May 11, 20224 yr 1 hour ago, BlinkerFluid said: yes. There is no way to interface with your drives without a sas card. The expander doesn't provide anything other than making more sas ports for you to connect stuff up with The expander card can just be put in whatever slot it fits in. The smaller the better as it literally is only getting power from the pcie slot. You don't need to use the external port for it at all. Just connect your sas card into whatever expander port is easiest. Sounds like you want to go sas internal 8087 to sas internal 8087 Thanks. All links to German Ebay and Amazon. I think I found such a card. LSI 9207-4i4e 6G PCIe x8 is the name and it is also in IT mode. German Ebay link: LSI 9207-4i4e 6G PCIe x8 3.0 Gebraucht SAS SATA HBA IT Mode FreeNas Avago 4i4e probably means 4 internal and 4 external SATA devices. Or do I need to get an internal only card like this: RAID HBA LSI Megaraid 9211-8i 6G PCIe x8 Gebraucht SAS SATA IT Mode m1015 According to the first page of this thread, the 9207 cards are supported. And then I just need to get this cable: Internal Mini SAS 36pin SFF-8087 to Mini-SAS 36pin SFF-8087 Server Hard Drive Raid Data Cable When I have that card and that cable, I then connect the internal SAS port to the "To Controller" port of the expander card? What about the "TO BACKPLANE" ports of that expander card? Do they only work with backplanes? Even if so, I would still have 4 ports available for 16 drives and also have 4 internal SATA ports on the MB. As for this part in the OP: Quote 8 ports: any LSI with a SAS2008/2308/3008/3408 chipset in IT mode, e.g., 9201-8i, 9211-8i, 9207-8i, 9300-8i, 9400-8i, etc and clones, like the Dell H200/H310 and IBM M1015, these latter ones need to be crossflashed (most of these require a x8 or x16 slot, older models like the 9201-8i and 9211-8i are PCIe 2.0, newer models like the 9207-8i, 9300-8i and newer are PCIe 3.0) Do I understand that correctly, that IT mode does suffice for "SAS2008/2308/3008/3408 chipset in IT mode, e.g., 9201-8i, 9211-8i, 9207-8i, 9300-8i, 9400-8i, etc". But when I get these cards, "Dell H200/H310 and IBM M1015", they need to be cross flashed. Or does the cross flashing apply to the the 9201 to 9400 cards as well? Thanks again, I think I begin to slowly understand those cars much better.
May 11, 20224 yr Author 2 minutes ago, WhiteTowerBlackNode said: 4i4e probably means 4 internal and 4 external SATA devices. Correct, and it's already in IT mode, which is the default for that model. 3 minutes ago, WhiteTowerBlackNode said: And then I just need to get this cable Yes. 3 minutes ago, WhiteTowerBlackNode said: When I have that card and that cable, I then connect the internal SAS port to the "To Controller" port of the expander card? What about the "TO BACKPLANE" ports of that expander card? You can connect the HBA to any of the ports, it works like a switch.
May 11, 20224 yr 31 minutes ago, WhiteTowerBlackNode said: Can the extra SAS card live with the short PCIe or does it also need a longer slot? Some expanders have power connectors and don't even need to be connected to a slot at all, it's just there to provide a convenient mounting location and power if needed.
May 12, 20224 yr 23 hours ago, JorgeB said: Correct, and it's already in IT mode, which is the default for that model. Yes. You can connect the HBA to any of the ports, it works like a switch. Thanks. I will report back once that card and the cable arrives.
May 12, 20224 yr 23 hours ago, JonathanM said: Some expanders have power connectors and don't even need to be connected to a slot at all, it's just there to provide a convenient mounting location and power if needed. The only connectors I found were on the top left near port 2C and the one on the bottom left close to the slot metal: image. Is there a power port? Or could one get a 15-pin SATA to PCIe adapter for power?
May 12, 20224 yr Author Just now, WhiteTowerBlackNode said: Is there a power port? Not for that expander, it's powered by the PCIe interface.
May 12, 20224 yr 13 minutes ago, JorgeB said: Not for that expander, it's powered by the PCIe interface. Okay. Thanks for clearing that up. Have a good day.
