What exactly is the difference between the SATA sockets labeled ODD 0/1 and the others?

Hi @UBPQlGq ,

ODD stand for Optical Disk Drive. Such port usually reserved for DVD-Rom drive connection. Searched and found no official documentation from Dell about the questioned differences. However, we may have some clues from the followings:

1). Picture of 5820 motherboard shows 8 SATA ports in total, upper 6 as SATA and lower 2 as ODD. Usually SATA port in blue color reserved for OS boot drive and ODD port in white color reserved for primary DVD-Rom drive.

2). 5820 Spec Sheet tells that "Intel® chipset SATA controller (6Gb/s) with 6 SATA ports plus 2 dedicated ports for optical drives" in one sentences. It may indicate that all 8 ports are in SATA3 6GB/s.

3) 5820 Storage Upgrade Options tells that "575-BBSL- Allows user to convert 5.25" and Slim ODD Bay into a FlexBay capable of supporting up to two 3.5" (or 2.5") SATA HDDs attached to the Integrated Storage controller." It means that the on-board ODD port can be used as SATA hard drive connection.

Hence, we may consider those ODD ports on T5820 are actually no difference with SATA ports regarding compatibility and performance. Only that I couldn't find any statement about RAID configuration, i.e. would it be any imitation when configuring RAID using on-board SATA/ODD ports. You may live chat with a Dell Small Business Tech Advisor for further clarification if needed.