[E6500][esata][RAID port multiplier] Raid 1 enclosure not regnosized using the esata port

As I wrote, the Dell's ICH8/9-M sata host controller seems to support the Port Multiplier feature -mandatory for SiL's raid 1- *ONLY* on sata port 0, but this is exactly where the internal HD is plugged on the motherboard I found nowhere you can change the internal sata port ID (switch,bios,ect...). I think this is the key of the problem so a dumb port conflict, because the esata port is in fact the port sata 4 (the DVDRW drive is sata 1, dock's esata is 5 for instance).

 

just for the record - same exact problem on an hp dv4t laptop with the intel matrix storage with the latest 8.8.0.1009 drivers.

my steelvine box works fine via a sii express card, but only the "config disk" is seen by the system using the motherboard eSata port.

it's a bummer, but perhaps not a deal killer. on single drive hookups or non-sii raid-boxes the motherboard eSata is way faster than the sii express card.

or - if someone here can figure out a way of moving the internal HD off port 0...

 

I still haven't had a chance to call intel. but I don't know if it's their fault or the raid chip manuf.'s fault

 

FWIW, I had the same problem with my M6400. I bought a 2 disk raid box, and it would only ever recognise disk 1. If I switched it on when the M6400 was booted the whole thing ground to a halt, and if I switched it on before boot then it would take about 45mins to boot up.

When I connected to another PC (desktop this time) with an eSATA port, all was well. I sold the enclosure over eBay eventually as I needed to use it with my M6400.

It looks like the M6400 doesn't support port multiplyer.

The same thing happened when I bought a 5 disk enclousure that you could configure as RAID0, 1 or 5 (or even JBOD). It would only see disk 1. I moved that enclosure to my Dell P380 with a dedicated eSATA card.

At the moment, the only thing that I've got working on my M6400's eSATA port is a single 1TB disk. That works just fine, although if I am copying large amounts of data (50GB in a single file for example) and try to access the builtin RAID 0 array on the M6400 say by opening a new web page - then again everything grinds to a halt.

I don't think that the eSATA port on the M6400 is particularly well integrated.

 

I just installed W 7 and it worked right off the bat with the eSata. it's so strange that it doesn't work with vista, being the two OS so similar. maybe it's just the intel software that needs to be uninstalled?

 

I just found this thread since I got a SIL 5744 based external RAID0 box that would freeze my HP 8530w (ICH9R) laptop in XP when I plugged it in to the eSATA port.

The problem is the intel matrix drivers. Updating to the current latest off intels site 8.9.0.1023 fixed the problem. The latest on HPs site were a bit older, and cause the freeze.

So intel is to blame for this ridiculous situation.

 

Do you have a link to those drivers?

 

Hi,
I have the E6400, Intel Storage 8.9 @ AHCI mode. eSATA works flawlessly with a 2,5'' HDD in a Revoltec enclosure (J Micron Chip) & a Seagate FreeAgent Extreme 1 TB. Before the Revoltec, I had a no-name enclosure with similar probs like you: Freeze during boot etc.

 

Hello!

I have a Dell E6400 with the built-in eSATA chip Intel ICH9M-E and an external disk enclosure with two Samsung F2 1TByte disks. This enclosure uses the Silicon Image SiI5744 and is supposed to support RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD and BIG modes. The connections are ESATA and USB.

I run Windows XP 32 Professional Edition and have installed the latest driver, Intel Matrix Storage Console 8.9.0.1023 for AHCI mode.

My intention was/is to use the external disks in JBOD mode using the eSATA port for speed. However, this does'nt work as expected. The disk manager can only see the first disk. This is just as reported in previous posts in this thread.

This thread has been silent for a while. What is the latest word on this matter?

I have been surfing around and have read on Intel's site, but it is not clear to me whether it is the ICH9M-E chip itself or the XP driver for it that doesn't support port multipliers. If it is the chip itself, no driver updates will help.

I ocassionally get the balloon help text that indicates that port multiplier is only supported on port 0. Anyone who have succeeded to re-map the internal driver to another port than 0 in order to use this port for the external ensclosure?

I don't have express card support on my laptop, only PC Card. I know that there are PC Cards that can provide port multiplier support, i.e. one of these:

http://www.lycom.com.tw/PC112.htm
http://www.lycom.com.tw/PC112R5.htm

However, they will not provide the same speed as the built-in eSATA port and I would therefore like to be sure about what the built-in ICH9M-E can or cannot do before I proceed.

All further comments are appreciated.