May 15, 20224 yr Hello, I'm new to UNRAID. My current PC has this controller: LSI Logic SAS9260-8I SGL Raid 8PORT Int 6GB SAS/sata Pcie 2.0 512MB Will I be able to use this device or will I have to buy a new controller?
May 16, 20224 yr Author 14 hours ago, HDT said: Will I be able to use this device or will I have to buy a new controller? That's a MegaRAID controller with no IT mode option, you can use it but it's not recommended, there will likely be several issues, like not possible to connect the devices to a different controller if that one fails without doing a new config or possibly rebuilding all the disks in the array, no spin down, possibly no SMART and temps, etc
May 16, 20224 yr I am a bit befuddled by some of the technology discussed here ... its a long time since I bought a disk controller and they were IDE back then This one appears to be an ASM1166 chipset delivering 6 x SATA ports ... I can't see any reference to a port splitter or a Marvell Controller could someone give their opinion before I splash out please. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B097RBLM9G/?coliid=I2K10J0Y5GL5K8&colid=314IUN0K3IVY2&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1 Thanks
May 16, 20224 yr 2 hours ago, sailingbikeruk said: I am a bit befuddled by some of the technology discussed here ... its a long time since I bought a disk controller and they were IDE back then This one appears to be an ASM1166 chipset delivering 6 x SATA ports ... I can't see any reference to a port splitter or a Marvell Controller could someone give their opinion before I splash out please. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B097RBLM9G/?coliid=I2K10J0Y5GL5K8&colid=314IUN0K3IVY2&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1 Thanks Yes this card should be ready to go. If you are using SSD drives with this you may want to opt for x4 model.
May 18, 20224 yr On 5/17/2022 at 12:22 AM, Gragorg said: If you are using SSD drives with this you may want to opt for x4 model. Thank you for the reply. It seems the pcie slots on the motherboard might not support x4, I’m away presently, but will double check. I am building this on the cheap with recovered or second user bits I’ve acquired wherever possible. I’m only buying this because the NVMe slot shares a channel with two SATA ports. is it reasonable to assume that I can swap the current spinning disks to this controller and put the SSD onto the onboard ports without breaking the array if the MB doesn’t support x4? Edited May 18, 20224 yr by sailingbikeruk
May 19, 20224 yr On 5/18/2022 at 5:14 AM, sailingbikeruk said: is it reasonable to assume that I can swap the current spinning disks to this controller and put the SSD onto the onboard ports without breaking the array if the MB doesn’t support x4? The drives are assigned by the drive id so the specific sata port won't matter. Should work fine.
May 23, 20224 yr Just to confirm and close this thread, I bought the 1x version as that was all I could use on my MB ... it worked without issue and all disks were displayed immediately (and I've since added the SSD), so I now have: 5 x HDD 2 x Sata SSD 1 x NVMe Thanks for the help
May 28, 20224 yr Hello Might i get som help? Define 7 XL Planing to use 15 drives (been reading on the post but my head is spinning at this point) what HBA do i go for ? i got 1 8x PciE 3 lane free. (can this be done)
May 29, 20224 yr May an expert weigh in on if this one will work? LSI S2308 6Gbs PCI-E3.0 FW: P20 LSI 9207-8i IT Mode For ZFS FreeNAS unRAID US This seller offers 3 variants of the 9207-8i: $63.88 = LSI $49.88 = NEC $36.98 = IBM Free S/H for each Not sure what exactly the difference will be between LSI vs NEC vs IBM? Maybe different quality manufacturing and components? The LSI is almost 2x the cost of the IBM. Maybe an engineer in this field can weigh in? The seller also has packages with 2 included 8087 SATA Cables for $10 more. This model seems like the best candidate according to this page: Speed tested here: Quote LSI 9207-8i PCIe gen3 x8 (4800MB/s) - 9w - LSI 2308 chipset 8 x 565MB/s Edited May 29, 20224 yr by HDT
May 29, 20224 yr Author 1 hour ago, HDT said: This seller offers 3 variants of the 9207-8i: All should work the same, assuming they are flash to IT mode.
May 29, 20224 yr Author On 5/28/2022 at 1:09 PM, Logopeden said: Planing to use 15 drives (been reading on the post but my head is spinning at this point) what HBA do i go for ? Do you need a HBA for the 15 drives or will you also be using onboard SATA?
