Hard Disks: Serial ATA As An Option

To keep costs down for a system trimmed to data security, the obvious choice is to use the serial ATA drives together with the integrated controller of the Intel chipset. The 865/875 chipset family could be combined with the Southbridge ICH5-R, which offers two SATA connectors and support for RAID 0 or 1 in software.

The same applies to the E7210 and the Southbridge 6300ESB that goes with it. The main difference from the ICH5 is the integrated PCI-X Interface and the much faster - 1 GB/s - connection between the Northbridge and the Southbridge. The ATA controller was used unaltered and thus offers two SATA ports.

In Linux, however, the integrated SATA RAID controller can only be operated if the distributor provides appropriate drivers for it. Intel doesn't go out of its way - as far as drivers were concerned, we found only the usual Windows support.

Things are different in drives with serial-ATA interface: The connectors are easier to reach, because they are located on the underside of the drives, seen above.

We actually did it - after mere moments of fumbling, both drives were connected and ready for operation.