# Hard drive controller suggestion



## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

I need a hard drive controller for my computer, but really have no idea about them, so I'm looking for a suggestion. It should connect via PCI-E, and have 7 SATA 6bps connections on it. I'll be connecting an SSD boot drive, a Blu-Ray burner, DVD burner, and 4 mechanical drives. I need everything to run at full speed. RAID is NOT required.
If it matters any, I'm running 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I've seen 2 and 4 ports, perhaps you'll need two cards.
http://www.siig.com/it-products/controllers-storage/serialata/pcie.html
Found 6 ports card http://www.meritline.com/1-port-e-s...id-controller-pci-express-card---p-51522.aspx

Internet is full of info .. http://store.sansdigital-shop.com/accessories.html


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

P Smith said:


> I've seen 2 and 4 ports, perhaps you'll need two cards.
> http://www.siig.com/it-products/controllers-storage/serialata/pcie.html
> Found 6 ports card http://www.meritline.com/1-port-e-s...id-controller-pci-express-card---p-51522.aspx
> 
> Internet is full of info .. http://store.sansdigital-shop.com/accessories.html


If I got the 6 port card you mentioned, would I be able to transfer files back and forth between drives connected to the controller card, and my SSD drive connected to my motherboard? That's one of the limitations of my current motherboard-the 6Gbps SATA drives can't communicate with the 3Gbps SATA drives.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

kevinturcotte said:


> If I got the 6 port card you mentioned, would I be able to transfer files back and forth between drives connected to the controller card, and my SSD drive connected to my motherboard? That's one of the limitations of my current motherboard-the 6Gbps SATA drives can't communicate with the 3Gbps SATA drives.


Oh ! If it's a bug - you should replace the motherboard.
Actually, you did something wrong - hard drives cannot communicates - only programs could (via CPU,RAM,DMA,SATA controllers) do that.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

P Smith said:


> Oh ! If it's a bug - you should replace the motherboard.
> Actually, you did something wrong - hard drives cannot communicates - only programs could (via CPU,RAM,DMA,SATA controllers) do that.


No, I've talked to Asus, it's not a bug, just the way they designed it. I discovered it when I went to use Wipre my hard drive using Boot N Nuke. DVD drive on the 6Gbps connector couldn't communicate with the hard drive on the 3Gbps connector. I talked to Asus, and that's the way they designed it. Had to do some major swapping around after that.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

kevinturcotte said:


> No, I've talked to Asus, it's not a bug, just the way they designed it. I discovered it when I went to use Wipre my hard drive using Boot N Nuke. DVD drive on the 6Gbps connector couldn't communicate with the hard drive on the 3Gbps connector. I talked to Asus, and that's the way they designed it. Had to do some major swapping around after that.


Sounds like someone is try fool you.
PC has many different channels to communicate with drives: IDE, SATA, SCSI, floppy interface, USB, firewire, etc - all devices working together.
And again - the communication goes by programs via CPU,RAM,DMA, etc.

If you transcript or FAQ or Q&A from Asus about the mobo, post it here - your description of some problem is not correct for sure.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

P Smith said:


> Sounds like someone is try fool you.
> PC has many different channels to communicate with drives: IDE, SATA, SCSI, floppy interface, USB, firewire, etc - all devices working together.
> And again - the communication goes by programs via CPU,RAM,DMA, etc.
> 
> If you transcript or FAQ or Q&A from Asus about the mobo, post it here - your description of some problem is not correct for sure.


It's out of warranty now anyway. I could upgrade, but kinda waiting for Ivy Bridge and Z77 boards.
If I could somehow get those 2 other connecters to communicate with the others, I wouldn't even need a controller card.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

You still keep it a secret  - what MB model you got ?


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

P Smith said:


> You still keep it a secret  - what MB model you got ?


Oh sorry lol It's an Asus P6X58D Premium http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1366/P6X58D_Premium/


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I don't see anything what could be such issue:


> Intel ICH10R controller
> 6 xSATA 3.0 Gb/s ports
> Intel Matrix Storage Technology Support RAID 0,1,5,10
> Marvell® PCIe SATA 6Gb/s controller*
> ...


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## BAHitman (Oct 24, 2007)

the likely cause is that the disc you booted in your DVD drive did not have drivers for the sata 6g ports controller chip. I have run into that with some usb3 controllers... Requires new boot disc, not controller...


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## Red Orc (Oct 11, 2011)

kevinturcotte said:


> No, I've talked to Asus, it's not a bug, just the way they designed it. I discovered it when I went to use Wipre my hard drive using Boot N Nuke. DVD drive on the 6Gbps connector couldn't communicate with the hard drive on the 3Gbps connector. I talked to Asus, and that's the way they designed it. Had to do some major swapping around after that.


I've never even heard of a set-up like that. I think that whoever you talked to was blowing smoke up your you-know-what. No one in their right mind would purposely design a motherboard like that. If your mother board is working like that then it's a design flaw and Asus is just refusing to admit that they screwed up. Every hard drive and optical drive should see each other and be able to transfer files back & forth from each other regardless of how they are connected.