June 1, 20224 yr On 5/29/2022 at 9:06 PM, JorgeB said: Do you need a HBA for the 15 drives or will you also be using onboard SATA? I Plan to use the HBA for the 15 drives.
June 1, 20224 yr Author 13 minutes ago, Logopeden said: I Plan to use the HBA for the 15 drives. There are some recommended models on the first post: Quote If more ports are needed you can use multiple controllers, controllers with more ports (there are 16 and 24 port LSI HBAs, like the 9201-16i, 9305-16i, 9305-24i, etc) or use one LSI HBA connected to a SAS expander, like the Intel RES2SV240 or HP SAS expander.
June 2, 20224 yr 18 hours ago, JorgeB said: If more ports are needed you can use multiple controllers, controllers with more ports (there are 16 and 24 port LSI HBAs, like the 9201-16i, 9305-16i, 9305-24i, etc) or use one LSI HBA connected to a SAS expander, like the Intel RES2SV240 or HP SAS expander. Thank for helping ease my mind, just order Broadcom 9305-24i
June 6, 20224 yr Hello, I am inquiring to migrate from xpenology to unraid. Currently my motherboard is an asrock j5005 with 4 sata ports and 1 PCIe 2.0 x1. I would like to add 6 more sata ports to have 8hdd and 2 sata ssd. what do you think of this? https://www.amazon.com/MZHOU-Profile-Bracket-Support-Devices/dp/B09DYVX5VJ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=MZHOU%2BPCIe%2BSATA%2BCard&qid=1654493546&sr=8-3&th=1 I don't need top performance, I could connect the ssd directly to the motherboard, the rest of the hdds are for data storage, the maximum speed I am interested in is playing 4k content with plex Edited June 6, 20224 yr by Sildenafil adding
June 6, 20224 yr On 6/6/2022 at 7:33 AM, Sildenafil said: what do you think of this? This is exactly what is recommended against. It uses a JMB575 port multiplier that is known for bad performance. Since you would be using that on a single 2.0 lane, I would guess that is would be even worse. On the very same page you linked, I saw options for only ASM1166 or ASM1061 on a x1. You should go with that. https://www.amazon.com/MZHOU-Profile-Bracket-Support-Devices/dp/B097RBLM9G/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=MZHOU%2BPCIe%2BSATA%2BCard&qid=1654493546&sr=8-3&th=1 edit : I did not try that card myself, my answer is purely based on what is indicated on the Amazon page.
June 6, 20224 yr 1 hour ago, ChatNoir said: This is exactly what is recommended against. It uses a JMB575 port multiplier that is known for bad performance. Since you would be using that on a single 2.0 lane, I would guess that is would be even worse. On the very same page you linked, I saw options for only ASM1166 or ASM1061 on a x1. You should go with that. https://www.amazon.com/MZHOU-Profile-Bracket-Support-Devices/dp/B097RBLM9G/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=MZHOU%2BPCIe%2BSATA%2BCard&qid=1654493546&sr=8-3&th=1 I found this on Aliexpress, what do you think? it looks like it uses 1061 / 106x https://it.aliexpress.com/item/1005003599895970.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.61bc4657VJdaI4&algo_pvid=4ca06c41-d413-4782-95fc-00728c71615f&algo_exp_id=4ca06c41-d413-4782-95fc-00728c71615f-1&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id"%3A"12000026445042059"}&pdp_npi=2%40dis!EUR!!30.53!!!!!%402100bdd716545027618837308e3dbb!12000026445042059!sea Edited June 6, 20224 yr by ChatNoir reflect the correction of the original post
June 6, 20224 yr 23 minutes ago, Sildenafil said: I found this on Aliexpress, what do you think? it looks like it uses 1061 / 106x With 10 SATA ports, it must be using a port multipler since ASM1166 can only manage 6 ports. I was mistaking above, ASM1061 is NOT a good option for 6 ports either, it's a 2 SATA ports controller. I'll correct my initial post (and your quote as not to induce confusion). If you want 6 ports, select a controller that can handle 6 ports. There is not way to magically handle more without port multipler on SATA cards.
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