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Internal SATA & External IDE Connected as SATA to P4PE
I have several internal IDE drives connected to an ASUS P4PE
motherboard. I also have an internal SATA drive connected to the first of the two SATA connectors on that mobo. This arrangement continues to work just fine. As I dimly recall, it was something of a hassle to get the internal SATA drive working properly. I ultimately set it up as a FastTrack array of one drive. That seems to have taken care of whatever problems I was having. Now I have a new addition to the system. I have purchased an external IDE drive enclosure. The enclosure I have purchased is a member of the Metal Gear Box series by PPA International. See http://www.ppa-usa.com/product_pages...es/780SAU2.htm This enclosure has the interesting feature of having both USB 2.0 and SATA connectors. For a small additional cost, I thought it would be good to have the option of SATA's much higher data transfer rates. I thought the upper limit on SATA II was 300 MB, but I am running into webpages that seem to say it is 150 MB. See http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...20 OR%20150mb I think the P4PE, which I installed in early 2003, must have predated SATA II. So I assume its SATA connectors are SATA I. So when the Metal Gear Box advertises itself as having a 150 MB upper limit, I guess that is something that might matter to me sometime in the future. But for now, I assume I am restricted to SATA I speeds when connecting a SATA drive to the P4PE. Yet it is my impression that even SATA I speeds are substantially faster than USB 2.0. I have already used the USB 2.0 connector to hook up the Metal Gear Box enclosure, and have verified that the P4PE system is able to see the drive that I have put into that enclosure. But now I would like to try to get the SATA I connection to work. Note, again, that the drive I have placed into the enclosure is an IDE drive. The data and power connections inside the enclosure are IDE connections, not SATA. As I understand it, the sole purpose of the external SATA connection is to speed up the transfer of data between the motherboard and the external IDE drive. I say it is an external SATA connection, but that is not quite right. To my surprise, the rear end of the Metal Gear Box enclosure sports an internal SATA connector, not an eSATA connector. I will be pleased if I don't have to buy a shielded external cable, but I am also a little concerned about the noise effects that may impact data transfers through an exposed internal cable. But I can get by with exposing only about one foot of internal cable, between the computer case and the external drive, so this may not be a problem. What is a problem, at this point, is that the system does not recognize the external drive when I use the SATA connector. As I say, the USB connection works OK, but I want that SATA speed if I can get it. The question is, can I? I have taken the time to write up this careful explanation of the situation because it seems that I have one or two complications. One complication is this atypical situation of using a SATA cable to transfer IDE data. I hope I don't have to set jumpers in any certain way. If I'm going to have to crack open the case and play with jumpers each time, I might as well have just used the drive internally and skipped the purchase of an external enclosure. Another complication is the whole matter of configuring the internal SATA drive as an array of one. On boot, the FastTrack controller does see both drives; it's Windows Explorer that doesn't. The controller reports that the second drive is in a "Free" status -- which, I can assure you, is not an apt description of the amount I have spent on this little enterprise. How to convert that free drive into a more agreeable condition of enslavement, I don't know. I am concerned about the Metal Gear Box's evidently mixed reviews. For example, I hadn't run across the page at http://www.techimo.com/articles/i82.html while doing my initial exploration. What I saw was the Newegg reviews at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...C-pr1c3grabb3r. I do rely on Newegg. I don't think they tend to sell junk. But I am missing something here. The unit did not come with any printed documentation. There is a CD, but it contains drivers and information that seems to be oriented toward Windows 98 users, whereas I am running XP. So if anyone can tell me how to hook this sucker up, I would be most grateful. Best regards ... |
#2
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In article om,
wrote: I have several internal IDE drives connected to an ASUS P4PE motherboard. I also have an internal SATA drive connected to the first of the two SATA connectors on that mobo. This arrangement continues to work just fine. As I dimly recall, it was something of a hassle to get the internal SATA drive working properly. I ultimately set it up as a FastTrack array of one drive. That seems to have taken care of whatever problems I was having. Now I have a new addition to the system. I have purchased an external IDE drive enclosure. The enclosure I have purchased is a member of the Metal Gear Box series by PPA International. See http://www.ppa-usa.com/product_pages...es/780SAU2.htm This enclosure has the interesting feature of having both USB 2.0 and SATA connectors. For a small additional cost, I thought it would be good to have the option of SATA's much higher data transfer rates. I thought the upper limit on SATA II was 300 MB, but I am running into webpages that seem to say it is 150 MB. See http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...20 OR%20150mb I think the P4PE, which I installed in early 2003, must have predated SATA II. So I assume its SATA connectors are SATA I. So when the Metal Gear Box advertises itself as having a 150 MB upper limit, I guess that is something that might matter to me sometime in the future. But for now, I assume I am restricted to SATA I speeds when connecting a SATA drive to the P4PE. Yet it is my impression that even SATA I speeds are substantially faster than USB 2.0. I have already used the USB 2.0 connector to hook up the Metal Gear Box enclosure, and have verified that the P4PE system is able to see the drive that I have put into that enclosure. But now I would like to try to get the SATA I connection to work. Note, again, that the drive I have placed into