[SATA Controller Cards]

9 hours ago, michaelc1985 said:

Hello all,

 

I have been reading through this forum and i think my head is going to explode. lol

 

I after a simple PCIe to sata card to add an extra 4 HDDs to my unraid server. I have an asus mobo running a R5 1600x.

Im using unraid 6.4 if that make any difference.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

After some more reading i was thinking of this.

 

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LSI-SAS-9207-8i-Storage-controller-8-Channel-SATA-6Gb-s-SAS-LSI00301/132132729417?_trkparms=pageci%3A49f3d935-28fb-11e8-b303-74dbd1807f16|parentrq%3A2e1c6d391620abc642f76da1fffb6125|iid%3A1&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236

 

Thanks,

 

Michael

Michael,

Having just made this same upgrade on my unraid server, I understand feeling like your head is going to explode!  I did buy the same card you link to, but mine came from a US seller who shipped quickly and even wrapped the retail box in bubble wrap.  That specific controller, the LSI SAS 9207-8i, works out of the box with no special drivers or firmware flash required, and mine has been working flawlessly since it was installed.  Highly recommended.  Remember to also buy some mini SAS to SATA breakout cables to connect your sata drives to the controller card.  I believe I ordered these from Amazon and they worked just fine, other than the cable numbering stickers being incorrect on one set of cables.

 

Others with more experience may chime in here as well.  I've no experience with ordering that controller from China.

 

Have fun,

Peaceful

[SATA Controller Cards]

On 1/28/2018 at 9:09 AM, SoAvenger said:

 

This card does support trim for SSD's as that was the first thing I tested. If you have an ssd for use as a cache drive, you should use a MB sata port and have your spinners on the LSI 9207-8i. I am glad you found one for a good price. Please post your results when you have it installed and running if only for my Peace of mind. Ltr

 

Phase 3 of the unraid server rejuvenation project is finally finished and I am happy to report that the LSI 9207-8i from ebay is working perfectly OTB.  The card came in a retail box (wrapped in bubble wrap, no less!) complete with documentation, driver cd, and alternate mounting bracket.  Very pleased with the product and shipping from this ebay seller. 

 

Ended up moving the sata connections for all 8 drives to the LSI card leaving the 6 on-board ports open for future use.  I've also replaced all but one of the aging WD Black 1TB drives with HGST Deskstar 4TB drives, increasing data storage from 7TB to 25TB.  Considering that the WD balck drives ran non-stop for 6 years without a failure speaks highly of these older drives.  Now I have a pile of 1TB drives with nothing to do...

 

Thank you again for everyone's help with rejuvenating my server.

 

Peaceful

[SATA Controller Cards]

On 1/25/2018 at 4:49 AM, Frank1940 said:

 

 

If you are not comfortable with crossflashing a card, you can go to E-bay and Google with the term IT mode  and the model number of the card you are interested in.  That will usually bring a list of vendors who will provide crossflashed cards for about $20US more.  You want to watch the ratings of any vendor on E-bay so don't be guided by price alone.  I got mine for about $80US in the summer of 2017. 

 

Thanks for the tip.  I ended up buying an LSI 9207-8i from reputable seller on ebay and according to the Hardware Compatibility guide,  it comes in IT mode by default, so no flashing required (fingers crossed).  Better price than Amazon and no taxes either.

 

Thanks again to everyone for your help!

Peaceful

[SATA Controller Cards]

On 1/23/2018 at 5:21 PM, SoAvenger said:

 

I have an old AM3+ motherboard with PCIe v2.0 and I just picked up an LSI SAS9207-8i card that recommends a PCIe v3.0 8x slot for $102 on amazon. It works great. Most importantly, no firmware flashing required. Obviously this card is backwards compatible with PCIe v2 and you won't notice a difference with regular hard drives but it will limit the speed of an ssd.

I average 100.5 MB/s during parity checks with 6 2TB WD blues. No errors and no problems. You will need 2x internal mini-SAS to 4x SATA forward breakout cables.

This price has gone up some now ($120) but you can find them for less if you look. I just purchased a backup card on ebay for $30 NEW.

 

Thank you for the suggestion!  That LSI card looks like a good fit and with PCIe 3.0 it offers an upgrade path should I replace the MB one day.

 

21 hours ago, Fireball3 said:

Most of the listed cards are PCIe2.0 - by the time the list was started it was state of the art.

The SAS2008 cards from LSI or their rebrands are recommended. PCIe3.0 maybe more future proof, but not necessarily budget.

Dependent on your location, especially the rebranded cards can be very competitive in terms of pricing, but they have to be crossflashed.

In certain regions even the LSI cards are inexpensive, you have to check.

 

Thanks for the clarification.  I was being too literal with the interface designations.  The LSI that SoAvenger is using sounds like a good solution.

 

Thanks again,

Peaceful

 

[SATA Controller Cards]

Hello,

 

My unRAID server case (Thermaltake Armour) currently houses 8 drives and can comfortably hold four more in the removable drive cages, for a total of 12 drives.  However, all 8 existing sata ports are occupied (6 on the DH55HC MB, plus 2 on a SiiG sata card).  To create some open stata ports now and add more drives in the future, I need to replace the SiiG SC-SA0L 11-S1 2-port card that is connected to the PCI express 2.0 x16 graphics card slot with a 6-port or 8-port card that will perform optimally in the same slot .

 

I've read through the PCI Sata Controller section of the Hardware Compatibility Wiki and am not sure which controller I should purchase because the only card listed for PCI express 2.0, is the SuperMicro AOC-USAS2-L8i/L8e, which is discontinued according to the SuperMicro website.

 

Any recommendations for a replacement controller card that is <=$150?

 

Thank you,

Peaceful