Serial ATA (SATA) Linux Support

Aussie · 04-18-2004, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by etegration
still nothing on ICH5R? i really hope to up my Raptors in RAID 1 on my P4P800 and run Redhat on it.

There is in kernel 2.6.x, and there is a patch to add libsata to 2.4.xx kernels here.

Aussie · 04-19-2004, 08:15 AM

In a related news item, Marcello has anounced the addition of libata to the 2.4 series of kernels, you can expect to see it added during the 2.4.27-pre series.
http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/2926

monz · 04-19-2004, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aussie
I'm testing kernel 2.6.6-rc1 on my laptop ATM, and under SCSI device support you'll find a Serial ATA (SATA) support option.

Yup, I noticed this already in 2.6.5.

It's been stated elsewhere (kerneltrap), that there are problems with the combination of Sil 3112a and Seagate 7200.7 sata disks. I'm running Slackware 9.1 on a Asus A7N8X Deluxe with 2x Seagate 7200.7 160GB in raid1. Slack installs fine, but while fstab says /dev/hde, fdisk -l says /dev/hde AND hdg.

I know Sil 3121a is a fakeraid, and elsewhere it's been suggested to do softwareraid, but still...

Tried 2.6.4 and 2.6.5, and just changed 2.6.5 to use libata, incl. a rescue job to change ID's to /dev/sda. Boots fine, but as with other setups/kernels, hdparm -t still locks the system solid.
Before changing to libata, I could sometimes do 5-9 hdparm's.

Anyone know how a workaround to the Seagate problem, if that's my real problem? IIUC, the libata stuff already limits sectorcount to 15.

I have little faith in the sata stuff right now. If problems are so many now ¾ year into sata, and furthermore the system can't see the raid1 as a single disk, I'm reluctant to spend too much more time on it now. What can I say? God bless scsi. Give it couple more days...

Aussie · 04-19-2004, 04:43 PM

I also have an Asus A7N8X Deluxe, but with one 200Gb WD and one 80Gb Seagate SATA, I'll be installing 2.6.6-rc1 in about two days time and I'll report back on what happens.

monz · 04-19-2004, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aussie
I also have an Asus A7N8X Deluxe, but with one 200Gb WD and one 80Gb Seagate SATA, I'll be installing 2.6.6-rc1 in about two days time and I'll report back on what happens.

Maybe I should mention the noted problems also existed when breaking the mirror and using a single disk. Haven't tried breakin the mirror with libata, though. Yucks, will try it, takes immensly long time to rebuild the mirror, but what the H, it's still a dev. system until sata works

:
Weird your Seagate works, but not mine. Yours also a 7200.7 thingy? Only diff should be the cache size... fail to see any influence here.
Which mobo bios version? I'm using 1007.

Aussie · 04-19-2004, 05:21 PM

I've had 3 out of 4 80Gb Seagate SATA drives fail in the last 6 months, which is why I now have a 200Gb Western Didital. The failed Seagates were all 7200.7s with a model number of ST380023AS, all the replacement drives are model number ST380013AS, as is the one original drive that didn't fail. I don't bother with raid - it's not much use unless you have a bank of fast scsi drives.

monz · 04-21-2004, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aussie
I've had 3 out of 4 80Gb Seagate SATA drives fail in the last 6 months, which is why I now have a 200Gb Western Didital. The failed Seagates were all 7200.7s with a model number of ST380023AS, all the replacement drives are model number ST380013AS, as is the one original drive that didn't fail. I don't bother with raid - it's not much use unless you have a bank of fast scsi drives.

My Seagate's are ST3160023AS, firmware 3.05, S/N 3JN0N2AF and 3JS0E90Z.
Anyone had any luck with Samsung's Spinpoint sata's? Been googling a bit, saw one note that he got considerably lower performance with the Spinpoints that with IBM/Hitachi.

I'd swap the Seagate's for WD Caviar 10K, but they're only 36/74GB and expensive. I'll be running VMware on this system, so a single 74GB disk is a bit on the lower side.
Hense the Q about Samsung disks. They're pretty low noise/heat and affordable, but useless for me if performance is noton-par with others.

