Which colored SATA connectors should I be using and why?

[fpinto1446]

Hello,

Should I be using the red/blue sata connectors or the black ones for a single drive "raid ready" system?

I'm currently running XP Pro on the BadAx2 mobo with a single drive connected to the red sata connector. XP runs fine except that before XP starts I too see the Marvell message: " Adapter 1, Array Information: No hard disk defined!" I have not been able modify bios to stop this message from being displayed.

I would like to set up a single drive "Raid Ready" System for future migration to a 2 drive RAID0 System. Should I be using the black SATA connectors?

The computer tech @ microcenter stated "use the red connector for a single drive". What am I missing about the 2 separate raid controllers.

Why the heck are there 2 RAID controller anyway????

Thanks

Frank

[Kougar]

To disable that message you would have to disable the marvel controller chip.

Borrowed from HERE:

While the board supports 8 SATA ports, the Southbridge only supports 4 of them. A Marvell PCI Express chip controls the extra 4. The blue ports are run by the Marvell chip.

The Intel chipset has a built in RAID controller, and so does the Marvel chip. Generally I'd suggest using the Intel ICH7R southbridge controlled SATA ports for RAID setups. Intel has changed the SATA port colors at least twice on this board, so your manual should tell you what the RED color stands for.

[dicecca112]

moved to intel motherboard forum

[Apoptosis]

The red is for eSATA.

[DaddyRabbit]

Hello,

Should I be using the red/blue sata connectors or the black ones for a single drive "raid ready" system?

I'm currently running XP Pro on the BadAx2 mobo with a single drive connected to the red sata connector. XP runs fine except that before XP starts I too see the Marvell message: " Adapter 1, Array Information: No hard disk defined!" I have not been able modify bios to stop this message from being displayed.

I would like to set up a single drive "Raid Ready" System for future migration to a 2 drive RAID0 System. Should I be using the black SATA connectors?

The computer tech @ microcenter stated "use the red connector for a single drive". What am I missing about the 2 separate raid controllers.

Why the heck are there 2 RAID controller anyway????

Thanks

Frank

The ICH7 supports 4 SATA ports in the chipset. The Marvel (blue and red ports) was added to allow for greater expandability.

Remind be not to talk to any computer techs at Microcenter , the red connector is for E-SATA (although i guess it works OK for you)

To setup for a "Raid Ready" system on the BX2 you can do the following (will probably require a re-install)

1. Move the single drive to port 0 on the black SATA plugs
2. Ensure that, in BIOS, you are set to run in RAID mode
3. If you aren't using it set the Secondary SATA controller to disabled.
4. Re-install XP using the "F6" option to load the "Intel Matrix Storage Technology RAID Driver" from the floppy disk.

That should do it... These links should prove helpful:

http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-021736.htm

http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/

http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/cs-020811.htm

I'm pretty sure the driver you will want is the "Intel® 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller"

[fpinto1446]

I think I'll do a re-install using the BLK SATA CONs and the correct bios settings. Thank you all for your help.

Regards,

Frank

[AARRGGHHH]

I've been debating buying the Intel BX2 vs another board. I'm leaning toward the Intel, but I'm concerned about some features: the Intel only having 5 PCI/PCI-E slots (versus 7 on the other board), the Intel only having 1 onboard LAN (versus 2), and mainly, the Intel not having an eSATA connector available.

Then I noticed the red connector on the Intel board. When I went searching for more info here, I saw that Apoptosis mentioned above:

The red is for eSATA.

I'm hoping someone can explain the details. The red connector is internal, it looks like an internal connector, how does it act as an external connector? Is some kind of adaptor or special cable required to connect it to an eSATA drive? And (sorry if this is a stupid question) how does the cable get from inside the PC to the external drive?

Thanks

[mickrussom]

All fake raid is bad. But Marvells drivers are a new in all time shoddyness. I use real-hardware-raid (but this motherboard doesnt seem to accept any add in controllers I know of) or AHCI.

