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HP MediaSmart Server and eSATA port RRS feed

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    I currently have the HP MediaSmart EX470:

     

    The 4 drive cages are filled with 4- 500GB drives

    The eSATA port is connected to an Antec MX-1 enclosure with a 1TB drive.

     

    My question:

     

     Is there such a thing as a eSATA port muliplier that I can connect to the HP's eSATA port so that I can add 2 more eSATA Extenal Drives? I would then be able to have 3 SATA drives connected thru the one eSATA port of the HP EX470.I really don't want to use the USB ports.

     

    Would something like this work?

    http://www.sataport.com/

     

     

    Thanks in advance

    Monday, December 17, 2007 6:44 PM

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    According to HP, yes the eSATA port is capable of acting as a host port for a port multiplier. I'm sorry but I don't know any more specifics than that at this time. I'm going to try to find out, however, and I'll let you know what I learn.
    Tuesday, December 18, 2007 2:57 AM
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    Such multipliers do definitely exist and a quick Google search turns up many including the Addonics 5X1 eSATA Port Multiplier.

     

    I would be cautious with such a thing though as you would have multiple hard drives being controlled on a single SATA channel, likely leading to reduced performance, not unlike using multiple hard drives on the same USB controller.

    Monday, December 17, 2007 6:59 PM
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    Brendan,

     

       Thanks for your reply. However; I guess after Googling;I need to know if the eSATA port on the HP is considered a "HOST" port.

    Monday, December 17, 2007 7:13 PM
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    According to HP, yes the eSATA port is capable of acting as a host port for a port multiplier. I'm sorry but I don't know any more specifics than that at this time. I'm going to try to find out, however, and I'll let you know what I learn.
    Tuesday, December 18, 2007 2:57 AM
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    Thanks Ken...........I await your answer.

     

     

    Tuesday, December 18, 2007 11:57 PM
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    Well, I still don't have specifics. It's my understanding that there's a couple of options out there for SATA chip sets that support port multipliers, and some port multipliers aren't supported on some chipsets. However, this document says that port multipliers are supported, so some port multiplier has obviously been tested. Smile
    Wednesday, December 19, 2007 1:43 AM
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    In the HP EX470, the internal SATA drives (up to 4) are connected via an SiS 1182 controller. The eSATA drive connects via the Marvell 88SE6111-NAA1 controller which I've read DOES support port multipliers.

     

    As soon as the holidays are behind me, I'm going to access if there is anything left over from the Xmas budget. If so, I'm looking at an external SATA enclosure with a build in port multiplier. Possibly this one. If so, I'll be sure to post my findings.

    Wednesday, December 19, 2007 2:49 AM
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    There are several 4-8 bay drive enclosures that can connect via a single eSATA port.  I think it is common now.  I'm planning to go that route when my server case gets full.
    Thursday, December 20, 2007 3:12 PM
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    I have an AMS Venus T5 5-bay SATA enclosure. It is based on the Silicon Image (SiI) 4726 chipset. I can confirm that it works with the HP 470 with a couple of caveats:

    1. I updated the drivers for the Marvell 88SE6111-NAA1 controller to the Dec. 2007 drivers. (Don't know if this is required, but I wanted to use the most up-to-date drivers before experimenting.)

    2. The server will only recognize new drives when they are added to the enclosure if the server is restarted. In other words, no hot-swapping drives in the enclosure.

     

    I believe that #2 is a limitation of the Marvell chipset because I was able to use hot-swapping when I had the enclosure hooked up to a SiI 3132 eSATA controller on my desktop PC.

     

    I don't know which other SATA enclosures that you are looking at, but if you are interested in the Venus T5, it can be found at Newegg. One complaint is that the 80mm fans are pretty loud and run at full speed 24/7. I am going to replace them soon with much quieter fans.

    Saturday, January 5, 2008 5:53 PM
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    i'm looking at adding an eSATA port multiplier too.

     

    wondering how the AMS Venus T5 has been working for you?

     

    Thanks,

    casey

     

    Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:57 PM
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    "How does the AMS Venus T5 Work on HP Home Server?"

