SATA cabling best practive for z210

[Skylarking]

My z210 motherboard has the following SATA connectors:

Blue connector marked SATA0 running @ 6Gb/s

Blue connector marked SATA1 running @ 6Gb/s

Black connector marked SATA2 running @ 3Gb/s

Black connector marked SATA3 running @ 3Gb/s

Black connector marked SATA4 running @ 3Gb/s

Black connector marked SATA5 running @ either 3Gb/s or 1.5Gb/s (via eSATA BIOS setting)

AFAIK, these SATA ports are wired through the C206 cougar point chipset and the connected HDD's are managed by the Intel IRST driver. It's a basic embedded RAID solution i guess.

I had the OS installed on an Intel 520 series 120GB SSD which was connected to SATA2.

I also had data storage on 2x WD6000HLHX HDD's (600GB drives) defined as RAID 1 hanging from SATA0 & SATA1.

A BD drive hanges off SATA3 while a DVD drive hanges off SATA4.

Since i have run out of space on the data drives, it's time for a change, so I want to run the OS from the SSD and add another WD6000HLHX HDD (600GB drive which i already have) to the data volume.

I'd like to configure these 3x HDD as RAID5 but the HP maintenance and Services guide is a little light on specifics as to how things should be cabled for greatest efficiency.

Obviously i will have to disconnect the DVD drive since i have the esata port connected to an eSATA plate which i'd like to keep.

Since i'm trying to achieve optimum throughput for the SSD (OS) & RAID5 (data) HDD's, i'm wondering what would be best practice for cabling the SSD, 3xHDD as RAID5 and BD optical drive in my z210?

[Skylarking]

Anyone have thoughts on this issue?

[BambiBoom_Z]

Skylarking,

In summary, use the blue 6GB/s connections for the SSD and drives that need performance and any RAID should be as a group all on black 3GB/s connections.

The z210 has SATA connectors: SATA 0 and SATA1: 2X 6GB/s (Blue), SATA 2 and SATA3: 2X 3GB/s and 1X 3GB/s SATA 4(Black) of which SATA4 which can also be eSATA.

Example connections:

The Intel 520 SSD for the OS / programs should be on SATA 0 which is blue and 6GB/s.

Other drives that are in a RAID need to be on the same controller, so the OS/programs SSD would be SATA 0 and a 3-drive RAID 5 for storage,would be on SATA 2,3,4 as a group on the 3GB/s connections.

More complex combinations: If there is an OS / programs SSD for active projects  and another SSD as a scratch disk to load libraries and save active projects quickly, plus a RAID 1 for backup/archiving, then the OS/ program drive is on SATA 0, the scratch disk is on SATA1 (6GB/s) , and as a seperate group, the RAID 1 on SATA2 and SATA3. For a RAID 0 for the OS/Programs, that would mean drives on SATA 0 and SATA 1 6GB/s and the other drives on the 3GB/s connections SATA 2,3,and 4 as seperate drives or as a three drive RAID 5.

The number of SATA3 6GB/s connection can be exapanded by using a PCIe RAID controller and have a separate RAID 0,1, and/or 5 all in 6GB/s connections. In reality, SATA2 mechanical drives can't really saturate  SATA2,  but SSD's can give SATA3 6GB's a run and more- there are some 12 GB/s RAID controllers like the LSI MR9361- shich can chain together 125 SAS drives!, and current M.2 , the HP Z Turbo Drive are PCIe x4- (use 4 PCIe lanes).

Cheers,

BambiBoom_Z

z420 (E5-1660v2)

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