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[Solved]Adding a SI3512, are Data in thread?


sandisxxx

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Hi folks, I am new to this forum, I have recently installed XPEnology which is working great BTW.

I use Intel D2500 miniITX board with 2 SATA drives, each is configured as separate volume(so no RAID).

Now to the point:

If I add SI3512(It's SATA1, I know that it will not be as fast as it could) PCI controller to attach additional SATA drives, should I:

1. expect potential data loss

2. need to install drivers or do any actions so the XPEnology can use the controller

Thanks in advance for replies.

Edited by Guest
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I've used both Sil3112 and 3114 PCI cards and both work. I think the 3512 uses the same drivers as the 3112 so it should work. My experience of adding controllers is that the 'on board' sata keep their drive positions in DSM and the new controller channels take higher numbered disks, these may be in order (ie on board = 1+2, add on =3+4 or 5+6) I think this is dependent on internal workings of the bios/XPE and DSM.

 

There is a chance that the loading order of XPE drivers could make this different in your case, but generally DSM is good at keeping track of disks and volumes and it wont matter if the hdd slot changes. If you are really worried, take a backup, which should be done anyway as you dont have any resilience at the moment.

 

One other thing to watch out for - make sure the Sil bios is non-raid (bxxxx.bin) and you might have to experiment with bios versions to find the one that works best with XPE - http://www.siliconimage.com/support/

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Hi sbv3000 I've managed to install the bxxxxx BIOS from the SIL website. Thanks for pointing that out.

I've noticed that the "Press Ctrl+S To enter RAID config" message is no longer displayed while booting.

So I'd say that I have installed the non-RAID BIOS as you suggested.

As soon as I have my disk drives at home, I will backup my data and proceed to the installation of the PCI card and additional 2 disks into my build.

Thanks for your suggestions and I will report back how it all went, so that anyone else can find this thread in case of similar situation.

Have a nice Sunday.

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Thats correct, there is no 'raid config' in jbod mode, so you don't get the option any more. When your drives are connected you will see them show up on the card boot bios during the PC boot phase. If you also watch the XPE boot screen you will see the SIL driver load line and the word 'busy' next to it for a few seconds whilst it sets up the driver.

 

If all is well, you will see the two additional drives appear in Storage Manager in additional slots.

If you see the drives in the card boot bios but not in DSM then try a lower firmware. On the Sil3114 cards I played with v5 bios didn't work with XPE but 4.x did :smile:

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Hello sbv3000, today I installed the card and two 2.5" disks and everything went smooth. I had absolutely no trouble.

XPEnology automatically recognized the SIL SATA card and the drives.

I used non-raid bios 4.x as you suggested.

No data was corrupt or deleted, all the shared drives work and all services too.

Thank you for your help.

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