Promise SATAII 150 Linux Installation Guide
Often, there are multiple Linux drivers available for a controller as in the case of the Promise SATAII 150 TX4. There are three possible drivers:
- ulsata2 (binary version) - This is a binary only driver that can be downloaded from Promise Web page. Due to the limited kernel support, this driver should never be used.
- ulsata2 (open source version) - This is the Promise open source driver that is included in ASL 2.4.27-1 kernel and higher. This version is only supported in the 2.4 series kernel.
- sata_promise (open source version) - This is the Linux open source driver provided in the libata library. It is being used on systems running 2.6-based distributions such as Fedora Core 3.
The Promise SATAII 150 TX4 has four SATA150 ports labeled as port 1, port 2, port 3 and port 4. Under normal behavior, the 1st SATA drive connecting to port 1 is recognized as /dev/sda. The next SATA drive connecting to port 2 is referred as /dev/sdb. Here is the complete device assignment:
| Number of disks | Port 1 (scsi0) | Port 2 (scsi1) | Port 3 (scsi2) | Port 4 (scsi3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | /dev/sda | |||
| 2 | /dev/sda | /dev/sdb | ||
| 3 | /dev/sda | /dev/sdb | /dev/sdc | |
| 4 | /dev/sda | /dev/sdb | /dev/sdc | /dev/sdd |
However, the open source driver, sata_promise, does not assign the device name in the correct port sequence as shown below:
| Number of disks | Port 1 (scsi3) | Port 2 (scsi1) | Port 3 (scsi0) | Port 4 (scsi2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | /dev/sda | |||
| 2 | /dev/sdb | /dev/sda | ||
| 3 | /dev/sdc | /dev/sdb | /dev/sda | |
| 4 | /dev/sdd | /dev/sdb | /dev/sda | /dev/sdc |
Since the device name can be changed depending on the number of hard disks installed, it might be necessary to update /etc/fstab and the boot loader (/etc/grub.conf or /etc/lilo.conf) when adding or removing disk(s).
When reinstalling Linux, it might be necessary to change the device used to store the master boot record (MBR). Since Port 1 is always considered as the 1st bootable drive, the master boot record must be stored here. If the system has one hard drive, specify sda as the device to store the master boot record. If the system has two hard drives, specify sdb as the device to store the master boot record. If the system has three hard drives, specify sdc as the device to store the master boot record. If the system has four hard drives, specify sdd as the device to store the master boot record.
Note: This only applies to system running 2.6-based distributions such as Fedora Core 3. 2.4-based distribution using the Promise ulsata2 driver does not require any special action when adding or removing hard drive(s).