Hi
how to check the reliability of a SATA link?
Is there an application or test program that does raw register access and handles CRC? Most of the disk test programs check for bad sectors on the disk, and not the signal integrity of the SATA link. (similar problem to the memory test programs, they dont test the motherboard, but they test the silicon)
I got sa prototype board with 4 different types of SATA conenctions (int-sata, esata, chip-to-chip, board-to-board-riser), one of them appears to be a littlebit dodgy sometimes, so i thought the others might have long term reliability issues. eg crash every month.
There is some kind of error detection the SATA standard, CRC attached to packets, and so on. Im not sure if this CRC actually fixes any errors, or just tells the OS that "ok, now kill yourself because I have detected a bit errror". If it fixes anything then it should just reduce the bandwidth, if not then a single bit error can cause system crash.
I have system crash occassionally at boot time, but Im not sure if its because of the SATA links. Can it be at all? If it boots up, then i can run programs, move files, it works fine, it doesnt crash even if i run it for hours.