using SATA port on quad

[cannonfodder]

Posted about this in the Wandboard Discussion Forums but have not had any replies yet... In comparison, previous posts in this Google Group yielded some pretty prompt attention so I thought I'd re-post here.

In passing, I'd like to comment that after spending time on both the forum and this Google Group, it seems like they do the same thing, despite having different goals per  the info on http://www.wandboard.org/index.php/forums. Just saying the de facto redundancy leads to unnecessary duplication. Ultimately, this will make it a little harder for people who own a Wandboard - or are thinking of purchasing one - to get the information they need. I would love to see this platform develop the the kind of following the Raspberry Pi has as this would lead, in theory, to more accessories, more possibilities for what is a technically more powerful platform.

From the original post on the Wandboard Discussion Forums:

"Some posts mention Wandboards using HDDs or SSDs... I'm assuming this is via the Wandboard Quad's SATA port...

Just wondering how that would work, considering that, unlike the EDM1-FAIRY-START board, the quad's carrier board does not have a power connector.

Are these people using SATA HDDs and SSDs with external power adapters or something? What is it I'm not getting?

Thanks"

[Kevin Krüger]

You have to use an external power supply. You can use a PC-supply as well with a little work (5V connector for WB). A cheap silent one should be enough for Wandboard and your HDD/SDD.

In order to boot you can configure the boot loader on the SD-Card to boot from SATA. The i.mx6 can also boot SATA directly but you have to do solder work on your Wandboard to get there, since there are no boot config switches.

Regards,

[cannonfodder]

Thanks Kevin... this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for...

I saw at least one thread discussing hardware solutions that allow booting directly off a SATA-connected device. I been using GNU/Linux-based operating systems, mostly Ubuntu, Debian (CrunchBang), and Arch since 2006 but I have no experience hacking hardware so I'm reluctant to try the soldering option but it is tempting.

[plug...@p10link.net]

Just wondering how that would work, considering that, unlike the EDM1-FAIRY-START board, the quad's carrier board does not have a power connector.

Are these people using SATA HDDs and SSDs with external power adapters or something? What is it I'm not getting?

Personally I use a 5V 3A power adaptor I had hanging around to power both the wandboard quad and a laptop hard drive. I achieved this by cutting into the wires of the power adaptor and splicing in a SATA power connector (to get the SATA connector I cut up a molex to SATA adaptor). 

Note that laptop drives only need 5V while desktop drives need both 5V and 12V.