SATA install question

[sneef]

Hello all,

I recently set up a system with an ASUS MB which has 2x SATA 6 connectors(SATA6G_1 and SATA6G_2) in addition to a number of SATA 3 connectors (SATA3G_3 and higher). I installed two HDD to SATA3G_3 and SATA3G_4 in RAID 1 mirrored. I used the SATA 3 connectors thinking that that was the right thing to do since the drives themselves were of the SATA 3 type.

On boot I get a "No hard disk is detected!" error/warning after which things proceed normally.

My question is if I should have installed the RAID drives to the SATA6 connectors and if so, is it OK to now simply pull the connectors off of SATA3G_3 and SATA3G_4, switch them to SATA6G_1 and SATA6G_2 and reboot? I can live with the error message although would get rid of it if possible.

Any feedback much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[FishAk]

Which board do you have? Are the ports all Intel, or do you also have a J-Micron controller?

My guess is that the 2 SATA 6 connectors are J-Micron SATA III ports, and that you probably also have 6 SATA II Intel ports which are being called SATA 3 (for 3Gb/s).

If this is the case, you can not switch from the J-Micron controller to the Intel controller, without breaking the array. If you have nothing connected to the Intel controller, that may be why you get a message of no disk connected.

Edit;

Also, if you have a choise between Intel and J-Micron, go with the Intel controller. The J-Micron- even the SATA III- is no match for the Intel SATA II. Additionally, marking the HDDs as SATA III is a marketing gimmick, as they can't even come close to saturating a SATA II cable.

 

[sneef]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

The board is an ASUS P8Z68-V PRO.

The ports in question are all Intel. (2X SATA6, 4X SATA3)

There are also two Marvel SATA 6 ports (unused by me) and an eSATA3 JMicron JMB362 on the rear panel.

 

[FishAk]

It may be that since you don't have a disk connected to one set of ports (perhaps the 6 SATA II ports) you get that message. You could connect another drive temporarily, to see if it makes a difference, but it probably is no big deal.

I would, however, switch the HDDs to the SATA II ports before you get too set with your array. In the future, you well may wish to take advantage of an SSD that could benefit from the SATA III ports.

 

[sneef]

I switched the drives to SATA6G_1 and SATA6G_2. Everything boots up, although the "No hard disk is detected!" warning is still there so I guess that that was not it. Bit of a mystery but ultimately no big deal. Thanks for the help.