GA-P55A-UD4P eSATA Port Multiplier?

[ronbo613]

Say I wanted to use an eSATA Port Multiplier JBOD external enclosure like this one. Will the JMicron eSATA port on the back of the GA-P55A-UD4P ver. 1 support this port multiplier?

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi ronbo613,  

Welcome to the forum (from me...)

About your product in OP, check if it is a discontinued model.
I did not find documentation on their website. The link does not work.

You have it in home ? Or just a proposed purchase?

Just for my comprehension. You choose JBOD hardware for this raison, I presume...

Extract:
While JBOD doesn't offer any advantage in terms of reading or writing speeds,
it doesn't sacrifice any storage space through integration.
You get the sum total of storage space offered by each individual disk.
With JBOD, failure of a single disk doesn't mean that the entire system will fail.
source : http://www.buzzle.com/articles/raid0-vs-jbod.html

Otherwise, you find other model here :
http://www.sansdigital.com/towerraid-/index.php

Gloup_Gloup

[Dark Mantis]

I think you will find that the OPs's link is working fine now.

[Gloup_Gloup]

I think you will find that the OPs's link is working fine now.

Hi Dark Mantis and ronbo613, 

I I spoke of link for the product documentation. It is gray.
 I searched for less than an one hour to find a link to the .pdf file.
And I have not found exactly the instruction manual of this product.

Sorry if my previous message was not clear ... But I wrote:
''I did not find documentation on their website. The link (of documentation) does not work.

Gloup_Gloup

[ronbo613]

I may not use that exact enclosure, I am trying to find out if the eSATA controller on the motherboard supports port multiplier technology or if I need to get a PCIe eSATA card that does in order to use this kind of enclosure.

[Gloup_Gloup]

I may not use that exact enclosure, I am trying to find out if the eSATA controller on the motherboard supports port multiplier technology or if I need to get a PCIe eSATA card that does in order to use this kind of enclosure.

Hi ronbo613 

I think it's best to buy a  a PCIExpress card with latest technology.
This will be faster. And more effective than the single eSATA port motherboard.

Gloup_Gloup

[YES-U-CAN]

Hey ronbo613 (and others) 

YES - U - CAN use the port multiplier capability of the GA-P55A-UD4P motherboard.

It uses the Jmicron JMB632 PCI express to x2 SATA 2 host controller
(on the motherboard and 2 eSATA ports are available on back connectors)
(be sure to enable AHCI in the BIOS for these eSATA ports)

and as it states on the Jmicron webpage here:
http://www.jmicron.com/JMB362.html
• Supports Hot Plugging like USB on SATA II port
• Supports Port Multiplier with Command-based Switching on SATA II port

I updated my driver to JMB36X_WinDrv_R1.17.63_WHQL_eSATA.zip
available here:
ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/SATA_Controller/Windows/

i know this post is over 90 days since anyone posted
but i did finally get mine working and wanted to share the info

I use the Thermaltake BlacX duet docking station pictured here:
http://thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1346&ID=1895#Tab0

and yes it recognizes BOTH drives AND hot pluggable = yummy !
I am using this on my WIN 7 Pro 64 bit machine

hope this helps those searching

[F5BJR]

*
For your motherboard :

The Marvell port support one port multiplier in RAID 0 or 1 ( you can boot thiis RAID )

The JMicron port support port multiplier functionnality but you can use for booting one one single disk ( if you have 4 disks you have 4 separate disks )

Pierre


 

[ronbo613]

I realize this is an old thread, but I am still looking to use this enclosure that requires the eSATA ports that support port multiplier technology. I will probably use the enclosure in JBOD mode or maybe RAID 0 for storage, no booting required. According to the enclosure manufacturer, without port multiplication with eSATA, only one drive will be recognized, not all four.
I assume by the responses in the thread that the GA-P55A-UD4P v1 board does, in fact, have port multiplier capability via the mobo eSATA ports. That would be great, I won't have to buy an additional PCI-E eSATA card.
Thanks for all the responses.