Install SATA HD on a Fabiatech FX5621

stenio

Hi All,

Do you know if it is possible to install a SATA disk on a Fabiatech FX5621? It supports 44pin IDE disks but it seems that new disks are only SATA so an adapter is required but I'm not sure if it fits.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Stenio

Hello Stenio,

Do you have any suggestions?

As I see it right you have several way to solve it out.

IDE DOM (Disk on Module)
This would be starting at 2 GB and ends at 64 GB or 128 GB
You must only have a look over what kind of DOM you need!
One with a extra electric powering or without extra powering
Here are two examples:
DOM 1
DOM 2
IDE SSD
a.e.
2,5" IDE SSD
IDE to CF card adapters
a.e.
DELOCK 91662 :: 2.5" drive IDE to 2 x Compact Flash Card
CF-IDE Drive :: Compactflash Drive IDE
4GB CF IDE HARD DISK DRIVE with cable usage

So all in all you will be able to fix this!

stenio

Hello BlueKobold,

I think I'll buy a 2.5 IDE SSD. The Transcend TS32GPSD330 should be enough for me. The only package I use is snort, so I should not have reliability problems, right?

Thanks,
Stenio

stenio

I've just received this answer from the Fabiatech support:

The FX5621 use the VT8251 South Bridge, it support - SATA II AHCI Bus Masters or SATA I Bus Masters.

It is also possible to configure devices in two separate master/slave connections (a total of four drives), with data transfer rates of 3 Gb/s (master), and a 1.5Gb/s (slave).

On the manual four SATA ports seems to be present:

I cannot find any information regarding the freebsd support of the VIA CN700 or VT8251 chipset.

Thanks,
Stenio

I would sugest you to read at first all the following post from that threadt here:
Fabiatech FX5621

Is this only a card PC or a real Mainboard in a boxed small case?

stenio

The system works well for me disabling the two gigabit ports.

The FX5621 is a compact size embedded system with VIA low-power Eden CPU board inside.

stenio

I found this image:

I see the SATA connector but not the power connector. I see a molex for a floppy disk, but I don't know if it could be used for a SATA disk.

Hello again,

I would go by an industrial CF Card in the CFCard slot and perhaps a soekris vpn1411 in
the miniCPI slot. Would be enough. Why you want to use the IDE slot?

jahonix

@stenio:

I see a molex for a floppy disk, but I don't know if it could be used for a SATA disk.

Sure. There are adapters available. It's only +5V, +12V and GND, regardless of the connector.

Go with a CF card as BlueKobold already suggested. Clean, cheap and straight forward.

That 4 pin connector is used for powering an SATA device. Lanner uses the same connector for their internal HDD. Here is similar one. Might want to check you motherboard power pinout to make sure it is the same.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321685087357?

stenio

@BlueKobold:

Why you want to use the IDE slot?

Because CF cards are more expensive and less reliable of SATA hdds.
Do you think that a 32GB CF could be suitable for full installation in terms of reliability problems?

Thanks,
Stenio

@stenio:

@BlueKobold:

Why you want to use the IDE slot?

Because CF cards are more expensive and less reliable of SATA hdds.
Do you think that a 32GB CF could be suitable for full installation in terms of reliability problems?

Thanks,
Stenio

Go with the CFCard and NANO Image
alternate with the DOM
or alternate with the IDE SSD

Why fiddling out something must be changed then?

I personally prefer Compact Flash myself. I use only industrial cards from Advantech, Apacer or Innodisk. They cost more but are solid. I just bought 10 cards from ebay/Advantech for $100 for new 2G modules.

I also like the small factor drives from apacer like this. I flash nanobsd version to them
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251542823668?

stenio

You convinced me!
I've just bought an 8GB industrial CF. I think it is the worst one (Trascend TS8GCF170) but the others are too much expensive.

From the specs http://tw.transcend-info.com/products/images/modelpic/586/Product%20Sheet_CF170_V1.1.pdf I'm tempted to install the full version on it…

Thanks for your suggestions,
Stenio

Transcend is a good name. Especially their industrial line. Fact is they are probably overkill seeing how much of pfSense nano runs in memory.

Full version of pfsense will be fine as these things have a really high duty cycle. Tuning for minimal writes would be beneficial. Many industrial CF carry 2 million hrs MTBF.

Truth is the new standard should be CFast but market adoption seems varied. Advantech uses them and a few others but seems MSATA has won the battle…. Next standard NGFF/M.2???

I see from the pdf yours has 1M hrs/mtbf. The endurance charts shows it all. Not a bad choice.
If running Full you need to tune.

stenio

@Phishfry:

I see from the pdf yours has 1M hrs/mtbf. The endurance charts shows it all. Not a bad choice.
If running Full you need to tune.

OK.

Thanks a lot.