nForce4 SATA Linux Installation Guide
The nForce4 SATA chip on the Marquis K814, K815, M814, M815, M816 and K826 consists of two discrete 2-port SATA controllers.
NF4 SATA #1 controller
- Port 1
- Port 2
NF4 SATA #2 controller
- Port 3
- Port 4
Under Linux, the operating system scans the 2nd SATA controller first. As a result, the device name will be changed when adding the 3rd or 4th disk to the system.
| Number of disks | Port 1 (Boot Device) | Port 2 | Port 3 | Port 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | /dev/sda | |||
| 2 | /dev/sda | /dev/sdb | ||
| 3 | /dev/sdb | /dev/sdc | /dev/sda | |
| 4 | /dev/sdc | /dev/sdd | /dev/sda | /dev/sdb |
This also affects the device name used to store the master boot record. If the system has three hard drives, the master boot record must be written to /dev/sdb. If the system has four hard drives, the master boot record must be written to /dev/sdc.