The wierd thing is that the system works just fine with the Seagate's, only seems to go down the drain doing large file I/O = me not having any trust in it.
Seriously considering trashing the whole thing and stick with scsi...

Aussie · 04-21-2004, 04:15 PM

The Western Digital 200GB that I have now is working fine, but I'm not using libata on it yet. The seagates started making clicking noises then gave heaps of disk I/O errors just before they failed, after the first one I went and the second one started making the clicking noises I went on an orgy of dvd burning to back up all my files, and kept updating the backups daily.

monz · 04-22-2004, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aussie
The Western Digital 200GB that I have now is working fine, but I'm not using libata on it yet. The seagates started making clicking noises then gave heaps of disk I/O errors just before they failed, after the first one I went and the second one started making the clicking noises I went on an orgy of dvd burning to back up all my files, and kept updating the backups daily.

Mind doing a hdparm -t ? It's a 7200rpm Caviar, fluid bearing model, right?

Anyone care do do a hdparm -t on a pc with 32bit pci, ultra 160 scsi (Adaptec 29160..), a 10K disk, cpu min 1GHz (so it doesn't limit perf)? Bonnie results velcome too..

Same goes for a system with sata and a Raptor, 74 and 36GB models. Plz list the satachipset.
I need to make a quick decition about sticking with scsi, or buying a Caviar or Raptor.

Udma is another testimony that pigs, given enough thrust, can fly.
-- Alan Cox

Aussie · 04-22-2004, 08:00 AM

Here you go,

Code:

bern@beast:~$ su -c 'hdparm -tT /dev/hde'
Password:

/dev/hde:
 Timing buffer-cache reads:   128 MB in  0.28 seconds =457.14 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  64 MB in  1.77 seconds = 36.16 MB/sec
bern@beast:~$

bern@beast:~$ su -c 'hdparm -i /dev/hde'
Password:

/dev/hde:

 Model=WDC WD2000JD-00FYB0, FwRev=02.05D02, SerialNo=WD-WMAEH1983222
 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=57600, SectSize=600, ECCbytes=74
 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
 CurCHS=65535/1/63, CurSects=4128705, LBA=yes, LBAsects=268435455
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: device does not report version:  1 2 3 4 5 6

bern@beast:~$

I'm not using libata yet, I'm going to have a play around with it when it's merged into 2.4.27-pre.

monz · 04-25-2004, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aussie
Here you go,

Code:

bern@beast:~$ su -c 'hdparm -tT /dev/hde' Password: /dev/hde: Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 0.28 seconds =457.14 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 1.77 seconds = 36.16 MB/sec

I'm not using libata yet, I'm going to have a play around with it when it's merged into 2.4.27-pre.

Hmm, I get around 43/44MB/s with the Seagate - when it doesn't lock up 8-( About same result for 'old style' SATA as for libata, using 2.6.5 . Cpu is 2.2GHz.
EDIT: I got around 54MB/s..

I'd really like to see someone post hdparm -t for a Raptor SATA + mobo, chipset and cpu.

From our dk lug someone posted
/dev/sda2:
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 3.35 seconds = 19.10 MB/sec

on a 700 Mhz, 9GB 7.200 disk, Adaptec 29160N.
I get around 27MB/s on a 550MHz K6-2 using 29160 og Maxtor 10K disk, not too bad..
I'm still considering sticking with scsi, at least until SATA2 is out and has been on the market for a while. Used u160 disks is available at reasonable prices, only problem is noise.

That's why I'd like to see hdparm's for the Raptor.

"I'd feel worse if it was the first time. I'd feel better if it was the last."
-=- "(from some Larry Niven book, doubtless not original there)"

monz · 05-02-2004, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by monz

It's been stated elsewhere (kerneltrap), that there are problems with the combination of Sil 3112a and Seagate 7200.7 sata disks...

I know Sil 3121a is a fakeraid, and elsewhere it's been suggested to do softwareraid, but still...

Tried 2.6.4 and 2.6.5, and just changed 2.6.5 to use libata, incl. a rescue job to change ID's to /dev/sda. Boots fine, but as with other setups/kernels, hdparm -t still locks the system solid.
Before changing to libata, I could sometimes do 5-9 hdparm's.

