ss4200-EHW Port Multiplier Support in Driver

[idata]

Does the Intel provided driver for the SIL 3132 provide port multiplier support? This would enable connection of 4-5 external drives via an e-sata port making the WHS infinitely more powerful (from a data storage standpoint). Thanks

[Daniel_O_Intel]

I looked at the README for that driver, but didn't see anything about port multiplier support. Which Silicon Image chips support that?

[idata]

Thanks for the response. The Silicon Image site for the 3132 states:

"SATALink PCI Express to 2-Port Serial ATA II Host Controller

SiI3132 is a single-chip, one-lane PCI Express to 2-port Serial ATA (SATA) II host controller that brings server-class features to the desktop. SiI3132 also supports all Serial ATA II features, including 3.0 Gbps SATA II transfer speeds, Native Command Queuing, port multipliers with FIS-based switching, programmable output signal swing strengths for longer external cables or extended backplanes, hot plugging, enclosure management and ATAPI device support."

They even have a driver: "SiI 3132 32-bit Windows BASE Driver 10/16/2007 1.0.22.0"

Note that the driver Intel makes available is 1.0.22.1 (implying that something is different). Since no one has mentioned or discussed this and the feature would be great I was wondering if the Intel implementation of the si3132 supported control over port multipliers.

[idata]

I posted a response to your response but may not have done it correctly. At any rate you can see the thread I hope. In a few days I will receive some hardware to aid in setting up the SS4200-EHW as a WHS server. After that I can test the si3132 capabilities myself. I'll let the "community" know through this thread.

[Daniel_O_Intel]

Looks like it was never validated. So, it might work; but if it didn't, there wouldn't be any support for it.

[idata]

That is about what I expected Dan_O! A feature like that would have helped to make the system a success. As I said in a post above, when I get the appropriate hardware I'll do some testing and post the findings (good or bad).

Thanks again!

[idata]

I still have not received the hardware necessary for testing the SS4200-EHW for port multiplier support but not to waste time I confirmed that the SS4200-E configuration does not at this time support that feature of the si3132. It only recognizes one of my 4-bay port multiplier enclosures as a single drive with the capacity of one of the installed hard drives. In conducting this testing a number of other interesting tests for the SS4200-E came to mind. I want to keep this thread open for the SS4200-EHW multiplier testing (when I can do it) but I also want to do some simple testing on the SS4200-E. How about it Dan_O and others should I also open a thread for the SS4200-E?

[Daniel_O_Intel]

I think it would be best to put different issues into different threads, since people only browse the titles, usually.

[idata]

Hi Worsel,

Did you ever finish testing the SS4200-EHW's port multiplier support? I will need to expand the number of drives in my own SS4200-EHW soon and an external eSata port multipler box would definitely be the preffered option.

Thanks,

Steve

[idata]

any updates?

[idata]

Hi,

I have successfully tested my eSata connection, have it hooked up to an single drive external caddy, no major issues, worked first time with the drivers from the Intel site.

S.

[idata]

umm..single drive caddy doesn't really prove port multiplier works , but thanks

[idata]

It works, I have Lian Li EX 50 External 5-Bay RAID Enclosure (configured to Port multiplier mode)

Driver version 1.0.22.4

downloaded from

http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/3132_x86_1.0.22.4_logo.zip http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/3132_x86_1.0.22.4_logo.zip

I presume that all enclouser devices with SiI3726 chip will work