I'm trying to add two drives to my current setup. I've had some issues with this, and was wondering if its due to having more than one drive per channel on the add-on SATA Controller? Both controllers I tried seem be supported by the kernel, and I didn't do any manual configuration...
I first tried a Mini PCI-e Controller (Syba SD-MPE40056 w/Asmedia 1061) that I had left over from an appliance build. I understand this is a single channel/single lane controller, although I admit I'm a bit murky on the technical definition of a "Channel" in this instance. The drives were recognized, but I couldn't create file systems from within the Web UI. I was able to create them Command Line via SSH, and then mount them in the Web UI. But, when I tried some test transfers I got numerous write errors and one of the two drives always "disappeared" after a few minutes. Both drives started registering SMART errors in the Ultra DMA CRC Error Count attribute. I understand this can be due to cabling, so I tried several other cables with the same result. Running with just one drive on either port did work.
I removed the first controller and tried a four port PCI-e x1 Controller (Syba SI-PEX40064 w/Marvell 9215). I understand this is a 2 Channel/Single lane controller. Both drives were recognized, and I was able to create file systems with the Web UI. When I tried test transfers, I again got numerous write errors, and SMART errors for Ultra DMA CRC Error Count. As installed, I had the drives on Ports 3 & 4, with Ports 1 and 2 unused. During troubleshooting, I tried the cables on Ports 1 & 4, & all the issues stopped. I assume this put the drives on separate channels?
So, while I no longer have issues, I don't know why for sure. I'd like to figure it out though, in case I want/need to add drives to the two remaining ports.
I assume its one of three things. If anyone has advice on which it is, or if its something else entirely, I'd appreciate it...
1. I may have got two defective controllers (which I think isn't likely, but I can deal with)
2. What I originally tried won't work on Debian Jessie without additional configuration over and above what gets set-up by default (in which case I'd like to figure out what that is!)
3. It's just suddenly working (which would be disconcerting, since it could just stop working again!)
Thanks!
System: Intel DN2800MT, OMV 3.0.99 on 16GB USB DOM, 4x1TB drives (mixed brands; 3 data and 1 parity), UnionFS and Snapraid plugins, 4GB RAM