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## Red Orc (Oct 11, 2011)

P Smith said:


> Oh ! If it's a bug - you should replace the motherboard.
> Actually, you did something wrong - hard drives cannot communicates - only programs could (via CPU,RAM,DMA,SATA controllers) do that.


?????????
If that's true than how was I able to back up files to blank DVD's last night? How is it I am able to copy backed up files from optical discs I've burned to new hard drives?


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Red Orc said:


> I've never even heard of a set-up like that. I think that whoever you talked to was blowing smoke up your you-know-what. No one in their right mind would purposely design a motherboard like that. If your mother board is working like that then it's a design flaw and Asus is just refusing to admit that they screwed up. Every hard drive and optical drive should see each other and be able to transfer files back & forth from each other regardless of how they are connected.


I don't know, maybe. Seems like a horrible design flaw to me too. Course, if it's just a flaky board, and they replaced it, I'd just get some refurb garbage with who knows what else wrong with it. I'm hoping I have the money to upgrade to Ivy Bridge, which would obviously bring a new motherboard with it. I need the additional storage NOW though.


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## Red Orc (Oct 11, 2011)

BAHitman said:


> the likely cause is that the disc you booted in your DVD drive did not have drivers for the sata 6g ports controller chip. I have run into that with some usb3 controllers... Requires new boot disc, not controller...


The motherboard should have come with a disc that contained all of the drivers needed. If he lost it he can go to Asus' web site & download them. He should go any way & see if there have been any updated drivers released. A missing or outdated driver can cause all kinds of problems.


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## Red Orc (Oct 11, 2011)

You didn't by any chance change anything in your BIOS did you? You can really screw things up if you change the wrong thing in the BIOS.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Red Orc said:


> The motherboard should have come with a disc that contained all of the drivers needed. If he lost it he can go to Asus' web site & download them. He should go any way & see if there have been any updated drivers released. A missing or outdated driver can cause all kinds of problems.


I have updated the BIOS to the latest version. This is what they offer: http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1366/P6X58D_Premium/#download What would I want?


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

Check out the 3Ware / LSI Controllers I've been using them for years and they are great reliable performers. I use their Caching RAID Controllers which are a little more money but to me worth every penny. www.3ware.com


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Red Orc said:


> ?????????
> If that's true than how was I able to back up files to blank DVD's last night? How is it I am able to copy backed up files from optical discs I've burned to new hard drives?


Don't bother with deepening HW-SW relations if your PC is working OK.

It's just came from OP controversial description of unknown problem.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Red Orc said:


> ?????????
> If that's true than how was I able to back up files to blank DVD's last night? How is it I am able to copy backed up files from optical discs I've burned to new hard drives?


+1

I have an Asus P8Z68 with 9 SATA ports from 3 vendors on the board (Intell, jMicron & Marvell) running 2 SATA DVD-R/W, 2 SATA SSD on 6GBPS (raid 0) ports and 3 mechanical hard drives and everything sees and reads/writes to everything fine.

The OP's board is a couple gens old (P6), maybe they screwed something up on it although it doesn't make any sense. Some of the mixed vendor SATA ports on the older boards had to be configured in a strange way to work with the other ports IIRC.


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## PokerJoker (Apr 12, 2008)

If I read all this correctly, here's one real simple answer - DON'T put the optical drive (DVD or BR) on the 6 Gbps port. It even says that in the specs - "ATAPI devices not supported" on the Marvell chip. Optical drives are not fast enough to ever need the 6G port anyhow.

In fact, if possible, I would arrange the system so that you never boot from a device on those Marvell ports. Yes, it works in theory, but your life will be easier if you don't.

Keith


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

PokerJoker said:


> If I read all this correctly, here's one real simple answer - DON'T put the optical drive (DVD or BR) on the 6 Gbps port. It even says that in the specs - "ATAPI devices not supported" on the Marvell chip. Optical drives are not fast enough to ever need the 6G port anyhow.
> 
> In fact, if possible, I would arrange the system so that you never boot from a device on those Marvell ports. Yes, it works in theory, but your life will be easier if you don't.
> 
> Keith


If OP did provide full config from beginning, then ...

I'm with Keith while still want to see his PC full config description.


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## Red Orc (Oct 11, 2011)

PokerJoker said:


> If I read all this correctly, here's one real simple answer - DON'T put the optical drive (DVD or BR) on the 6 Gbps port. It even says that in the specs - "ATAPI devices not supported" on the Marvell chip. Optical drives are not fast enough to ever need the 6G port anyhow.
> 
> In fact, if possible, I would arrange the system so that you never boot from a device on those Marvell ports. Yes, it works in theory, but your life will be easier if you don't.
> 
> Keith


Actually plugging anything other than a SSD or a 10,000 or 15,000 RPM hard drive into a 6Gbps port is a waste of time. Edit :A waste of bandwidth

Where does he say he has a ATAPI (PATA)drive? As far as I can tell all of his drives are SATA

He was trying to boot Windows from a card connected to an add-in controller card?! I didn't see that.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Red Orc said:


> Actually plugging anything other than a SSD or a 10,000 or 15,000 RPM hard drive into a 6Gbps port is a waste of time.


