PeterB

Thanks for your suggestion. I can obtain the Supermicro products here. Although comparatively expensive, I'm sure that the cost of shipping from USofA would negate any savings made by purchasing from a stateside supplier. My real problem is that the Supermicro is not my first choice - I really want trayless, and favour the iStarUSA BPN-350. My big problem is finding a mechanism for purchasing and shipping iStar products.

Flash to Phase9 firmware went relatively easily and the card has been functioning perfectly. All of this has been achieved within the unRAID environment - no need to remove the card, no need to boot any other O/S. mpt2sas0: LSISAS2008: FWVersion(09.00.00.00), ChipRevision(0x02), BiosVersion(07.17.00.00) mpt2sas0: Protocol=(Initiator,Target), Capabilities=(TLR,EEDP,Snapshot Buffer,Diag Trace Buffer,Task Set Full,NCQ)

Not being a Microsoft devotee, I don't have a windows system in which to flash my AOC-USAS2-L8i, so I had wasted a lot of time trying to create a bootable DOS usb stick. I have reported, elsewhere, that I had received a rather unhelpful error message when trying to flash under DOS. After some research, I discovered that sas2fl(a)sh needs a largish amount of memory for workspace - I suspect that I wasn't getting sufficient EMS/XMS/whatever memory allocated. I also tried to find out how to use the UEFI version, but didn't find sufficient information on UEFI to work out how to do that. Anyway, I have just managed to reflash my card from IR to IT mode in the unRAID server, without even bothering to stop the array! In the end, it turns out to be very simple, although there were a couple of 'gotchas' on the way. I downloaded the linux version of the sas2flash program from the LSI site. I first tried the phase9 version, then the phase8 version, but both refused to cross-flash IR<->IT. Also, for some reason, the flash erase option (-e) is reported as not being implemented under linux. I suspect that the phase7 version would be okay for cross-flashing, but I couldn't find a copy. However, the phase5 version is still available in the LSI archives. So, I used this version, with the phase7 firmware and rom images which I retrieved from the supermicro site. I may try, in a minute, to flash the phase9 images (which I should now be able to do with the phase9 sas2flash). root@Tower:/mnt/cache/.hide/SAS2008# sas2flash5 -list **************************************************************************** LSI Corporation SAS2Flash Utility. Version 5.00.00.00 (2010.02.10) Copyright (c) 2009 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved. **************************************************************************** Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2008(B1) Controller Number : 0 Controller : SAS2008(B1) PCI Address : 00:01:00:00 SAS Address : 5003048-0-041f-4c00 NVDATA Version (Default) : 07.00.00.03 NVDATA Version (Persistant) : 07.00.00.03 Firmware Product ID : 0x2713 Firmware Version : 07.00.00.00 NVDATA Vendor : LSI NVDATA Product ID : SAS2008-IR BIOS Version : 07.11.00.00 UEFI BSD Version : N/A FCODE Version : N/A Finished Processing Commands Successfully. Exiting SAS2Flash. root@Tower:/mnt/cache/.hide/SAS2008# sas2flash5 -o -f SMC2008.FW -b mptsas2.rom **************************************************************************** LSI Corporation SAS2Flash Utility. Version 5.00.00.00 (2010.02.10) Copyright (c) 2009 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved. **************************************************************************** Advanced Mode Set Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2008(B1) Executing Operation: Flash Firmware Image Firmware Image has a Valid Checksum. Firmware Image compatible with Controller. Valid NVDATA Image found. NVDATA Versions Compatible. NVDATA Product ID and Vendor ID do not match. Would you like to flash anyway [y/n]? y Valid Initialization Image verified. Valid BootLoader Image verified. Beginning Firmware Download... Firmware Download Successful. Verifying Download... Firmware Flash Successful! Resetting Adapter... Adapter Successfully Reset. Executing Operation: Flash BIOS Image Validating BIOS Image... BIOS Header Signature is Valid BIOS Image has a Valid Checksum. BIOS PCI Structure Signature Valid. BIOS Image Compatible with the SAS Controller. Attempting to Flash BIOS Image... Flash BIOS Image Successful. Finished Processing Commands Successfully. Exiting SAS2Flash. root@Tower:/mnt/cache/.hide/SAS2008# sas2flash5 -list **************************************************************************** LSI Corporation SAS2Flash Utility. Version 5.00.00.00 (2010.02.10) Copyright (c) 2009 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved. **************************************************************************** Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2008(B1) Controller Number : 0 Controller : SAS2008(B1) PCI Address : 00:01:00:00 SAS Address : 5003048-0-041f-4c00 NVDATA Version (Default) : 07.00.00.03 NVDATA Version (Persistant) : 07.00.00.03 Firmware Product ID : 0x2213 Firmware Version : 07.00.00.00 NVDATA Vendor : LSI NVDATA Product ID : SAS2008-IT BIOS Version : 07.11.00.00 UEFI BSD Version : N/A FCODE Version : N/A Finished Processing Commands Successfully. Exiting SAS2Flash. root@Tower:/mnt/cache/.hide/SAS2008# sas2flash phase5 is available here. The supermicro-issued firmware is available here. Now, that was a whole lot easier than finding a box running windows, and moving the card!

