PCI-X parallel ATA controller cards?

[Yeechang Lee]

So now that I'm finally getting my storage server (see
<URL:http://groups.google.ca/[email protected]>
for an earlier thread on the subject) up and running, I realize to my
embarrassment that I don't know where I can find any four-channel
64-bit PCI-X parallel ATA controller cards. SATA, sure, but not PATA.

* Are there any such beasts?
* If not, what's the next-best solution to ensure I best leverage a
motherboard with two PCI-X slots and associated dedicated PCI buses?
32-bit PCI-66 cards?

 

[Arno Wagner]

So now that I'm finally getting my storage server (see
<URL:http://groups.google.ca/[email protected]>
for an earlier thread on the subject) up and running, I realize to my
embarrassment that I don't know where I can find any four-channel
64-bit PCI-X parallel ATA controller cards. SATA, sure, but not PATA.

* Are there any such beasts?
* If not, what's the next-best solution to ensure I best leverage a
motherboard with two PCI-X slots and associated dedicated PCI buses?
32-bit PCI-66 cards?

If they are compatible with your disks, SATA->ATA converters can be
pretty fast. You could get a SATA controller and four of these
dongles. However test the dongle first, I had various
incompatibilities, see here for an earlier posting:

http://groups.google.ch/groups?th=18b32de8e83fde70&rnum=1

--
Read my Deep Thoughts @ <URL:http://www.ylee.org/blog/> PERTH ----> *
Cpu(s): 4.2% us, 1.6% sy, 93.6% ni, 0.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.3% hi, 0.3% si
Mem: 515800k total, 424172k used, 91628k free, 61428k buffers
Swap: 2101032k total, 72748k used, 2028284k free, 68152k cached

LOL! Get more memory and reduce the swap!

Arno

 

[J. Clarke]

3Ware 7506-4LP.

If they are compatible with your disks, SATA->ATA converters can be
pretty fast. You could get a SATA controller and four of these
dongles. However test the dongle first, I had various
incompatibilities, see here for an earlier posting:

http://groups.google.ch/groups?th=18b32de8e83fde70&rnum=1


LOL! Get more memory and reduce the swap!

Arno

 

[Yeechang Lee]

If they are compatible with your disks, SATA->ATA converters can be
pretty fast. You could get a SATA controller and four of these
dongles. However test the dongle first, I had various
incompatibilities, see here for an earlier posting:

http://groups.google.ch/groups?th=18b32de8e83fde70&rnum=1

Appreciate the advice; it's comforting to know that if the 3Ware card
someone else recommended in the thread doesn't work out, there is at
least one other option that likely will work.

LOL! Get more memory and reduce the swap!

Sadly enough, I actually have 512MB in extra DIMMs that's going to
waste because the motherboard somehow got damaged and so can't use
more than one DIMM. No point in reducing the swap space because
they're dedicated partitions.

Otherwise, what can I say? It's a 3 1/2-year old single-processor
Athlon box (specifically, the model that generates more heat than any
AMD processor before or since) that has so far proven worthy of doing
everything I've thrown at it except modern games with high frame
rates. I'm typing this on an iBook, but other than a Web browser it
essentially functions as a remote SSH terminal to the Athlon. The
latter, in turn, runs postfix, SpamAssassin, emacs, slrn, BitTorrent,
three distributed-computing projects, and multiple shell sessions on a
24/7 basis with aplomb.

The rackmount server I just bought off eBay is ridiculously
overpowered for the video-server purpose I bought it for, so I'll be
able to offload a lot of the above workload to it. However, I have no
plans to get rid of the existing workhorse; it does its jobs too
well. And really, at the end of the day, is there anything more we can
ask of a machine?

 

[sbb78247]

So now that I'm finally getting my storage server (see
<URL:http://groups.google.ca/[email protected]>
for an earlier thread on the subject) up and running, I realize to my
embarrassment that I don't know where I can find any four-channel
64-bit PCI-X parallel ATA controller cards. SATA, sure, but not PATA.

* Are there any such beasts?
* If not, what's the next-best solution to ensure I best leverage a
motherboard with two PCI-X slots and associated dedicated PCI buses?
32-bit PCI-66 cards?

How about this one?

http://www.acard.com.tw/english/fb0..._no=AEC-6897&type1_title=Adapter&type1_idno=3

S

 

[Arno Wagner]

Appreciate the advice; it's comforting to know that if the 3Ware card
someone else recommended in the thread doesn't work out, there is at
least one other option that likely will work.

Sadly enough, I actually have 512MB in extra DIMMs that's going to
waste because the motherboard somehow got damaged and so can't use
more than one DIMM. No point in reducing the swap space because
they're dedicated partitions.

Otherwise, what can I say? It's a 3 1/2-year old single-processor
Athlon box (specifically, the model that generates more heat than any
AMD processor before or since) that has so far proven worthy of doing
everything I've thrown at it except modern games with high frame
rates. I'm typing this on an iBook, but other than a Web browser it
essentially functions as a remote SSH terminal to the Athlon. The
latter, in turn, runs postfix, SpamAssassin, emacs, slrn, BitTorrent,
three distributed-computing projects, and multiple shell sessions on a
24/7 basis with aplomb.

Sorry. That was just a joke! If you are comfortable with its performance
you don't need to change anything of course. ;-)

The rackmount server I just bought off eBay is ridiculously
overpowered for the video-server purpose I bought it for, so I'll be
able to offload a lot of the above workload to it. However, I have no
plans to get rid of the existing workhorse; it does its jobs too
well. And really, at the end of the day, is there anything more we can
ask of a machine?

No. I truly and fully agree.

Arno

 

[Yeechang Lee]

3Ware 7506-4LP.

Ulp! $250 per card?!? Admittedly, I would be paying for the well-known
3Ware hardware RAID functionality . . . Which I wouldn't use at all,
given my plans for software RAID. The no-name card mentioned elsewhere
in this thread is looking much better. I'm a little surprised neither
Adaptec nor Promise has anything along these lines.

Would I be giving up performance by going with the 7506-8 and thus
cramming all eight drives on a single 64-bit PCI slot (and associated
bus), instead of spreading them out among two 64-bit PCI slots? If
not, I'd rather go that route.