S2600GZ and S2600GL

Table Of Contents
Intel® Server Board S2600GZ/GL TPS BIOS Setup Utility
Compatibility provides PATA emulation on the SATA device, allowing the use of legacy IDE/PATA
drivers. Enhanced provides Native SATA support., using native SATA drivers included with the vast
majority of current OSes. AHCI enables the Advanced Host Controller Interface, which provides
Enhanced SATA functionality. plus possible additional functionality (Native Command Queuing, Hot
Plug, Staggered Spin Up). It uses AHCI drivers available for the majority of current OSes.
RAID Mode provides host based RAID support on the onboard SATA ports. RAID levels supported and
required drivers depend on the RAID stack selected
Back to [Mass Storage Controller Configuration Screen]
AHCI eSATA Options
Option Values: SATA
eSATA
Help Text:
- SATA mode enables the switchable internal AHCI SATA (port 1)
- eSATA mode enables the switchable external AHCI eSATA (port 1)
- These modes are mutually exclusive, so SATA port 1 will only be active on one connector, not
both
Comments: In order to use the external eSATA connection, this option must be set to eSATA.
When the external eSATA connector is selected, it disables the corresponding internal SATA port 1
connector. When set to SATA, the internal connector for SATA port 1 is active, and the external eSATA
connector is disabled.
This option setting only appears when the SATA Controller is enabled, and only for platforms which
support eSATA.
Back to [Mass Storage Controller Configuration Screen
]
3. AHCI HDD Staggered Spin-Up
Option Values: Enabled
Disabled
Help Text:
If enabled for the AHCI Capable SATA controller, Staggered Spin-Up will be performed on
drives attached to it. Otherwise these drives will all spin up at boot.
Comments: This option enables or disables Staggered Spin-up only for disk drives attached
to ports on the AHCI Capable SATA Controller. Disk drives attached to SATA/SAS ports on the Storage
Control Unit are controlled by a different method for Staggered Spin-Up and this option does not affect
them.
This option is only visible when the SATA Controller is enabled and AHCI or RAID has been selected
as the operational SATA Mode.
Staggered Spin-Up is needed when there are enough HDDs attached to the system to cause a marked
startup power demand surge when all drives start spin-up together. Since the power demand is
greatest just as the drive spinning is started, the overall startup power demand can be leveled off by
starting up each drive at a slightly different time, so the power demand surges for multiple drives do not
coincide and cause too great a power draw.
When Staggered Spin-Up is enabled, it does have a possibility of increasing boot time if there are many
HDDs attached, because of the interval between starting drives spinning. However, that is exactly the
scenario in which Staggered Spin-Up is most needed, because the more disk drives attached, the
greater the startup demand surge.
Setting the external eSATA connector Enabled (when available) does not invalidate the Staggered
Spin-Up option, although there may be less need for Staggered Spin-Up in a system configured for
eSATA use.
Revision 2.4
133