HP Z820 SATA , SCU and SAS ports unclear to me ( for now )

[wilfriedVM]

My HP Z820 came as follows:

dual xeon E5-2687w - 64GB RAM - dual quadro 4000 - SSD Intel 520 /240GB OS drive (C) - 2 x WD2001FYYG - HP CDROM and I added optiarc DVD drive . WIN 7 PRO x 64 .

Pure dedicated video editing system . ( sony vegas pro , dvdarch , soundforge , acid pro , after effects )

Confusion started since I could not burn DVD ( only read ) .

SATA 0 ( 6GB/sec ) : SSD Intel 520 - C drive 240 GB with win7 prox64

SATA 1 ( 6GB/sec ) : left free for later additional SSD Intel 520

SCU 4 : HP DVD RAM drive

SCU 3 : I did add here the optiarc DVD drive

SCU 2 : free

SCU 1 : free

SAS 1 : WD2001 FYYG

SAS 2 : WD2001 FYYG

all other 6 SAS ports are still free ( ALL IS NON-RAID )

Apparently the BIOS ( J63 V02.08 ) did not recognise the CDROM since nothing shown .

I did wire the optiarc DVD writer to SATA1 port -> BIOS recognised the DVD writer

can write DVD now ( wow ...... )

My few questions now left :

why does one have to use high speed 6GB/sec SATA port to add a very slow DVD writer which does

not even require 1.5 GB/sec speed port .

Can I mix SATA drives and SAS drives in the 8 SAS connectors ports and could I put my SSD ( C drive )

SATA drive in one of the 8 SAS ports instead of in the SATA 0 port .

Then I could wire the other DVD drive ( or blu-ray writer ) into SATA 0 port so that I can write to both drives .

This system is meant for video editing so blu-ray/DVD writing is the final act after the editing and

I do want to maximise performance .

Am not ( yet ) fully aware of all BIOS settings and meanings

Thanking in advance.

[dv411]

why does one have to use high speed 6GB/sec SATA port to add a very slow DVD writer which does not even require 1.5 GB/sec speed port .

One doesn't.  I've installed and configured several Z820 systems with the optical drive(s) in SATA 3G ports.

There seem to be certain issues with UEFI drivers though.  Are your SCU and SAS controllers in UEFI or legacy mode?  Have you tried your DVD-RW on a different SCU port?

Can I mix SATA drives and SAS drives in the 8 SAS connectors ports and could I put my SSD ( C drive ) SATA drive in one of the 8 SAS ports instead of in the SATA 0 port

Yes although if you boot from anything in the SAS controller, you won't be able to disable its boot ROM option in BIOS, to speed up the boot up process.

[wilfriedVM]

Thank you for the ( fast ) answer .

In BIOS , Mass storage option ROMS = legacy

I re-wired the hp drive to SCU 0 ( instead of SCU 4 ) but doesn't make any difference .

The DVD is there in wind7x64 and I can read DVD but NOT write . ( can write DVD only when putten in SATA port 1 apparently )

in BIOS under device configuration it only shows the SSD (SATA port 0 ) and the rewired optiarc ( SATA port 1 ) . 

Maybe the BIOS does not show the SCU device(s) and SAS device(s) since the WD2001FYYG I can also not see in the BIOS ( but are working , of course )

Something else I am not aware of or do not understand ?

Thanking in advance

[wilfriedVM]

Maybe the old(er) BIOS V02.08 is the cause of only seeing SATA0 and SATA1 port in BIOS

( it might have been updated ( before shipping ) from a V1 to V2.08 )

I noticed in bios version 2.54 there is a fix for an issue HDDS or Optical devices to be missing from F10 menus after updating from BIOS 01.xx to 02.xx.

If that does mean it is only not showing in the F10 bios menu , then it has nothing to do with it but if it means more then not showing only .....

Present latest available bios version is version 03.06 rev. A .

Could I maybe best install this one and see what it might do with the drives in SCU ports ?

Do I have to write down all present BIOS settings or do all settings remain same after flashing bios . ( should be but this system makes me doubt about things )

[MSLEEE]

You have already got the answers from the other people.

You don't have to write down all present BIOS settings. Upgrading the BIOS will not change the bios settings.  However, you can save the BIOS setting in F10 Setup with USB key and restore the bios settings in F10 Setup after BIOS upgrade or whenever the BIOS settings should be restored.

You have already mentioned the BIOS upgrade. Please make sure to upgrade your system BIOS to v3.06 (at least v2.55).

[wilfriedVM]

Thank you for the answer .

BIOS is upgraded to version 03.06 rev A

Am I not supposed to see all HDD and all CDROM in BIOS under " storage options " ?

This is stil only showing SATA 0 ( SSD Intel ) and SATA 1 ( optiarc DVDwriter )

The 2 x WD2001FYYG ( SAS0 and SAS1 ) and hp DVDrom ( CSU0) are not shown in BIOS