IT8212

The IT8212, or more correctly the IT8212F, is a low-end Parallel ATA controller designed by ITE Tech. Depending on the implemented BIOS and configuration the IT8212F functions in either a

RAID Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...

or an ATAPI mode, supporting up to four devices using dual channels. The raid mode only supports IDE Hard Disk Drives and includes

RAID 0 In computer storage, the standard RAID levels comprise a basic set of RAID ("redundant array of independent disks" or "redundant array of inexpensive disks") configurations that employ the techniques of striping, mirroring, or parity to create lar ...

RAID 1 In computer storage, the standard RAID levels comprise a basic set of RAID ("redundant array of independent disks" or "redundant array of inexpensive disks") configurations that employ the techniques of striping, mirroring, or parity to create lar ...

, Raid 0+1 and

JBOD The most widespread standard for configuring multiple hard disk drives is RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent Disks), which comes in a number of standard configurations and non-standard configurations. Non-RAID drive architectures a ...

, along with a "normal" mode that essentially acts as a standard Hard Disk controller. Optical disk drives such as CD-ROM and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

drives are supported by the ATAPI mode, which also supports Hard Disk Drives at the loss of all RAID functions. RAID functions are implemented by an embedded

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circ ...

, thus is not a so-called " Soft raid" controller. Devices based on ITE's IT8212F fall into two distinct forms: add-on cards, and components embedded into the motherboards of personal computers. ITE make neither of these end products, instead selling either the controller or manufacture rights, along with reference designs, to third parties for use in their end products. Different implementations have significant incompatibilities, requiring BIOS updates and/or converting from one feature set to another in driver code, causing inconvenience to users. The controller's BIOS is normally stored in a dedicated on-board Flash Memory Device, except that when the controller is integrated into a motherboard its BIOS and the motherboard's BIOS are often combined into one. Upgrading the BIOS can be difficult at best. Some controllers have one-time programmable memory chips, which cannot be altered at all. Others use devices not supported by ITE's BIOS-flashing utility, though some users have reported success with the utility Uniflash. The BIOS cannot be configured for both RAID and ATAPI functioning at once, so users may be prevented by a manufacturer's decision from changing between these modes. The IT8212F is, according to ITE's Preliminary Specification V0.3, compliant with the ATAPI-6 specification, supporting transfer modes PIO modes 0,1,2,3 and 4, DMA modes 0,1 and 2 along with UDMA modes 0,1,2,3,4,5 and 6. It also supports the PCI 2.2 specification. As of 2005, the IT8212 is used in low-end RAID cards, such as thi
CompUSA PATA RAID Card
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IT8212F IDE Controller Product Page