Samsung M8 manual Sata II Feature SET, Device Activity Signal, Staggered Spin-up Disable Control

CHAPTER 7 SATA II FEATURE SET

This section describes the SATA II feature set supported in the Samsung Spinpoint M8 drive.

7.1Device Activity Signal

Spinpoint M8 implemented the Device Activity Signal on the SATA power connector pin-11. The implementation is based on the SATA II specification. This activity signal is used for indicating the drive activities, including the queued and non-queued commands. For the host can use this signal to indicate the command activity.

7.2Staggered Spin-up Disable Control

Spinpoint M8 implemented the staggered spin-up disable control by using the SATA power connector pin-11. This pin is multiplexed with the Device Activity Signal support. On power up this pin is used for the spin-up control. After the device is connected with the host, this pin is used for the Device Activity.

Before the device spins up its media, devices that support staggered spin-up disable control shall detect whether pin 11 is asserted low by the host. If pin 11 is asserted low the device shall disable staggered spin-up and immediately initiate media spin-up. If pin 11 is not connected in the host (floating), devices that support staggered spin-up disable through pin 11 shall enable staggered spin-up.

7.3Auto-Activate in DMA Setup FIS

Spinpoint M8 implemented the option for the Auto-Activate in DMA Setup FIS. With this feature enabled, the DMA Setup FIS is automatically activated. This automation help improve the efficiency of the DMA data transfer. This feature can be enabled by the SATA Set Feature command.

If the Set Feature is not issued, the DMA Setup FIS is not automatically activated.

7.4Native Command Queuing (NCQ)

Spinpoint M8 supports the NCQ feature of the SATA II command interface. The NCQ feature is unique in the SATA II implementation which helps device improve the system performance. The implementation is fully compliant with the SATA II specification.

The drive implements the NCQ with its proprietary hardware and firmware to enhance the command performance. The NCQ hardware automatically receives the NCQ commands from the host. The hardware verifies the duplication of the tag number and report tag duplicated error immediately. The automation of the hardware and firmware handles the NCQ command from its reception to the reordering and command execution. The drive intelligent firmware is capable of sorting the physical address of the incoming commands and decides the execution order for the best performance.

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