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#1 2020-06-22 21:50:04

ratcheer
Member
Registered: 2011-10-09
Posts: 912

ssd SATA connection question

I was investigating the SATA info for my ssd to determine whether I could enable mount option "discard=async". I found the info, but I'm puzzled about something else:

SATA Version is:  SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)

Is it not getting the full speed because it is plugged into the wrong SATA port? I installed it a long time ago, but I'm fairly certain I plugged it into a SATA 3 port. The PC is fairly old (ca 2011), though, so maybe they didn't even have SATA 3.1 back then. The motherboard is a Gigabyte Z68A-D3-B3.

Here are the motherboard specs for the storage interface:

2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3_0, SATA3_1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices 
4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_2~SATA2_5) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
* When a RAID set is built across the SATA 6Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s channels, the system performance of the RAID set may vary depending on the devices being connected. 

Last edited by ratcheer (2020-06-23 11:33:00)

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#2 2020-06-22 22:03:02

ratcheer
Member
Registered: 2011-10-09
Posts: 912

Re: ssd SATA connection question

I'm sorry. I should just open up the case and check that the ssd is plugged into a SATA 3 port on the motherboard.

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#3 2020-06-23 11:32:36

ratcheer
Member
Registered: 2011-10-09
Posts: 912

Re: ssd SATA connection question

Ok, the drive is definitely plugged into one of the SATA 3 ports. So, I still don't understand why a 6 Gb/sec drive in a 6 Gb/sec port is only running at 3 Gb/sec. Do I need some additional mount option?

smartctl 7.1 2019-12-30 r5022 [x86_64-linux-5.7.4-arch1-1] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-19, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Samsung based SSDs
Device Model:     Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB
Serial Number:    S1SUNSAFB27444M
LU WWN Device Id: 5 002538 8a081f996
Firmware Version: EXM01B6Q
User Capacity:    256,060,514,304 bytes [256 GB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate:    Solid State Device
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ACS-2, ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4c
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Tue Jun 23 06:30:52 2020 CDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

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#4 2020-06-23 20:48:48

liewkj
Member
Registered: 2019-07-08
Posts: 210

Re: ssd SATA connection question

Check the cable and the mechanical connection on both sides, use shorter cable and make sure the cable is rated for 6Gb/s. In an unlikely circumstances, you may have faulty, marginal board/chipsets or the drive itself that 6Gb/s link negotiation simply failed.

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#5 2020-06-23 22:09:37

ratcheer
Member
Registered: 2011-10-09
Posts: 912

Re: ssd SATA connection question

Thank you, @liewkj

I thought to check the HDD that is plugged into the same SATA port (which has two receptacles); it IS running at 6 Gb/sec. Of course, it is using a different cable. I will try to get into the case and look at all that, though.

So, the chipset is capable of the full speed. I still need to inspect the SSD's cable and its firmware (which I have asked about in another thread).

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#6 2020-06-24 02:39:16

ratcheer
Member
Registered: 2011-10-09
Posts: 912

Re: ssd SATA connection question

Updated firmware to "Firmware Version: EXM04B6Q".

I still get "SATA Version is:  SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)".

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#7 2020-06-24 17:16:51

ratcheer
Member
Registered: 2011-10-09
Posts: 912

Re: ssd SATA connection question

LOL! I was asking the same question about the same device five years ago. Still no progress, but I think I'll just try to buy a shorter, higher quality SATA cable and see if it helps.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=198404

Also, I researched in Samsung's web site, and the SSD is definitely supposed to be able to do 6 Gb/sec.

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