[Discuss] weird disk issues

[dsr at randomstring.org (Dan Ritter)]

On Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 12:38:02PM -0400, Stephen Adler wrote:
> On Thu, 2015-10-15 at 11:29 -0400, Dan Ritter wrote:
> > > So, is it really the drives? could it be my motherboard or SATA
> > > controller on the motherboard is going bad? Bad power supply?
> > > Should I
> > > consider replacing the motherboard? Or am I just having a bad raid
> > > week?
> > 
> > 7 year old system? I would consider the power supply and the
> > SATA controller prime for replacement, and also replace the SATA
> > cables - they're cheap.
> > 
> > -dsr-
> > 
> 
> The SATA controller's on the motherboard. I've been looking for a
> replacement motherboard but it's going to cost me $200+some. uggg...
> 
> My problem with motherboards is that I've gotten into this, "I have to
> have ECC memory", mode and I won't put together any system which does
> not support ECC.
> 
> I'll do a cable replacement tonight tho...

You might want to pick up an LSI 2008 HBA. Used, they run under $100. You
get 8 ports of SAS, which are perfectly happy to control SATA2 or
SATA3 disks. Linux has good drivers for this and the 3008
chipset which followed it. You may need to upgrade the firmware
to "IT mode" which exposes disks directly to BIOS.

For cheaper options, most Silicon Image chipsets are OK, and
most JMicrons are OK, but stay away from Marvel. I find them
hit-and-miss, all too often miss.

-dsr-