What SATA port to use (P7P55D-E)

[sikcle]

My new P7P55D-E mobo i bought for my new build has three types of SATA ports:
- 2x Marvell SATA3 6GB/s
- 1x JMicron JMB363 SATA_e1
- 6x standard P55 SATA

I need to connect:
- 1x WD caviar black 1TB SATA3 6GB/s HDD
- NZXT m59 front panel SATA port
- Samsung 24x DVD SATA writer

Which ports do i use for what?
(also i heard that the SATA 6GB/s ports are non-bootable? what's this mean)

 

[suat]

According to the M/B manual ( page 2-34 ), you can connect your boot drive ( WD Caviar Black ) to either SATA_6G 1-2 ( grey ) or normal SATA 1-6 ports. As I understand, you should only use SATA 1-6 for your RAID setup. For DVD writer, you should not exhaust SATA_6G port. Use normal SATA 1-6.

Hope this helps.

 

[sikcle]

According to the M/B manual ( page 2-34 ), you can connect your boot drive ( WD Caviar Black ) to either SATA_6G 1-2 ( grey ) or normal SATA 1-6 ports. As I understand, you should only use SATA 1-6 for your RAID setup. For DVD writer, you should not exhaust SATA_6G port. Use normal SATA 1-6.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for replying (finally).
What's the JMicron-JMB363 port do? It is better/worse than regular P55 chipset slot? Is it better for eSATA from front panel?

 

[suat]

JMicron chip controls the e-SATA drives. If you have one or more of e-SATA drives, you can use e_SATA ports internal or external. If you have none, you are better off disabling e-SATA port in BIOS.

Always disable ports in BIOS that you do not use, such as Serial port, 1394 port, etc. This way your M/B works better.

Disable Express Gate, as well, if you do not intend to install the software and use it. Besides, Express Gate does not work if you set SATA ports to AHCI mode of operation, which is better than IDE mode.

Disable Intel Virtualization Tech if you do not want to use hardware virtualization.

I have Asus P7P55D and I have already disabled all of the above.

Hope this helps.

 

[foscooter]

(also i heard that the SATA 6GB/s ports are non-bootable? what's this mean)

Although I have no experrience with the new 6.0Gbps (Marvell) controllers, I would think that upon OS installation, you will have to provide the driver(s) for that controller, in order to install the OS to it. Your mobo CD/DVD should have these drivers on it. Else, download them from Asus.

Check your BIOS, and see if you can set the SATA III ports as first boot. This will tell if you can boot from a SATA III drive. I don't see why not, else what's the benefit of having SATA III or SATA II, if you can't boot from it?

JMicron is for eSATA, or external hard drives, that you plug into the eSATA port on your case...