Indeed, it looks to be a decent case to put your drives in. What case will you use for your motherboard/processor, and what connections will you use between the two enclosures.

I have been attempting to re-flash my Supermicro AOC-USAS2-L8i (LSI 2008-based), using the dos reflash utility and image files as found on the Supermicro site. As soon as I run sas2flsh, irrespective of what switches I apply, I get an error 'Failed to initialize PAL ...'. The only reference to this error I can find anywhere is on the LSI knowledge base where it offers, rather unhelpfully, "... you will need to flash in a different system/motherboard". Since I only have two, almost identical mobos, I appear to be rather stuck. Can anyone offer any insights as to why this error should occur and whether there might be any way to make the flash work in my motherboard?

Well, I found a mechanism for placing my order with good delivery arrangements and reasonable cost ... but the service company can only accept payment by paypal. I've tried paying twice, using different cards, and on both occasions Paypal have taken the money out of my accounts sat on it for a couple of weeks and then returned it ... with no explanation why. They wrote a message to the merchant with advice on how to avoid disputes with the customer! The merchant and I have had very good, amicable, communication throughout the whole sad affair - the only problem has been the high-handedness of Paypal. So, I'm back at square one - no backplanes and with difficulty finding a supplier who can accept direct payment by card (rather than Paypal [spit!]) and who can ship to Philippines at an acceptable cost. .... or I have to accept the Supermicro trayed units, and pay whatever the distributor here in Philippines charges. ================================================================ Later: I've just received the quotation from the local Supermicro reseller - the CSE-M35T-1 backplanes sell for 8000 pesos here - the equivalent of USD185. That makes a total of USD555 for three... against the USD415 it was going to cost me obtain the IStarUSA BPN-350V2 units from USofA.

I'm not sure what colour lights those have but, with a total of 13 indicators on the front, I guess that they are separate for power and activity.

The newer iStar's (well, certainly the BPN-340 and 350) use blue for power on, red for activity.

Didn't someone produce an 'identify' utility, which flashes the drive activity light?

Thanks! That is very helpful.

Hi Shawn, Are you able to give some indication of the size of the cartons which these units came in? I'm particularly interested in the iStar (although I know that the BPN is slightly smaller than the BPU, I guess that the cartons will be much the same size). I need this information in order to estimate shipping costs in the event that I have them shipped from USofA. I have a horrible feeling that adding shipping costs will make the exercise prohibitively expensive. One supplier has already told me that, on top of the actual shipping costs, there would be freight handling charges added ($25 export fee and $20 inbound freight cost). The big unknown, especially here in Phils where demands for 'rush fees', or some such, is the norm, is the cost of getting the units through customs. The cost of the three units themselves would be $257. Can anyone here suggest a reasonably cost-effective, but reasonably secure, method of shipping three units internationally? In the end, I may have to accept the Supermicro units, because that is the only supplier with an official distribution in Philippines. Even then, I expect that the price will be almost double that in the states.