But in any case, FRAID or not, I would use the black ICH7/ICH7R ports ONLY. I disable the marvell controller as it is vile.

[AARRGGHHH]

All fake raid is bad...

Thanks for your opinion. However, I'm not planning on using RAID, my question is focused on SATA and the eSATA red connector.

[rwolds9]

You need to buy a Sata to E-Sata pci bracket. It has an external e-sata connector with an internal sata connector. There is a wire that connects internally to the red port. It costs about ten dollars. Mine is connected to the Marvel red controller and works well with my seagate external e-sata hard drive.

[mickrussom]

Thanks for your opinion. However, I'm not planning on using RAID, my question is focused on SATA and the eSATA red connector.

I wouldnt use the blue,red ports, raid or not. Youll see when you mess with the Marvell driver. Its the worst in the world.

I'd consider suggesting buying a add-in card that has ports for you already, but the likelihood the add-in storage card will work is low as there is a bug with most add in storage cards that remains unresolved on the xbx2.

If I were to go big external storage right now, I'd use a dedicated add-in card and not mess with the Marvell DeathPorts.

[AARRGGHHH]

You need to buy a Sata to E-Sata pci bracket. It has an external e-sata connector with an internal sata connector. There is a wire that connects internally to the red port. It costs about ten dollars. Mine is connected to the Marvel red controller and works well with my seagate external e-sata hard drive.

Thank you.

If I understand correctly, this just uses one of the unused PCI brackets, but it doesn't actually connect to a PCI card slot. Did I get that right?

If I did, there would be two advantages here: (1) You're not using one of the valuable PCI slots, and (2) you're not limited by the speed of the PCI slot.

Can I ask where you bought your bracket? Also, do you have any problems ejecting/dismounting and remounting the external drive? I'm guessing that's what's special about the red slot, that it's suited for ejecting/dismounting and remounting external drives.

Also, I'd like to read more about this, does anyone have a link to the documentation for these red and blue SATA connectors?

Thanks again, I appreciate the assistance.

[rwolds9]

Right, it doesn't use a pci slot. The bracket comes with the e-sata connector already built in. It just fits in one of the unused spaces where a pci card would attach. I got mine from a place called satacables.com. If you do a search for e-sata cables you'll find a couple of places that have them. I can turn my drive on or off as I want. The only problem I had was when I initially set it up, I had to place the external drive in the bios boot order, even though its not bootable in my system. Until I did that I got a boot error and could'nt boot the computer. If the drive was off- no problem ,but booting with the drive on requires it to be in the boot sequence. There is also a problem in that if you put the computer in sleep mode with the external drive on, resuming from sleep causes the system to be generally non responsive. There is a supposed fix in the latest bios but I haven't flashed that bios as yet. Hope this helps.

[AARRGGHHH]

Awesome, I plan on using an external SATA drive for daily backups, I want to be able to turn off the power to the drive when I'm not using it, so it's completely isolated from the system (in case of a virus). It's good to know that I'll be able to do this without using a PCI or PCI-E slot.

Just one curiosity: is it using the red connector, or just the fact that it's using AHCI, that makes it possible to eject/dismount and remount the external drive?

Thanks again, you've been a huge help.

[rwolds9]

Not sure. I don't know how the red port differs from the other Marvel ports. I do know it works for me. Good luck.

[cyclo]

I know this is an old thread but rworlds9 is right. You could connect an external eSATA drive to the red Marvel connector and as long as the Marvel driver is installed and the secondary (Marvel) RAID interface is enabled in BIOS, the red eSATA port works just fine... including hot plugging.

I bought a Vantec eSATA/USB enclosure which comes with a PCI bracket that has an eSATA plug. I connected the eSATA bracket to the internal SATA red Marvel connector... the eSATA drive works fine and is hot pluggable. All I need to do is to turn on or off the power to the Vantec via the power switch at the rear of the enclosure and the drive is automatically mounted/unmounted in Vista. I installed a 500GB Western Digital SE drive inside the enclosure... I did set the drive not to do any write caching via the Marvell "Apache" Web Interface applet.