Promise SATA300 TX4302 feedback?

[Dieter]

> > >>>> I'm looking to buy a Promise SATA300 TX4302 (PCI->[e]SATA) card to 
> > >>>> use for external backups on a FreeBSD 6-STABLE system. Can anyone 
> > >>>> share their experiences with this one?
> > >>> Use Hardware Controllers - such as 3ware....
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >> I'm not quite getting what you mean -- can you clarify please?
> > >
> > > What he means is use controllers that do RAID in hardware, not 
> > > software-raid cards like that Promise.
> > 
> > I don't need RAID, I just need an eSATA jack.
> 
> Wouldn't drives connected via eSata saturate the PCI bus?

Assuming the controller is fast enough:
  1 SATA drive could saturate a PCI bus for short periods.
  2 recent SATA drives could saturate a PCI bus sustained.
If the machine doesn't have a PCIe slot available, what choice do you have?
The main problem I see is if the machine is recording data coming in on
the PCI bus in real time I'd worry about losing data.

The Voltages are supposed to be a tad higher for eSATA,
the official eSATA connector is different, and eSATA cables
have more shielding.

There are brackets that convert a SATA port to an eSATA port,
if the case has a spare bracket-hole.  Which probably means
using up a slot.  :-(

Some cards with external ports use the internal SATA connector
rather than the eSATA connector.  Same for the convertor brackets.
They make cables with one of each connector if you need that.

There are cards with both internal and external ports and jumpers
to route the signals to the desired port.

For an inexpensive non-hardware-raid SATA PCI card I would look into
the Sil 3124. 4 ports, 2nd generation, supposed to be faster and better
than the 1st gen Sil controllers.  See if someone has experience with
it with FreeBSD.  I have a 1st gen 3512 that works well with NetBSD,
but some say the 1st gen Sil controllers don't work well with FreeBSD,
and they might be leery of even the 2nd gen chips.  The 3512 is too slow
to saturate the PCI bus.

For inexpensive non-hardware-raid SATA PCIe, there is the Sil 3132
with 2 ports, and the JMicron JMB363 with 2 SATA ports plus 1 PATA channel.
I have the JMB363 with FreeBSD 7.0, it can do over 100 MB/s with recent drives.

Has anyone found an inexpensive PCIe card with more than 2 SATA ports?
Alternately, does FreeBSD support port multipliers yet?  Or NCQ?