Can I connect a SATA optical drive to a SATA/RAID port?

[LDW]

My computer has an Asus A8V Deluxe motherbooard, with the following specification under "Storage":

Southbridge
2 xUltraDMA 133/100/66/33
2 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports Support RAID 0,1,JBOD
Promise R20378 RAID controller
1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66/33
2 xSATA
Support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, and Multiple RAID

The single hard drive is connected to one of the Promise SATA ports. where it is identifed as "Promise 1+0 Stripe/RAID0 SCSI Disk Device". The other SATA ports are currently unused.

The DVD/CD combo drive which was connected to an IDE ATA connection has failed. Most current replacements have SATA interfaces. If I buy a modern SATA DVD/CD read/write drive, will it work if I connect it to one of the "Southbridge" SATA ports, despite it being specified as RAID? Do I need to check or change any settings, or install any drivers or firmware?

LDW

 

[C12Friedman]

The SATA optical drive should be literally "plug and play" once installed into any unoccupied SATA port - you may have to install extra features from the CD (for blu-Ray support or...) but simply because the port is capable of RAID does not mean it needs that configuration. The specifications you're looking at simply explain which controller handles which ports, nothing more.
Get the SATA optical drive, enjoy

 

[LDW]

The SATA optical drive should be literally "plug and play" once installed into any unoccupied SATA port - you may have to install extra features from the CD (for blu-Ray support or...) but simply because the port is capable of RAID does not mean it needs that configuration. The specifications you're looking at simply explain which controller handles which ports, nothing more.
Get the SATA optical drive, enjoy

Thanks. That's what I had hoped. My concern is that the motherboard manual says

"The Promise PDC20378 RAID controller does not support ATAPI devices such as CD-ROMS, DVD-ROMs, etc."

but it does not say anything about the two SATA ports which are on the Southbridge. Can I be confident that these will support ATAPI devices?

LDW

 

[aramisathei]

If the manual doesn't specify disk drives only, then usually those ports will support most SATA devices (including ATAPI).

 

[C12Friedman]

I'm quite suprised the Promise controller does not support those but it appears to be a controller specifically for HDD's and RAID arrays. Your south bridge controller should have no such restrictions.

 

[abbadon_34]

it should have two settings, like RAID or IDE or something. Obviously you're not going to be using it in a traditional RAID, but some chipsets take a unconfigured RAID to mean ATA. I had that same motherboard not too long ago and in to end there were no problems. Oh and if you try to boot from it it needs to be SATA 1-4.

 

[LDW]

it should have two settings, like RAID or IDE or something. Obviously you're not going to be using it in a traditional RAID, but some chipsets take a unconfigured RAID to mean ATA. I had that same motherboard not too long ago and in to end there were no problems. Oh and if you try to boot from it it needs to be SATA 1-4.

Thanks. I do want to be able to boot from it, for when I need to use a rescue disk if the hard drive has a problem.

When you say "it it needs to be SATA 1-4" is this a particular flavour of SATA (how do I tell which I have got?), or do you just mean that it should be one of the first four SATA ports on the board. There are only four, so this requirement would be satisfied.

LDW

 

[abbadon_34]

Yeah, the first number SATA port on the board, it should show up in the bios

 

[LDW]

OK, many thanks for the clarification, and to the other respondents for their help.

I'll now order a SATA drive and keep my fingers crossed!

LDW