From owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Feb 11 08:33:40 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4E9F1106566C for ; Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:33:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (unknown [IPv6:2a01:170:102f::2]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8EA508FC17 for ; Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:33:39 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n1B8XbQG096838; Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:33:37 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from oliver.fromme@secnetix.de) Received: (from olli@localhost) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id n1B8XbLo096837; Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:33:37 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from olli) Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:33:37 +0100 (CET) Message-Id: <200902110833.n1B8XbLo096837@lurza.secnetix.de> From: Oliver Fromme To: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG X-Newsgroups: list.freebsd-hardware User-Agent: tin/1.8.3-20070201 ("Scotasay") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/6.4-PRERELEASE-20080904 (i386)) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.1.2 (lurza.secnetix.de [127.0.0.1]); Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:33:38 +0100 (CET) Cc: Subject: SATA PCI adapter recommendation X-BeenThere: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion of FreeBSD hardware List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:33:40 -0000 Hi, I plan to put a SATA drive in an old PATA-only PC, so I'm looking for an appropriate adapter card. A cheap card should suffice, I do not need RAID, and it does not have to be SATA-300. (This machine has only standard PCI slots anyway, so it wouldn't be able to saturate SATA-300.) I'm currently looking at these, all of which are about 20 Euro around here: 1. Based on Silicon Image Sil-3x12 chip: http://www.digital-data.de/download/datasheets/111816_Datasheet.pdf 2. Based on Initio INIC1620 chip: http://www.digital-data.de/download/datasheets/111817_Datasheet.pdf 3. Some VIA chip (probably VT6421A, but not 100% clear): http://www.delock.de/view/pdf/70156/A/1943/ I've read a few scary things about SIL chips on the lists, so I guess I'd better try to avoid that one. But how about the Initio and VIA ones? Do they work well with FreeBSD? Any good or bad experiences? Finally, a small question: I assume that all of those SATA controllers do have their own BIOS, so I can boot from them, right? It would be annoying to have to keep an old PATA disk in that box just to be able to boot. Thanks! Best regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M. Handelsregister: Registergericht Muenchen, HRA 74606, Geschäftsfuehrung: secnetix Verwaltungsgesellsch. mbH, Handelsregister: Registergericht Mün- chen, HRB 125758, Geschäftsführer: Maik Bachmann, Olaf Erb, Ralf Gebhart FreeBSD-Dienstleistungen, -Produkte und mehr: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd "Perl will consistently give you what you want, unless what you want is consistency." -- Larry Wall