaShieldT Chipset built-in, , RAID 0,1,0+1,5, JBOD

...now, does this mean, (re: above board), that if I use 2 x IDE drives on
the single IDE port, that not all four SATA ports will be available ?

e.g. I have an Asrock AliveNF6G in my 2nd machine, with 2 drives connected
to the single IDE port, and four drives connected to the four SATA ports i.e
all 6 are working.

TIA,

regards, Richard

I suspect that
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2859
...with its' all solid capacitors, would be a better bet ...but, it's a lot
more expensive that the Asus I mentioned - above.

The Asus board has one IDE connector, and six SATA connector set up as five
internal and one external connector. Of the five internal ports, three
support IDE, AHCI, RAID mode, while the remaining two are only AHCI or RAID.
That would not stop you from running all the internal ports in AHCI mode.

On a SATA port, IDE mode is normally interpreted to mean that there
is no hot plug capability. Otherwise, the drive should be detectable
with the native Windows (PCI address space) SATA driver. You could have
three internal SATA drives, installed without an AHCI/RAID driver, plus
two drives connected to the IDE port.

For the Gigabyte board, check the reviews. Sometimes, the boards with
ATI chipsets, have a few issues with configuration or drivers, and
you should read some reviews to see how people are coping with them.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813128341

If you need more ports for disks, you have a PCI Express x1 slot on one
of those motherboards, and it can be used for a disk controller (like a SIL3132).
Using a port multiplier, you can control up to 10 disks off a single
SIL3132 chip. The following box is $100, and you'd need two of them
to control ten disks.

http://www.sataport.com/

Paul

 

[RJK]

Thanks Paul,

MUCH appreciated.

regards, Richard
....and Merry Xmas to you and all