P5WD2 RAID question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Barry Comer
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Barry Comer

To enable RAID 1 on the P5WD2 Silicon Image RAID controller do you need to
have SATA drives hooked up to
the SATA_RAID2 internal connector and another to the external SATA
connector? Otherwise I cannot see how one
would set it up. The other four internal SATA connectors are for the Intel
South Bridge.
 
If you want two internal drives with RAID, then disconnect the external
connector on the motherboard... or did I miss something?

You should use the Intel connected SATA for RAID as 1st option due to the
controller not being on the PCI bus ==> better performance.
 
If you want two internal drives with RAID, then disconnect the external
connector on the motherboard... or did I miss something?

You should use the Intel connected SATA for RAID as 1st option due to the
controller not being on the PCI bus ==> better performance.
Click to expand...

No, this is a crazy setup - the chip in question is dual port, with
one ordinary SATA connector on the motherboard, and one ESATA connector
permanently mounted in the I/O area. To use it, you would need an
external enclosure for one drive, while the other drive could live
inside the machine. That is, if you wanted a RAID array. I suppose
you could route an ESATA cable back inside the computer, and use
two internal drives. The intent is probably to give the user a single
ESATA port on the back of the computer, for doing backups and the
like.

If you look on the Newegg web site, there are add-in PCI cards that
offer one external ESATA port and one internal normal SATA port. So
this crazy concept is not unique. I cannot see anyone building a
RAID array that way (unless the intent is for a RAID 1 mirror, where
you plug the ESATA drive, synchronize, and unplug it again, giving
a painless backup ?).

Paul
 
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