Isn't the reason to limit a number of these to two ?  FYI: not all SSD does support 6 Gbps.


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## Red Orc (Oct 11, 2011)

P Smith said:
 

> Isn't the reason to limit a number of these to two ?  FYI: not all SSD does support 6 Gbps.


I don't think so.
When SATA first came out a lot of mother boards only had one or two connectors. This was because the SATA hard drives had only just started coming out and most people didn't have any SATA drives yet let alone 6 of them. The first motherboard I ever installed had 2 PATA (IDE) plugs and two SATA 1.5Gbps plugs. 
Whan SATA got its first speed increase to 3Gbps it was the same thing. Most people either didn't have any SATA 3Gbps hard drives and most of the ones who did only had one or two.
I believe that that's the same reason why most motherboards only have two SATA 6Gbps plugs right now. They're probably expensive and most people probably either don't have any drives that support that speed or only have one or two so why bother putting 6 ,7 ,or 8 plugs on any mother boards right now.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Well, as I see it's the reason of limiting 6 Gbps SATA ports on MB: not too many HDD or SSD support it. And both are expensive.


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## PokerJoker (Apr 12, 2008)

Red Orc said:


> Actually plugging anything other than a SSD or a 10,000 or 15,000 RPM hard drive into a 6Gbps port is a waste of time. Edit :A waste of bandwidth
> 
> Where does he say he has a ATAPI (PATA)drive? As far as I can tell all of his drives are SATA
> 
> He was trying to boot Windows from a card connected to an add-in controller card?! I didn't see that.


ATAPI doesn't have to be PATA. Even a SATA interface optical drive is still considered ATAPI equipment.

You're completely right about the waste of bandwidth.

Keith


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

PokerJoker said:


> ATAPI doesn't have to be PATA. Even a SATA interface optical drive is still considered ATAPI equipment.
> 
> You're completely right about the waste of bandwidth.
> 
> Keith


Oh, I know it's a waste of bandwidth, but they are SATA ports. Just wish they'd cross communicate.
Yes, everything I have is SATA.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

To clarify, would you precisely describe what devices (models) connected to each SATA (type) port ? 
What mode of two group SATA ports selected in BIOS: AHCI, native SATA, legacy, etc.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

P Smith said:


> To clarify, would you precisely describe what devices (models) connected to each SATA (type) port ?
> What mode of two group SATA ports selected in BIOS: AHCI, native SATA, legacy, etc.


When I FIRST got the motherboard and connected everything, I think I put both of the optical drives on the 6Gbps connectors (I realize, MAJOR waste of bandwidth, but not owning an SSD, it wasn't a problem). That did NOT work-they would NOT see my hard drives, and the hard drives could NOT see them (Should have seen me trying to install Windows lol). Finally moved everything over to the 3Gbps ports, and everything was fine again. 5 of those ports are full now, and I'd like to either add 2 more additional 3TB drives or find some 5TB drives (Yeah, I know lol). Not sure of the BIOS settings. I'll check the next time I restart.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

kevinturcotte said:


> When I FIRST got the motherboard and connected everything, I think I put both of the optical drives on the 6Gbps connectors (I realize, MAJOR waste of bandwidth, but not owning an SSD, it wasn't a problem). That did NOT work-*they would NOT see my hard drives, and the hard drives could NOT see them *(Should have seen me trying to install Windows lol). Finally moved everything over to the 3Gbps ports, and everything was fine again. 5 of those ports are full now, and I'd like to either add 2 more additional 3TB drives or find some 5TB drives (Yeah, I know lol). Not sure of the BIOS settings. I'll check the next time I restart.


The wording is killing me ...

Perhaps you mean Windows or other OS cannot see the drives.

Drives cannot communicate each other. 
Only OS with programs. 
OK, Windows Explorer (it's a program, eg shell).


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

Windows can't see the drives, and neither can Boot N Nuke, or any other CD/DVD outside of Windows if the optical drive is on the 6Gbps connection. The BIOS does see them just fine.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

That's clear now. 

[not the "_any other CD/DVD outside of Windows_" ]

You'll need just right drivers.


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## kevinturcotte (Dec 19, 2006)

P Smith said:


> That's clear now.
> 
> [not the "_any other CD/DVD outside of Windows_" ]
> 
> You'll need just right drivers.


What I meant by that was, if I boot into ANY CD/DVD when the optical drive is on one of the 6Gbps ports, it won't see ANY of my hard drives.
Drivers huh? Who would supply those? Asus (Motherboard manufacturer), or the hard drive manufacturer?


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

kevinturcotte said:


> What I meant by that was, if I boot into ANY CD/DVD when the optical drive is on one of the 6Gbps ports, it won't see ANY of my hard drives.
> Drivers huh? Who would supply those? Asus (Motherboard manufacturer), or the hard drive manufacturer?


 Asus


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

MB's manufacturer - Asus.


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