Connecting eSata multi-bay enclosure to Pogo v4

[Guidobelix]

Hi there!

First of all my thanks to you all for this wonderful forum.
I currently have a pogoplug v4 with a few USB disks attached; I bought them over the years (I had an NSLU2 with debian before) one by one while my archive was growing.
Recently one of the disks failed and getting all my data back was very painful, so I want to improve the robustness of my archive.
One of the options would be to buy an enclosure like this:
http://ain.mediasonic.ca/store/product_info.php?products_id=150
I thought I could connect it to my pp4 and set-up a Raid5 (which is the reason why I am looking for 4 bays).
But I have noticed this:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')ote: Motherboard's SATA port MUST support Port Multiplier in order for your computer to recognize multiple hard drive if the unit is connected via eSATA.

[WarheadsSE]

I know that the most of the Kirkwoods do. However, the Pogoplug v2 has no sata port.

[grayman4hire]

@Guido,

That would be pretty awesome if you managed to get the V4 SATA port multiplier to work with that eSata enclosure.

I believe that would be software RAID 5, so I wonder if performance would be an issue.

Please report back either way.

[Guidobelix]

I think I'll give it a try then!

The alternative could be hardware RAID I guess:
http://ain.mediasonic.ca/store/product_info.php?cPath=71&products_id=235
but is is twice the price and half the fun

The first challenge will be to find it in Europe at a decent price.....

I'll keep you posted!

[Guidobelix]

I finally managed to get the enclosure from the US (it took far too long!) and I have already the first request for help
If I want to be able to boot I have to turn off the sata enclosure, boot the pp4 and then turn on the enclosure.
I have read here http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=3355&hilit=update+uboot that on DStar and GFlex it is possible to modify the U-boot environment to give priority to USB other sata (currently I run alarm from a usb pen).
But I know that on PP4 I have to use blparam instead of fw_setenv.
Now the question: is it enough to replace fw_setenv with blparam in the above mentioned instructions or is there any other trick?
Sorry for the stupid question, but I prefer to ask before bricking my device

Thanks a lot for your help
Guido

[WarheadsSE]

Where.. did you get that you need to use blparam instead of fw_setenv?

[Guidobelix]

I've uderstood, after having read a few posts (http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=5073&p=28359&hilit=blparam#p28359 and http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=5094&p=28519&hilit=blparam#p28519) that for pogoplug V4 it is better to use blparam instead of fw_setenv.
Isn't that true? Maybe I've got it wrong?

Thanks for your support

Guido

[Sergeanter]

I have got eSATA connector added to Pogoplug Mobile and it recognized 4x3TB drives in Sans Digital TR4M+BNC enclosure (great deal on Newegg now) . I wonder if anybody could enable second SATA controller in uboot (or environment?) so that I could connect my single eSATA backup drive to the second port. I got the connector soldered already but dmesg shows sata_mv with only one port.
EDIT: Stupid me. I need to re-compile kernel with number of SATA ports in patch file changed to 2.

[WarheadsSE]

I wasn't aware they actually exposed the second set sata lines.

[Sergeanter]

It is on the back side of the board next to 88F6192 : test points #23 thru 26. I needed a microscope to get my eSATA cable soldered there, but if you are younger anything is possible. TP23 would be on key side of SATA cable so that you can figure the sequence if you decide to do this.
The VDD jumper to enable second port is R213 ( on the top side).
I am mounting one eSATA socket above USB port on the back wall, and another one on the side wall opposite of SD card slot.