# SATA port multiplier support for VIA VX800 chipset



## janus (Apr 24, 2010)

I'm checking hardware before buying parts for a low-power encrypted NAS. 
One mainboard candidate is based on the VIA VX800 chipset which support SATA port multipliers. Does anybody know whether SATA port multipliers is currently supported for this chipset?

Janus


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## mav@ (Apr 24, 2010)

Are you sure that SATA Port Multipliers supported by this chipset? Does it support AHCI? I've thought this chipset SATA is very simple.


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## janus (Apr 25, 2010)

I am pretty sure that port multipliers are supported by the chipset as the VIA Falcon drivers (for ms, I believe) list the functionality and ata.wiki.kernel.org claims that Linux supports some form of purt multiplier functionality.

With regard to AHCI support, I'm assuming there is none, but this is only based on ata.wiki.kernel.org not listing the ahci driver for this chipset.

Janus


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## mav@ (Apr 26, 2010)

If you find any information how to access SATA registers there - welcome. Until that, this SATA controller limited to functionality of usual PATA. I can't find any PMP support code in Linux' pata_via driver, even though it is marked "yes".


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## janus (Apr 26, 2010)

Thanks for checking -- I did try reading through the Linux code, but got lost pretty quickly 

I'll take the safe route and go for a mainboard with 4 built-in SATA connectors (the port multiplier was a nice-to-have for adding more disks later on).


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