the enclosure is an IDE drive. The data and power connections inside the enclosure are IDE connections, not SATA. As I understand it, the sole purpose of the external SATA connection is to speed up the transfer of data between the motherboard and the external IDE drive. I say it is an external SATA connection, but that is not quite right. To my surprise, the rear end of the Metal Gear Box enclosure sports an internal SATA connector, not an eSATA connector. I will be pleased if I don't have to buy a shielded external cable, but I am also a little concerned about the noise effects that may impact data transfers through an exposed internal cable. But I can get by with exposing only about one foot of internal cable, between the computer case and the external drive, so this may not be a problem. What is a problem, at this point, is that the system does not recognize the external drive when I use the SATA connector. As I say, the USB connection works OK, but I want that SATA speed if I can get it. The question is, can I? I have taken the time to write up this careful explanation of the situation because it seems that I have one or two complications. One complication is this atypical situation of using a SATA cable to transfer IDE data. I hope I don't have to set jumpers in any certain way. If I'm going to have to crack open the case and play with jumpers each time, I might as well have just used the drive internally and skipped the purchase of an external enclosure. Another complication is the whole matter of configuring the internal SATA drive as an array of one. On boot, the FastTrack controller does see both drives; it's Windows Explorer that doesn't. The controller reports that the second drive is in a "Free" status -- which, I can assure you, is not an apt description of the amount I have spent on this little enterprise. How to convert that free drive into a more agreeable condition of enslavement, I don't know. I am concerned about the Metal Gear Box's evidently mixed reviews. For example, I hadn't run across the page at http://www.techimo.com/articles/i82.html while doing my initial exploration. What I saw was the Newegg reviews at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...C-pr1c3grabb3r. I do rely on Newegg. I don't think they tend to sell junk. But I am missing something here. The unit did not come with any printed documentation. There is a CD, but it contains drivers and information that seems to be oriented toward Windows 98 users, whereas I am running XP. So if anyone can tell me how to hook this sucker up, I would be most grateful. Best regards ... The Taiwan candy factory rolls on... Products without docs... This page led me to the following review... http://www.iocombo.com/product/showp...tid=HD3MA_U2SA Here is a review that included a picture of the controller board. http://www.envynews.com/index.php?ID=532&page=2 Controller board picture http://www.envynews.com/reviews/images/532/10.jpg Chips used - Prolific PL-2507 IDE-USB chip http://tech.prolific.com.tw/visitor/...p?fid=34571706 Sil3611CT80 SATA-PATA chip http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/SiI-PB-0024.pdf Judging by the Prolific datasheet, the two chips will fight for control of the drive. What this means, is you cannot have both the SATA and USB cables plugged in at the same time. The PL-2507 documents seem to suggest the Prolific chip will "grab" the drive, the instant the USB cable is plugged to the host. The SIL3611 is probably unaware that there is another master on the bus. While there might be some hidden custom communication between the chips, it just might be that simple (two independent chips, unaware of one another). (I don't have the SIL3611 datasheet to check further.) I would suggest unplugging power from the external enclosure, to ensure it gets reset. Unplug the USB cable. Plug in the SATA cable, between host (like a SATA controller card with PCI faceplate SATA connector, so the cable will reach) and the drive, and then the computer should be able to see the drive via the SATA bridge chip SIL3611. As long as the PL-2507 cannot sense the presence of a USB cable, it should remain "asleep". As for mixing bridge chips with motherboard SATA controllers, at least Intel does not approve of it. There were products like the "serillel" adapter, for converting a PATA drive to have a SATA interface, but Intel doesn't guarantee the resulting SATA will work with an Intel Southbridge. I think this is just Intel being cautious (worried about having to deal with tech support issues), rather than there being a problem. I just googled on SIL3611, and someone mentioned that the Abit serillel2 adapter uses the same chip. When you use your external enclosure, plugging in the external enclosure power supply, and connecting a SATA cable from the enclosure to the host computer, it is the equivalent of this product: http://www.abit-usa.com/technology/serillel_new.php Notice in this picture, that Abit suggests setting the PATA disk drive to "Master". Maybe that will help ? http://www.abit-usa.com/technology/i...serillel_d.jpg Paul |
#4
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Bingo! I hit Ctrl-F at boot to enter the FastBuild utility. I chose
the option to Define Array. The "Free" drive was the only option appearing there. I changed the N to a Y. I guess this made it form a second array. On reboot, it recognized it just fine, using the internal/external SATA cable described earlier. No problems so far. I had read some reviews by people who complained that the Metal Gear Box worked fine, first time, but then Windows Explorer no longer saw it. I think they were using the USB connection. Anyway, that happened to me too. The first time I used USB, fine, great, there was my drive. In reboots, though, I have not seen it when using the USB connector. So this SATA connection option has saved the day for me. Now I have to figure out what diagnostics to use to do a surface test on these SATA drives. The Seagate Seatools that I just downloaded earlier today is calling the SATA thing an unidentified controller. Something like that, anyway. Maybe I already have something on one of the CDs I got from Seagate or ASUS back when I bought the hardware, 2-3 years ago. But as I recall, all I've ever seen is an earlier version of Seagate's Seatools. Thanks for the responses. Diagnostics aside, I am all set to go. |
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