eSATA port multiplying, ICH9R & Matrix Raid

dan_aka_jack

dan_aka_jack

dan_aka_jack

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What I want to do:

I have a P35-based motherboard with an ICH9R south bridge. I would like to connect 8 SATA disks to the ICH9R so I can use Intel Matrix Storage to build an 8-disk RAID10 array. The ICH9R has 6 ports. I planned to use a port multiplier to put 3 SATA disks onto a single ICH9R port so the configuration would be:

Port0 <> Disk0
Port1 <> Disk1
Port2 <> Disk2
Port3 <> Disk3
Port4 <> Disk4
Port5 <> Port Multiplier <> Disks 5, 6 and 7

The problem

When I connect my port-multiplier + 3 SATA disks to an ICH9R port the system reports that it can only see a single SATA disk on that port. In other words, if I connect 8 disks to my ICH9R (5 disks connected directly and 3 disks connected via the port-multiplier) then the system behaves exactly as if only 6 disks were connected. The port multiplier and the extra 2 disks are completely invisible to the system.

Stuff I've done to try to figure out the problem

Reading the Intel documentation, it sounds as if it should be possible to connect 8 disks to an ICH9R. For example:

From the P35 overview:

Support for external SATA (eSATA) enables the full SATA interface speed outside the chassis, up to 3 Gb/s.
Click to expand...

From the Matrix Storage overview:

In 2007 Intel Matrix Storage Technology has further extended its performance and protection capabilities outside of the PC. In 2006 eSATA* was introduced to Intel chipsets and natively supported with Intel Matirx Storage Technology, in 2007 support for port multipliers enhanced this capability by allowing multiple drives to be connected to a single eSATA connection. Now a user can utilize RAID capability on multiple drives outside of the PC, an ideal solution for small form factor PC's needing extra storage or for users that require increased storage capacity that needs to be protected.
Click to expand...

(The P35 counts as a "2007" chipset, surely?)

I've also tried connecting my port-multiplier to the "Gigabyte" SATAII controller on my motherboard and it works as expected (so this confirms that the port multiplier functions correctly). However, I'd much rather have all 8 disks on the ICH9R so I can use Matrix Storage to make a 8-disk RAID10 array.

So far, I've only tried connecting the port multiplier to the 5th and 6th ICH9R ports. I'm currently backing up my existing 4-disk RAID10 array so I can see if any of the other ICH9R ports can handle port multiplying. However, I'm not optimistic. After doing a bit of reading around on the Internet, it sounds like the ICH9R might not be able to handle port-multiplying, despite what the Intel documentation may say. Urg.

Any help would be really appreciated!

specs

  • Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 motherboard
  • Win XP Pro 32bit SP2
  • 4GB RAM
  • Boot disk lives on the Gigabyte SATAII connector
  • Lian Li V2100+ case with 850W Corsair PSU
  • All the latest drivers and BIOS
  • The BIOS is set to enable AHCI for the ICH9R SATA ports.
 
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By a real RAID card, one for just RAID10 will not be too expensive. If you're doing anything about RAID0/1 with a couple of disks avoid onboard RAID at all costs.
 
AbsenceJam said:
Buy a real RAID card, one for just RAID10 will not be too expensive.
Click to expand...

True. But unfortunately I don't have any PCI-E or PCI expansion slots left on my mobo. And I'm not going to buy a new mobo for a little while. To be honest, if I had the expansion slots then I'd probably spend a few hundred quid on a decent RAID5 card.

But, still, the fact remains that I don't have any PCI-E or PCI expansion slots left.
 
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nightmare99 said:
what make model chipset is the port multiplier.
Click to expand...

It's unbranded. Here's a photo from the supplier:

span_image.php


It looks like a single chip does all the work. Unfortunately, the chip has a big heatsink glued onto it so I can't see what chip it is. The only documentation included with the device was a 6-page PDF on a miniCDROM. This PDF is so poorly translated as to be virtually useless. It doesn't give a model number or a manufacturer. It does mumble about Silicon Image a little bit though.
 
I've tried running the Silicon Image 4276 Manager and it didn't work. So I used the Firmware updater for the Silicon Image 3726 to try to find out some details of my port multiplier. Here are the details:

Code: 
C:\>3726FwDownload.exe -i -d0

SiI3726 Firmware Downloader version 1.3

SiI3726 chip revision: 17, EEPROM FW version: 1.0114

So it is a SiI3726 chip and it's running the latest firmware.
 
Some more quote from around the web:

From xtreview.com - INTEL TECHNOLOGY MATRIX RAID AND PORT MULTIPLIER:

Unfortunately, used in the south bridges ICH9R the version of such technology provides access only to one hard disk at the specific moment of time. . The technology became more complex to realize , which implies to several access disks simultaneously, possesses higher cost and more higher central processor loads , therefore it can be rejected.
Click to expand...

From HardwareZone's review of the MSI P35 Platinum (Intel P35) motherboard

Most of the components you find on the P35 Platinum isn't all to different from any other high-end P965 board you can get today, as the P35 chipset doesn't really add any new component count to its repertoire, but MSI did make use of the eSATA port multiplier for the board, and while it does reduce the internal SATA capabilities, the board will provide an extensive range of plug-and-play external high-speed connections.
Click to expand...

As far as I can tell, the MSI P35 board has 4 on-board SATA connectors. I read somewhere that the ICH9R has two SATA controllers and uses internal port multipliers to get 6 ports and that, as such, it's not possible to use add-on port multipliers if your mobo has 6 SATA ports.
 
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