Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:24:30 -0700 From: "note@note2email.com" <note@note2email.com> To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: PCI-X SATA Card + Server Recommendation Message-ID: <49074acebedc1@note2email.com>
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> A large number of problems people report to the FreeBSD lists involve > Silicon Image controllers. There are confirmed problems within certain > models of their SATA controllers which cause silent data corruption and > other issues, affecting Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows. See "Product > Alerts" below, then try Googling "silicon image corruption". I'm not > talking out of my ass. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Image Which points to http://osdir.com/ml/ide/2005-03/msg00126.html which says: "It's basically because of faulty SATA implementation of the affected seagate hard drives combined with standard-compliant but peculiar behavior of silicon image controllers." So you blame Silicon Image for Seagate's bug. Nice. I have been using the 3512 with Seagate drives and NetBSD for several years with zero data corruption. If FreeBSD has problems with Silicon Image controllers it isn't Silicon Image's fault. Word is that the 3124 and 3132 are much better and faster than the 1st generation controllers such as my 3512. They are documented, datasheets are available on the web, unlike some SATA controllers. I would consider them. > This has been discussed recently on -hardware. I will stand firm on my > statement: don't disable write caching on disks. > > http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hardware/2008-October/005450.html Write caching on disks enabled: data loss, fast writes Write caching on disks disabled, no NCQ: no data loss, slow writes Write caching on disks disabled, NCQ: no data loss, fast writes Sorry, but data loss is simply not acceptable. When can we expect NCQ support for FreeBSD? The ability to turn the disk's write cache on and off is essential. I haven't found a USB-to-SATA bridge that allows this, limiting their usefulness to testing new disks, mounting read-only or for data which is expendable. > Besides, it shouldn't matter to you if the card > has RAID capability, because nothing forces you to use it. The problem is that cards with real RAID are far more expensive. ____________________________________________________________________ Do not reply to this message. If this e-mail is unsolicited and you would like to report it please visit the following link: http://www.note2email.com/flag/id/2870b2637347d14b1a7e14eef1416313 This note was sent to : freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org from the following IP address: 208.100.241.202 (c) 2008 note2email.com. All rights reserved.
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