Re: [arch-general] Note: WDC Carvair Black 6 Gbps drives require jumpers on pins 5-6 to be recognized as SATA-II

[John Black]

On 24.07.2011 23:41, Mauro Santos wrote:
I'd say the manufacturer must have had some good reason to ship the
drives configured like that and without a jumper.

Yes, probably to save money on support calls.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/search/1/a_id/5387#jumper

Back when SATA-II came out some Seagate drive odels where not detected 
by old VIA SATA chips. The solution was to force the drive into the 
proper SATA mode by jumpers.