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The 5/i in this server is a non-RAID SAS controller and SAS-only backplane. I just was unaware until stumbling upon information deep in the Dell support forums that gen1 poweredge SAS backplanes do not support SATA drives without an interposer on each drive. In short, the backplane itself is lacking any integrated interposer components to be backwards/forwards/sideways-compatible (with SATA). https://www.dell.com/community/PowerEdge-HDD-SCSI-RAID/Configure-RAID-on-a-SAS-5-i-controller/m-p/2920684 <- one of many rabbit-hole threads about this particular oddball SAS controller. So... I bought a ASM1062 card, based on the supported hardware list. Guess what... my SAS-only backplane (no interposers on the SATA drives) doesn't like that any better. No drives show in the BIOS. I can see the ASM1062 during POST, I can see the backplane controller during post, but no drives other than the optical drive... again, no interposer (providing compatibility with SATA from what I understand so far). Since these SATA disks are rather old anyway... SAS disks ordered, however I'm hearing now that even that will not work reliably with unRaid. Through no fault of unRaid / LimeTech (I ordered the server configured this way), I'm switching to a more traditional distro and setting up Xen and KVM the old way. I hope that I can find a good fit for unRaid in my home lab, it's seems like a really slick, low-overhead solution for managing a home vm lab.

I think I may have found the root of my problems. This is a Gen1 chassis, in which Dell claims the backplane does not support SATA disks, only SAS... just in case someone else finds themselves in the same pickle. GenII and newer R900 chassis should support SATA on the backplane. I'm hunting for dell-branded SAS drives now, as Dell support also indicated that it would be more likely to work as expected.

I picked up a refurb poweredge R900, and yes it sounds like a jet. It's the 3.5" chassis with 5 drive bays, quad socket, and 32 dimm sockets. A powerhouse for my home lab, to be sure... but I've had no luck so far getting any drives to appear within unRaid, or via the BIOS. I've tried using the dell 5/i non-raid (SAS?) onboard controller, and a pcie ASM1061. Both, of course, connect to the backplane via what appears to be a standard SATA cable. If I leave the optical drive in it's bay, the ASM1061 controller sees it, but none of the other disks, and unRaid gets caught when it starts trying to identify SATA devices /dev/sg# and so on... it fails to identify /dev/sg# correctly, and reboots after trying to "reset link" several times. When I remove the optical drive, it boots succesfully into unRaid... but I see no drives available in the web gui. the ASM1061 controller shows in dmesg and lspci as being there. I've attached both outputs and the diagnostic .zip unRaid's web UI generates. I'm pulling my hair out over this new (to me) VM host that I just can't seem to get going. Is this controller (the ASM1061) not suited for use with a backplane? If not, what is a good controller (under $100 if possible) that should work? thepile_dmesg.txt thepile_lspci.txt thepile-diagnostics-20180124-1832.zip

So, I've been eyeing this for some time and pulled the trigger today. Three 2tb hitachis are waiting on it to arrive, along with a new nvidia gpu. Think it'll be enough to play some games? 1 x Dell PowerEdge R900 Server 3.5" Chassis | Custom Build Online (*Select Intel Xeon Quad or Hexa-Core Processors: (+4) Intel® Xeon® X7350 2.93GHz Quad Core [add ..., Memory Option: (+96GB) 24 x 4GB PC2-5300F DDR2 [add $192.00], *RAID Controller: SAS 5i NON-RAID [+ $16.00], Hard Drive | 3: Filler Only [Included], Hard Drive | 4: Filler Only [Included], Hard Drive | 5: Filler Only [Included], DRAC5 - Dell Remote Access Controller: No, Power Supply: Qty 1 | 1570W Power Supply | + $0, Dell 3.5in Hard Drive Trays: (2) Trays Caddy 3.5" with Screws | + $24, Warranty: 2-Year SaveMyServer Warranty | +$0) $520.00