Couple questions please and thanks (license and SATA controller related)

[svtcontour]

Hi and apologies for mixing two questions in the same thread but figured maybe easy enough items.

First question is, I purchased the Unraid Plus license way back in 2012 when I believe it was limited to six drives I believe... Is this license being this old still active if I need to rebuild a server? My old USB key died and the data on there was a backup anyway so I just built a new box just in windows and did a RAID6, but I want to revisit the product.  If its still usable, is the license still for 6 drives or is it now 12 drives since I see the plus license is listed as 12 currently.   Figured I'd first ask this :)

Second question is if the LSI 9560SE-16 card supported by chance. My guess is I'd have to configure the card not raid but just as normal SATA. 

Thanks in advance :)

[Frank1940]

4 hours ago, svtcontour said:

If its still usable, is the license still for 6 drives or is it now 12 drives since I see the plus license is listed as 12 currently.  

 If you have a Plus license, it is still good.  Whatever is defined for the max number of drives today will apply to the Plus License that you currently.  Beware that the drive count is basically every drive that is physically installed and electrically connected in the computer at the time of bootup except for the boot flash drive.  

 

Basically, the LSI SATA cards should be in the IT-MODE and not a RAID configuration for use in an Unraid server.  There are a few LSI RAID cards that do have a mode that can be used but sometimes they do weird stuff to drive serial numbers than cause problems later.  Some of the LSI cards can be reflashed to the IT-MODE.  I am going to ping @JorgeB as he has a lot of knowledge in this area. 

[svtcontour]

16 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

 If you have a Plus license, it is still good.  Whatever is defined for the max number of drives today will apply to the Plus License that you currently.  Beware that the drive count is basically every drive that is physically installed and electrically connected in the computer at the time of bootup except for the boot flash drive.  

 

Basically, the LSI SATA cards should be in the IT-MODE and not a RAID configuration for use in an Unraid server.  There are a few LSI RAID cards that do have a mode that can be used but sometimes they do weird stuff to drive serial numbers than cause problems later.  Some of the LSI cards can be reflashed to the IT-MODE.  I am going to ping @JorgeB as he has a lot of knowledge in this area. 

Much appreciated my friend. That answers everything  and much appreciate you pinging JorgeB.  I know the controller is quite ancient these days but I figure I have it so if it works fine, may as well use it (unless it does really weird things or way too much hassle).  I'm using an old chassis from a recycled AVID storage server which has 16 bays but I will probably only be using 8 of them. 

 

[Frank1940]

You need to Google something like 'flash LSI 9560SE to IT-MODE'  and read some of the results.  One made a comment that this card is so old that it may not support drives larger than 2TB.  There can also be problems getting SMART data from drives using the card in the mode that you have to use. 

 

By the way, you can purchase LSI cards in the IT-MODE that are ready to use on E-bay for less than $100US.  Remember that on E-bay, you are buying the vendor more than the product.  There are a lot of counterfeit LSI cards made in China (Along with the genuine ones).  Plus, LSI made an lot of OEM cards for both IBM and Dell that are now available n the use parts market.  (These are excellent buys are they are virtually all genuine!)  Buy from a vendor in the country where you live as it gives you bit more leverage in case of a problem.

[svtcontour]

1 hour ago, Frank1940 said:

You need to Google something like 'flash LSI 9560SE to IT-MODE'  and read some of the results.  One made a comment that this card is so old that it may not support drives larger than 2TB.  There can also be problems getting SMART data from drives using the card in the mode that you have to use. 

 

By the way, you can purchase LSI cards in the IT-MODE that are ready to use on E-bay for less than $100US.  Remember that on E-bay, you are buying the vendor more than the product.  There are a lot of counterfeit LSI cards made in China (Along with the genuine ones).  Plus, LSI made an lot of OEM cards for both IBM and Dell that are now available n the use parts market.  (These are excellent buys are they are virtually all genuine!)  Buy from a vendor in the country where you live as it gives you bit more leverage in case of a problem.

Thank you Frank!  The LSI cards I have were flashed to the latest firmware which at least in my testing allows 6TB drives (the largest I had on hand to try).  I have tried it in windows but thats about it. I'm going to do some googling tonight with a beer in hand Thanks again for your help

[JorgeB]

12 hours ago, svtcontour said:

LSI 9560SE-16 card supported

That's an old 3Ware controller, IIRC it worked but there were some performance issue, I would stick to one of the rerecorded controllers:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/102010-recommended-controllers-for-unraid-last-updated-022021/