Mapower MAP-TB32 Dual SATA RAID Enclosure

the_omega_se · Rated PG Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 2

Hi,

i have a brand new TB32 with two Samsung HD502IJ (500GB).
I want to run the enclosure in RAID 1 mode.

The upper LED lights blue
The middle LED is flashing. It seems like red is on and blue is blinking. So i see a change between purple ans red.
The lower LED lights purple (res+blue)

What state is that?

Is the controller building the Array?

Thanks for your help!

acruxksa · Posted: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:27:04 Post Subject:

I believe it is building the array. Please remember that it takes a long time to complete this, several hours for larger hard drives. In the mean time, the first drive should be accessible, but the more you use it, the longer it will take to build the array.

the_omega_se · Rated PG Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 2

Thank you for your fast answer!

In the interim i found a Firmwareupdate, containing a monitoringsoftware called "SteelVine Manager".
So i could see, that the controller is building the array.

I found it herehere. Wave

acruxksa · Posted: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:37:54 Post Subject:

I've got to say, when you post a link to a file that's simply named 11516.rar It certainly looks suspect. Grin

Apparently they renamed it to the firmware version, but for those that still feel a bit uncomfortable I did a bit of digging on Silicon Image's site and came up with the following.

Official silicon image firmware for the SiI5744 Storage Processor used in the Mapower MAP-TB32 is here http://www.siliconimage.com/support/searchresults.aspx?pid=105&cat=23

Official SteelVine software for the SiI5744 Storage Processor used in the Mapower MAP-TB32 is here http://www.siliconimage.com/support/searchresults.aspx?pid=105&cat=24

***PLEASE NOTE*** There is no mention about this firmware or the monitoring software on the Mapower site, so I'm assuming it's unsupported and use at your own risk.

Nice find the_omega_se and props to whoever figured this out on www.vosstronics.de

isdfe5 · Rated PG Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Posts: 2

Hi All

I'm having a few problems with the MAPOWER TB32 enslosure usage. I have an ICH9DH Sata host controller and don;t seem to be able to use SAFE50 or SAFE33 or NORMAL modes. I know I can use SPAN and haven't yet tried RAID0/1 (the setup would take an age...).

I'm using 2 x 1.5Tb Samsung Eco-green drives in the enclosure. When I tried to use SAFE33 the setup went find (eventually ~ 6 hours or so). But when it was finished I could only see the SAFE volume via eSata connection, not the BIG volume. Bizarrely I also got a S.M.A.R.T. event showing up. To elimite the possibility of a possible problem with the disks (both brand new and unformatted) I put each into a known good working single drive enclosure. No problems. Also no problems when each drive in turn was the only drive in the enclosure and the mode was set to Normal.

I have concluded that the problem is that the Sata host is not PM aware? I have upgraded the driver software for the ICH9DH controller to version 8.9.0.1023, which I believe is the latest version and I had read implements support for Port Multipliers that was previously missing. This does not seem to be so - or at least it may implement command line Port multiplier support and the enclosure requires FIS port multiplier support? All of this is pure guesswork and I'd really appreciate any help/info about this.

If I am right as regards the port multiplier support what are my options to implement it, and would extra cards (if required) result in a reduction in speed?

Separately how can I tell what firmware the enclosure is running? (I assume updating this would not help with the above, but I am interested to know that I have the latest version). Is it worth running the Silver Mine app?

PART 2 - ADDED LATER

Hello Again

I have another problem now - don't know if it was always there, but I'm getting quite frustrated with this now. When I have both 1.5Tb drives in the enclosure it is showing a single drive (SPAN mode) in the Intel Matrix Storage Console of 2794.5Gb. However under the Disk Management plug in under the Storage Management section it shows only an unallocated drive of 746.53Gb. Also when I boot I get a Reset Port Error listed within the BIOS. I don't remember noticing this before, but that's not to say it wasn't there.

Please help - I really need it!

Thanks in advance
Chris Smile

**Doctor Feelgood** · Posted: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:43:47 Post Subject:

Sorry - I have no idea, and I guess others don't either. Looks like a pile of problems with this that would frustrate anyone.

Have you gotten anywhere since posting?

isdfe5 · Rated PG Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Posts: 2

Progress so far:

I've switched the drive back to SAFE33 mode and I'm formatting both partitions using the USB connection...

Prior to that I downgraded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager software from 8.9.0.1023 to 8.8.0.1009 as there would appear to be a few problems with the latest release (if interested see http://communities.intel.com/thread/5036;jsessionid=2ADC86D1EAEFC8BB335D37EA641BFC85.node5COMS?start=0&tstart=0). Also recommend the SteelVine manager software from Silicon Image (mentioned elsewhere on the site).

Interestingly my enclosure also came with a firmware later than any of the firmwares on the Silicon Image site (although I do have the Sumvision version of the enclosure and not the Mapower one).

Read a good article on SATA port multipliers (and specifially the SiL5744 chip used in the TB32) here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/silicon-image-brings-virtualization-esata,1610-3.html and this still seems to imply that the Intel ICH9DH chip on my mobo is port multiplier aware Confused

. Also in this article it mentions being able to control the drive mode using the SteelVine GUI interface. I suspect it might be possible with this enclosure using the correct jumper settings (which unfortunately aren't spelt out in the manual...).

I've formatted the 2TB BIG partition so far (it took AGES ~24hours) and hopefully this evening the 0.5TB SAFE partition will be formatted. At this point I will turn everything off and try reconnecting using eSata. I suspect I will only be able to see the SAFE partition.

I'll then decide to either carry on using the enclosure via the USB connection, or may buy a PCI card to provide PM-aware SATA ports (which is a shame since the PC already has 3 spare Sata ports).

Chris

acruxksa · Posted: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:22:19 Post Subject:

isdfe5,
Sorry, I missed your first post or I would have gotten back to you sooner. Trying to set it up via USB is worth a shot, but as you mentioned, it may not work. Any chance you could give me a run down of your system specs and motherboard. I probably won't be of much help for the next week or so since I'm working away from home until the end of the month, but it would help myself and others with troubleshooting.

Oskar · Rated PG Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 2

Hi experts,
due to problems with one of my mirrored drives, I've replaced my 2x500GB Samsung drives with 2x2TB WD drives in my TB32CS Raid1 environment. I know from my own experience that it takes a long time for the TB32CS to mirror a 500GB drive. I also found some similar info in the forums. All say: extensive, long, very long, etc.
I have got two questions.

1. Has anyone got more specific information about how long the mirroring process runs for a 2GB set of drives configured as Raid1 (no data on the drives yet)? Confused

2. Does the process of mirroring start all over again if the device is switched off in between, or does it continue where it is stopped? Confused

I'd really appreciate any answers in that respect.
Thank you very much for the effort to help. Wave

Cheers..... Oskar