From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Sun May 16 05:01:57 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9323416A4D1 for ; Sun, 16 May 2004 05:01:57 -0700 (PDT) Received: from cray.e-card.bg (www.ahtopol-sunnyday.com [212.91.167.5]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0C2A843D3F for ; Sun, 16 May 2004 05:01:56 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from altares@e-card.bg) Received: from cray.e-card.bg (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by cray.e-card.bg (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i4GC1t4v077668; Sun, 16 May 2004 15:01:55 +0300 (EEST) (envelope-from altares@e-card.bg) Received: (from altares@localhost) by cray.e-card.bg (8.12.9/8.12.9/Submit) id i4GC1slT077667; Sun, 16 May 2004 15:01:54 +0300 (EEST) X-Authentication-Warning: cray.e-card.bg: altares set sender to altares@e-card.bg using -f Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 15:01:54 +0300 From: Rumen Telbizov To: Bj?rn K?nig Message-ID: <20040516120154.GF454@e-card.bg> References: <20040515190056.F049916A4CF@hub.freebsd.org> <20040515192939.5CC4C8E8DF1@skal.local> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20040515192939.5CC4C8E8DF1@skal.local> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i cc: strick@covad.net cc: stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: SATA on FreeBSD-4.x X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 12:01:57 -0000 On Sat, May 15, 2004 at 09:30:09PM +0200, Bj?rn K?nig wrote: > > > Dan Strick wrote: > > > > It is good that there seems to be a PCI SATA card > > that seems to work well in FreeBSD-stable. > > I use also a HighPoint SATA controller (HPT372) with FreeBSD 4.9. There were > some issues, but now after patching kernel sources it works fine. > > > Do you by any > > chance know if the RAID mirroring function is implemented > > in the controller or in the driver? > > Probably software implemented. Highpoint is for the very low-end market. You > should also know that the 37x are native ATA/133 chips. SATA functionality > is covered and provided by Marvell bridge chips; one for each channel. > That's the reason why SATA hardware works with non-SATA drivers. I am not a RAID expert, but here are just a few thoughts: 1. My chipset is hpt374 not 372! 2. Is it acctually possible to BUILD/CONFIGURE/ETC RAID arrays in the card's BIOS if the RAID is software implemented in the driver? I do this while the computer is booting by entering the card's setup thus not using the OS at all! 3. I believe that if the RAID was software I'd notice that big file transfers would have taken more cpu time. My tests showed insignificant cpu load when copying large files! Anyway I still may be wrong :) The fact is that I like this card. It has a reasonable price and so far it is rock solid under FreeBSD 4.x. Rumen Telbizov