need a good cheap SATA controller for OSX

[Nvidiaguy07]

to make a long story short i have 5 sata devices and only 4 ports. I'm currently using a VIA6421 sata controller card but I've heard that this is incompatible with Leopard. I'm just looking for the most compatible card possible that will work with OS X.

My other option would be getting rid of my small Hard drive that i planned on installing OS X on by itself (because i heard its better off on its own disk rather than its own partition) and installing it on my larger hard drive that already has Linux on it.

But if the VT6421 works with OSX i can just continue using that. Let me know what you think.

It also has to be compatiable with linux too.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

bump?

 

[ViRGE]

Is this a Mac or a Hack? And have you tried the InsanelyMac forums?

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

sorry i should have said that. Its a hack. It's the system i have in my Sig. I posted it there too but no responses, it doesn't seem like a huge community that why i asked here.

I was just looking for like the most compatible card that will work with all platforms

My only other option would be to install it on the same HD as my linux partition, but i heard that can be tricky/risky.

 

[ViRGE]

It's as big of a Hack community as you're going to find, so if there's anyone that has an answer, it's going to be them.

Anyhow, it's generally a bad idea to install OS X on to a hard drive connected to an external interface card. So even if it worked, I wouldn't be a fan of it. There's no specific reason that Leopard needs to be installed on its own hard drive, so I'd recommend preparing yourself to go that route. With that said, it can't hurt to try with the VIA card, I would however pull 2GB of RAM so that if the default VIA driver is one of the drivers that faults with 4GB of RAM, that you aren't affected. If it works, there are fixed VIA drivers out there that you can install post-installation that will allow you to go back to 4GB.

If you can't use the VIA card, Leopard will install to a MBR format drive just fine (although you may need to make sure it's a primary partition and not an extended partition), and fixing the master boot record itself so that it uses GRUB again is pretty easy. After that it's just a matter of adding a GRUB entry for Leopard, which you'll probably want to do regardless of whether the VIA card works or not.

 

[kalster]

this might help

http://forum.insanelymac.com/l...p/%22http:/t69930.html

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: kalster
this might help

http://forum.insanelymac.com/l...p/%22http:/t69930.html

The problem with the 3132 is that if Google is anything to go by, it's not stable under Leopard. No one seems to be able to confirm that it works with 4GB or more of RAM, among other things. What really makes this hard is that Silicon Image basically has a lock on the market, most cards are using the 3132 and derivatives. Sonnet makes a 4 port card that works (I have no clue what chip it's using, perhaps jMicron), but it's also very expensive compared to the Silicon Image stuff.

Edit: I should also add that the ultimate solution to this is AHCI. Leopard can use all AHCI controllers with a single up-to-date driver in the OS. This is why jMicron controllers in AHCI mode don't freak out with 4GB RAM, for example

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: kalster
this might help

http://forum.insanelymac.com/l...p/%22http:/t69930.html

The problem with the 3132 is that if Google is anything to go by, it's not stable under Leopard. No one seems to be able to confirm that it works with 4GB or more of RAM, among other things. What really makes this hard is that Silicon Image basically has a lock on the market, most cards are using the 3132 and derivatives. Sonnet makes a 4 port card that works (I have no clue what chip it's using, perhaps jMicron), but it's also very expensive compared to the Silicon Image stuff.

Edit: I should also add that the ultimate solution to this is AHCI. Leopard can use all AHCI controllers with a single up-to-date driver in the OS. This is why jMicron controllers in AHCI mode don't freak out with 4GB RAM, for example

It works fine on Leopard 10.5.4 or older, but they haven't updated the driver for 10.5.5. It's completely useless under .5...your array degredates after 30-40 minutes and starts screwing up the OS

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

hey sorry i didnt specify but im only using the sata connector to attach my storage HD. My setup looks like this:

one sata slot is my old 74 gb raptop with vista on it
one is a DVD drive
one is a 500 GB HD with Linux and XP and then an extra partition for storage on it.
one is a 640GB HD completely for storage
and the last is the 200GB HD that i was planning to install leopard on.

Im probably just gonna try it with the 6421 and if i cant see my storage while im running OS X then so be it.

My only concern is that if i try to view other partitions on my HD while im in OSX is there a chance i could screw up my whole system?

 

[leglez]

I am interested in this too. I just purchased 2 x 1TB drives and a SATA DVD Burner so I all my SATA spots will be full and I expect to get another burner and a few more drives within the next few months.