CentOS - Sep 2008 - Problem with Arima HDAMA rev.G with Integrated SiliconImage Sil3114 Serial ATA 4 Ports and 1TB SATA disks. Recomendation for a cheap SATA controller for linux software raid?

Dear Everybody,

I am telling you the whole story, perhaps you can give me a better idea.

Almost 3 years ago I purchased Arima HDAMA rev. G motherboard with
integrated Silicon Image Sil3114 Serial ATA 4 Ports SATA I adapter. (
http://www.arimacorp.com/ViewProduct.asp?View=86 ) . BIOS version is
2.13.

My intention is to make a file server, using linux software raid, so I
bought 2 new shiny 1TB SATA II disks, and installed them.
Unfortunately the system does not boot - hangs in the Sil 3114 BIOS
initialization stage. Apparently this is a known problem with Sil3114
and Sil3112:
(
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&message.id=970
)

The Silicon people have issued a BIOS update for this issue, however
they explicitly state - only for ADD-IN cards. Perhaps, integrated
controlers share the same eeprom chip with the motherboard BIOS, and
an attempt to flash it - will render the system unbootable. For
integrated controllers - the mainboard producer should provide the
update.

Apparently the Arima people have sold their business to
http://www.flextronics.com/en/default.aspx. The new site is at
http://www.flextronics.com/arima/server/Product/ViewDownload.asp?View=HDAMA%20rev.G.
The last BIOS update is from 8/30/2006.  And I think this patch well
predates the 1TB hard disks and has been issued before SiliconImage's
patch:
(
http://www.siliconimage.com/support/supportsearchresults.aspx?pid=28&cid=15&ctid=2&osid=0&
) .

So I am not willing to risk a BIOS update and I have decided to spend
additional cash on a cheap but fast 4 port SATA II controller and use
it with Centos 5.2.

Where I reside, the following two have caught my attention:

 ADAPTEC SATA RAID 1420SA Serial ATA-150/Serial ATA II-300 PCI-X 4ch
       for 120 USD
(
http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/products/Controllers/Hardware/sata/entry/AAR-1420SA/
)

and

PROMISE FastTrak TX4300 Serial ATA II-300 PCI 4ch                 for 160 USD
(
http://www.promise.com/product/product_detail_eng.asp?segment=RAID%200/1%20HBAs&product_id=137
)

Do you have any experience any of these 2 adapters, operating as plain
SATA controllers, under linux software raid?
Which one would you recommend?

Best regards,
Alex

On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 12:51 PM, Alexander Georgiev
<alexander.georgiev at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> So I am not willing to risk a BIOS update and I have decided to spend
> additional cash on a cheap but fast 4 port SATA II controller and use
> it with Centos 5.2.
>
If you think $120-160 is cheap, I'm wondering if your company needs
more software engineers....

;^)

I have had good luck with Adaptec controllers in the past, and no
experience with Promise, but w.r.t. SATA I couldn't give you any
input.

FTR, my m/b only does SATA-I, and spent a little time looking for a
cheap PCI-SATA-II board (so I could run my SATA-II disks at full
transfer speed) but the cheapest one I found was $60-70, and if I'm
going to spend that much, I might as well get a new m/b that supports
SATA-II (they're cheaper!).

I know that's not much help - sorry.  Hope someone else will have more
info....

mhr