SATA hot swap

[Jarod Wilson]

On Wednesday 17 June 2009 22:38:33 Ben Scott wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 9:57 PM, Jarod Wilson <jarod at wilsonet.com> wrote:
> > ... JMicron? Run the other way. ...
> 
>   Hmmm.  We recently started running a host with an Intel ICH SATA
> chipset at work, using the onboard "fake RAID" Intel provides.  ('doze
> box, unfortunately, or I'd use Linux software RAID.)  I noticed that
> the RAID BIOS was copyright JMicron.  I wonder where that leaves me.
> (Asides from screwed because we're running 'doze.)
> 
>   It's a Dell Precision T3400, if anyone cares.  I did simulate a disk
> failure by yanking a SATA cable during OS operation.  It froze for a
> few seconds but then continued right along.  Auto-remirrored properly
> on re-insert.

JMicron seems to specialize in cheap... Sometimes it works out,
sometimes its a horrific train wreck... Most of the really crappy SSDs
on the market use a cheapo JMicron controller, their first-gen JMB381
firewire controller had a nasty DMA bug in it, and some of their
sata controllers have been a bit... flaky. On the bright side, I do
think they've been getting better of late, and they even provided me
with engineering sample firewire cards specifically for testing under
Linux, and do the same with some of their other stuff.

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod at wilsonet.com