     

    For me? Not so well. I ordered one from NewEgg a couple of weeks ago. I loaded it with a WD 500GB, a Seagate 750GB, and two Samsung 500GB drives. Everything works perfect except the top drive bay. I can't get my HP Home Server to recognize any drive I put in the top bay. I got an RMA from NewEgg and just got a replacement unit yesterday. Tried it this morning with the exact same results. Bay 5 is dead to HP Home Server.

    I tried to do the driver update mentioned earlier in this post and that driver is no longer available. Apparently it was causing some spontaneous reboots of some user's systems.

     

    Is my problem driver related? I really don't know and can't figure it out since the driver is no longer available.

    Other than that, it works great as a 4 drive expansion unit. Extremely fast. Much faster than using USB drives. And yes, I also have the same problem as the person earlier in that the HP Home server has to be rebooted to recognize any changes with new or removed drives from the AMS Venus T5.

     

    I hope they come out with the new driver soon that fixes both of these problems.

    Thursday, January 31, 2008 2:08 PM
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    I have the same SATA tower from AMS.  Please note that the HP  exEX470 ESATA port will allow access to only 4 ESATA drives.  The 5th bay is usless unless you use it for a spare drive in case one fails.  I got this data directly from HP tech support.  I am having problems with my tower though becasuse in about 1 to 1 /12 hours of operation the two drives I am using change from green to green and red LEDs.  The HP server then goes into alarm telling me that I have lost my drives.  HP claims that the drives are going into spin down mode to save energy in the "green" operation.  HP home server does not like its drives to go asleep.  Neither the Seagate drives nor the DS2350S system has a spin down mode.  The DS2350S has SSU smart spin up on start up that does not allow the drive to all spin up immediately after the unit is powered on to prevent low voltage and current during peak power demand on start up.  Any ideas why I am losing my drive communication to the HP home server?  Is anyone else having this problem?

     

    Friday, July 4, 2008 3:41 PM
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    On the MSS forum there is a long thread on esata problems. From what I remember there was no firm resolution, but I can only suggest you check there to see if anyone found a resolution.

    Ben
    Friday, July 4, 2008 4:33 PM
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    After investigating the DS2350S system I believed the problem was in the SIL 4726 card in the Sata tower. I researched and found an newer driver that is never mentioned by AMS and it is the driver rev level 12061. After installing the new driver on my computer I flashed the hardware and then put the tower back onto the HP server. The tower did not fail for 5 hours. I then turned the tower off several times and it recovered automatically after the drive failure . The one time it didn't it recover, I restarted the HP Server and it automatically found the drives and they are back on line. This never happened with the original driver. Here is the web address for the firmware download. The new one is 1.2061 and I replaced the former version 1.2052.

    http://www.sci-worx.com/support/supportsearchresults.aspx?pid=74&cid=23&ctid=2&osid=0&

    * SiI4726 Firmware 1.2061 11/6/2006 34 KB SiI4726 Firmware enables SAFE, FAST, BIG, SAFE+FAST, and SAFE+BIG storage policies. This firmware release parallels SiI4726 Configuration Manager version 4.0.0.9 that introduces email notification and 5 HDD FAST storage policy.


    SiI4726 Firmware 1.2052 2/21/2006 34 KB SiI4726 Firmware enables SAFE, FAST, BIG, SAFE+FAST, and SAFE+BIG storage policies. This firmware release parallels SiI4726 Configuration Manager version 4.0.0.9 that introduces email notification and 5 HDD FAST storage policy.

     

    Saturday, July 5, 2008 2:35 AM
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    eidos:

    Thanks trying this now also.

    Regards.

    Tuesday, June 29, 2010 9:07 PM
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    I can't see the rest of this thread, so what I say may be entirely irrelevant, but I have used the eSATA port on an HP WHS server with an external drive plugged into a dock, and it worked fine.

    "MeadowsPV" wrote in message news:41602d11-52fe-4a31-802c-1791bed2260e@communitybridge.codeplex.com...

    eidos:

    Thanks trying this now also.

    Regards.

    Bill Sanderson
    Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:26 PM