Anyone know how a workaround to the Seagate problem, if that's my real problem? IIUC, the libata stuff already limits sectorcount to 15.

Well, I have more faith now (no change in religion required):
On 2.6.5, using libata, I simply booted using 'PCI=noacpi noapic nolapic'. I can now do 20 loops with hdparm -t, no lockups!
Unbeliveable that the apic stuff is still broken. Well, unless I'm completely wrong, and the AMD XP Barton doesn't have a local apic...
The hdparm -t yields around 54MB/s BTW. Seems ok.

I've been working with Linux since '96; didn't occur to me trying without the apic stuff.

HW is still two Seagate 160GB 7200.7 ST3160023AS on an Asus A7N8x Deluxe rev2, Sil3121a rev02, bios 1007. Slackware 9.1, kernel 2.6.5, libata.

Anyone care to comment whether it works for them or not?

"Experience is a wonderful thing.
It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again."
-- Jason A. Richards

Lost Penguin · 05-02-2004, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BarryT
Hi,

I have a Asus P4P800 Mobo that has the Intel ICH5R Chipset for SATA.
I have one 200GB Maxtor disk tha\t I want to install RH7.3 onto.

I have even tried to install RH9 but am getting no sucess. From what I have read I need to upgrade my Kernel to at least 2.4.22 but 2.6.4 would be better.

Can someone please tell me the best way of doing this as at the moment there is no OS on the SATA HDD.

As I see it my options are as follows.

Can someone please give me their views on the best way to sovle my problem. other wise I think I will be taking my last option which is throw the SATA HDD out of the window and install a EIDE HDD

Thanks In Advance

Barry..

Don't throw the HDD (You might void the 5 year warrantee)
I run Fedora core two (Test 2) on my Asus P4P800.
I set the IDE support to "compatible" not "Enhanced"
I am using the primary IDE and the SATA "PATA + SATA" only
I have a 40 gig IDE Western Digital on the primary master
I have a NEC DVD everything under the sun burner as primary slave
Secondary IDE is off
SATA one and two are 36 Gig Western Digital Raptors

I have XP on the first drive (The 40 Gig IDE)
Grub is loaded to the MBR of the IDE.

The first SATA has a first partition of 100MB for /boot
(You must have a /boot partition for software RAID)
The first SATA has a second partition of 412MB for swap
The first SATA has the remaining space as software RAID partition

The second SATA has a first partition of 512MB for swap
The second SATA has the remaining space as software RAID partition

/dev/md0 is software RAID 0 for mount point / (root)

This rocks!
The intel HostRAID is no faster than a good software RAID.
I cannot boot the Fedora core test 3 CD! (So, I won't be installing test 3)

monz · 05-03-2004, 04:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lost Penguin

SATA one and two are 36 Gig Western Digital Raptors

I have XP on the first drive (The 40 Gig IDE)
Grub is loaded to the MBR of the IDE.

The first SATA has a first partition of 100MB for /boot
(You must have a /boot partition for software RAID)
The first SATA has a second partition of 412MB for swap
The first SATA has the remaining space as software RAID partition

The second SATA has a first partition of 512MB for swap
The second SATA has the remaining space as software RAID partition

/dev/md0 is software RAID 0 for mount point / (root)

This rocks!
The intel HostRAID is no faster than a good software RAID.
I cannot boot the Fedora core test 3 CD! (So, I won't be installing test 3)

Mind showing a hdparm -t for your software raid? Bonnie will be fine too..

Lost Penguin · 05-03-2004, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by monz
Mind showing a hdparm -t for your software raid? Bonnie will be fine too..

Hdparm for md0:

/dev/md0:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 3448 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1726.85 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 202 MB in 3.01 seconds = 67.19 MB/sec

Not THAT fast:

But heres sda:

/dev/sda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 3160 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1581.82 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 164 MB in 3.02 seconds = 54.37 MB/sec

sdb:

/dev/sdb:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 3152 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1578.61 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 166 MB in 3.03 seconds = 54.79 MB/sec

Will post a Hardware RAID soon , under Redhat 9 though.....