That is a little puzzling. If the specs on the SM site are to be believed, the CSE-M35T-1 does not support hard drive failure indicators, but the CSE-M35TQ does. Then I have the CSE-M35TQ's. Mine have the hard drive failure indicator in the front. Hey, if yours say M35T-1 on them, then I'm not going to disbelieve you. After all, most websites are, at best, incomplete and , at worst, downright wrong! I believe that the drive failure light is actually on the tray bezel, not on the main unit and I'm sure that he trays are common between the units.

That is a little puzzling. If the specs on the SM site are to be believed, the CSE-M35T-1 does not support hard drive failure indicators, but the CSE-M35TQ does.

The -BPL variant is the one with lockable tray. There is also a BPU-350SATA-BLACK which is the black version of the other colours, with a non-lockable aluminium handle. See here. There are pictures of both black versions. My current suspicion is that the -SATA version is the sata3 compliant replacement for the older -SA version which was only sata2. Both versions were available with either style of tray. In fact, the trays are probably exactly the same for the sata2 and sata3 versions and, I suspect, the lockable and aluminium handle trays are interchangeable - in other words, you could mix tray styles in a single backplane.

If you don't absolutely need the hdd docking station, the V5 is a better bet. The differences, as far as I'm aware: o The V5 has a large handle on top - not too useful as a handle on a file server, but it certainly stops you obstructing the top fan by laying things on top of the case! o The V5 has only one fan aperture (with fan fitted) on the top panel - slightly further forward than the active fan on the V6 o In place of the docking station, the V5 has an eSATA socket. This does not obstruct the top bay so that it should be possible to install three full 5in3 backplanes o The V5 is slightly cheaper than the V6 I believe that, in all other respects, the two cases are identical. This, to my mind, makes the V5 an ideal case for a mid-sized (15 drive) unRAID configuration. It is stylish (as long as you don't object to the handle), extremely quiet. Easy to cool. I would much rather have the full 9 bay capacity, than the docking station - If I really want/need to attach another drive temporarily, I would use an eSATA enclosure (possibly with a trayless hot-swap facility). The only caution I would give is that I suspect it's not deep enough to comfortably accommodate the largest drive backplanes (Norco and Supermicro). I plan to install iStar trayless backplanes (if I can get hold of them), otherwise I will try the Supermicro. At least there is latitude to adjust the clearance at the rear by bringing the backplanes forward - they could even protrude a little forward of the front panel without looking too odd.

After a little more hunting around the net, it appear that there are two different models of the iStar cage - the BPU-350-SA and the BPU-350-SATA. the unit in your review is the -SATA. The -SA is the 'other' model, without locks but (I presume) with aluminium handles. It also seems that there are two versions of the iStar trayless (or, perhaps, just a new version), BPN-350-SS and BPN-350V2-SS. I haven't discovered what the difference is between these two. Edit: The V2 appears to add SATA3 capability, and ventilation slots in the door. The V2 seems to be out of stack everywhere - one site says delivery expected in June. The other version also appears to be out of stock, with no further stock anticipated. There also appears to be two versions of the SM cage, the CSE-M35T-1 and the CSE-M35TQ. The TQ version adds 'SES-2 Enclosure Management'.

According to the iStar website, the BPU-350 is available with either black, blue, red or silver handles - however, I hadn't appreciated that they were now aluminium - this overcomes a significant drawback which I had read of in another review - that parts of the plastic were judged to be weak points. That bit of your review had me puzzled because some photos I've seen seem to show air vents in the front panel. In fact, I've just realised that the iStar website photos show two different designs of the tray fronts (some with key locks, some without) - presumably the old and new? Anyway, from what I now know, I'm pretty well decide to go for the iStar backplanes .... but do I want to venture into the unknown with the trayless BPN design, or stick with the (relatively) tried and tested BPU?

Ah. okay - thanks for the explanation and reassurance!

I'm not sure what to make of the data collection never started/suspended, but I had exactly the same SMART report from my WD20EARS (green): S.M.A.R.T. error count differences detected after pre-clear note, some 'raw' values may change, but not be an indication of a problem 58c58 < 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0 --- > 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 63c63 < 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 97 --- > 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 98 I believe that the load_cycle is normal, but I'm puzzled by the change in seek error rate parameters (although the error count is zero?).