The context is I recycled an old PC to use as a fileserver. Its an old Asus motherboard with an Intel 3.2Ghz HT-P4 and a few gigs of ram - nothing special by todays standards but probably capable of running a fileserver for domestic use - just has to store some music, photos, and backups of homebrew projects and code snippits. That sort of thing. Ideally, it'd have a full backup of all of my CDs and DVDs because shelf-space is at a premium and storage space is cheap.
BSD. FreeNAS. ZFS. 4x1.5TB RaidZ. CIFS. FTP.
Problem was the aged mobo only had two SATA ports. Leaping before I looked I rushed to the store and bought a two port SATA controller. Enter the SiI-3512.
After a number of problems, a kernel update, mailing list archives, forums and FAQs... I stumbled across a poster that said he's having trouble with his SiI-3512 SATA controller - and a lot of replies saying the same. Many of these with surprisingly similar error logs to my own, followed by a number of "Problem solved. Bought a Promise-SATA controller"
So, the compliments of the SiI-3512. It was cheap and store bought. You can't beat the convenience of going to a shop and coming out with your product in hand. It feels very real, involves human interaction, and is usually quicker than ordering online.
Complaints about the SiI-3512... Well, none yet. We'll just have to wait for the delivery time of the internet-ordered Promise controller - and enough time to install and configure the machine to use it.
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