s_mason16 Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 Just now, Frank1940 said: I took a quick look at your E-bay link and I suggest you look carefully at the pictures. I think they're just stock images they googled. Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 42 minutes ago, Frank1940 said: Notice that the LSI logo is missing on some of the pictures. Yes, there are a lot of fakes on the internet, unfortunately a missing logo is not a way to tell, most fakes have the LSI logo, LSI makes OEM versions without the logo, I do usually recommend buying used server pulls instead of new ones from China, I prefer an used genuine over a new fake any day. Link to comment
shanehm2 Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 do you mean something more like this for a server pull the h310 ? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dell-H310-6Gbps-SAS-HBA-w-LSI-9211-8i-P20-IT-Mode-for-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/162834659601?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D2391166237074601b1eb327c18036fea%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D162834659601&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A308a8c79-f185-11e7-b46c-74dbd180fd32%7Cparentrq%3Ac2a3c35d1600abd997c11923ffe90c99%7Ciid%3A1 Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 25 minutes ago, shanehm2 said: do you mean something more like this for a server pull the h310 ? Yes. Dell/IBM need to be crossflashed, it's not difficult but it can be harder than a normal flash, still since that one is already pre-flashed it will be plug'n play. Link to comment
Frank1940 Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 If you can find one preflashed from a vendor with a good reputation, it can be well worth the extra cost to have it done. I seem to recall that there have been issues from finding computers that can still be booted to DOS to 'bricking' the card from doing some little detail wrong. (I recall that most of the time you will be working with the command line.) Before you decide to flash one yourself, find the directions (and software) for the exact card you are considering purchasing and read through the procedure to see if it is something you will be comfortable doing. Link to comment
shanehm2 Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 55 minutes ago, Frank1940 said: If you can find one preflashed from a vendor with a good reputation, it can be well worth the extra cost to have it done. I seem to recall that there have been issues from finding computers that can still be booted to DOS to 'bricking' the card from doing some little detail wrong. (I recall that most of the time you will be working with the command line.) Before you decide to flash one yourself, find the directions (and software) for the exact card you are considering purchasing and read through the procedure to see if it is something you will be comfortable doing. That's my number one concern. I am comfortable with everything computer wise, except for flashing firmware. Link to comment
Frank1940 Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 32 minutes ago, shanehm2 said: That's my number one concern. I am comfortable with everything computer wise, except for flashing firmware. When I got my preflashed card, I used the term IT mode as part of the share parameter along with the OEM vendor's name the OEM model number on E-bay. I also got the P20 version software which (as I understand it) is actually LSI's IT mode software for that whole 9200-xx series of cards. (Version P19 is also commonly available and it may also be unRAID compatible.) Link to comment
SoAvenger Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Can anyone tell me the difference between the SAS9205-8i and the SAS9207-8i? Link to comment
172pilot Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Based on this thread, I bought two AOC-SASLP-MV8 from ebay.. They basically work, but I've been having some strange drive failures that I didn't have before, when I was using the motherboard SATA.. The strange thing is that I dont get prompted to press Ctrl-M on either machine I have installed the boards into, so I can't really look at any of the settings. I did find info on using the DOS utility to backup the config and look at it in the text file, so I've verified that the INT13 is off, and RAID is off. The BIOS of each is the x.21 version everyone talks about here on the forum, but I'd still like to be able to get into the CTRL-M menu if someone can tell me how to enable that prompt?? My drives are in 4-in-3 hot swap cages, and/or single drive cages, but those cages were also in use when I was using the MoBo ports, so I dont think they're adding to the instability. Is this card generally still looked upon as a good choice for low cost? ( I really dont care much for highest performance - I'd prefer reliability over performance any day... this is just for home and about the highest load it'll ever get is to stream a standard def DVD to a Kodi box.. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!! -Steve Link to comment
Squid Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Based on this thread, I bought two AOC-SASLP-MV8 from ebay.. They basically work, but I've been having some strange drive failures that I didn't have before, when I was using the motherboard SATA.. The strange thing is that I dont get prompted to press Ctrl-M on either machine I have installed the boards into, so I can't really look at any of the settings. I did find info on using the DOS utility to backup the config and look at it in the text file, so I've verified that the INT13 is off, and RAID is off. The BIOS of each is the x.21 version everyone talks about here on the forum, but I'd still like to be able to get into the CTRL-M menu if someone can tell me how to enable that prompt?? My drives are in 4-in-3 hot swap cages, and/or single drive cages, but those cages were also in use when I was using the MoBo ports, so I dont think they're adding to the instability. Is this card generally still looked upon as a good choice for low cost? ( I really dont care much for highest performance - I'd prefer reliability over performance any day... this is just for home and about the highest load it'll ever get is to stream a standard def DVD to a Kodi box.. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!! -SteveMarvel based cards aren't recommended any more. Many users have no problems with them, but alot suffer from parity check errors, drives randomly dropping, etc. Best off to get a LSI based card insteadSent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk Link to comment
172pilot Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 (edited) 33 minutes ago, Squid said: Marvel based cards aren't recommended any more. Many users have no problems with them, but alot suffer from parity check errors, drives randomly dropping, etc. Best off to get a LSI based card instead Thanks for the quick response.. That describes EXACTLY what I'm seeing.. I guess for the few $$ I spent, I shouldn't be surprised.. Oh well - They're probably decent enough cards to leave on the shelf for a windows box someday.. :-) Ebay, here I come for an LSI card.. :-) Any recommendations, or is any LSI basically the same?? Edit: Based on other posts on this thread, I've got 2 Dell H310 cards.. Thanks for the help!! Edited January 22, 2018 by 172pilot Link to comment
Squid Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 10 hours ago, 172pilot said: Edit: Based on other posts on this thread, I've got 2 Dell H310 cards.. Thanks for the help!! You'll probably need to flash them to IT mode, but its a painless procedure, and detailed in the Flashing thread. Link to comment
172pilot Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 1 hour ago, Squid said: You'll probably need to flash them to IT mode, but its a painless procedure, and detailed in the Flashing thread. Thanks.. I'll check that out - I had heard of that, but havent done that before. Link to comment
jeffreywhunter Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 13 hours ago, 172pilot said: Thanks for the quick response.. That describes EXACTLY what I'm seeing.. I guess for the few $$ I spent, I shouldn't be surprised.. Oh well - They're probably decent enough cards to leave on the shelf for a windows box someday.. :-) Ebay, here I come for an LSI card.. :-) Any recommendations, or is any LSI basically the same?? Edit: Based on other posts on this thread, I've got 2 Dell H310 cards.. Thanks for the help!! Wide variety of cards available. Here's the manufacturers website (googled LSI HBA product family). Differences in the cards depend on 1. the number of lanes (VERY IMPORTANT) 2. the number of external or internal ports. 3. PCI Express 2.0 or 3.0 (important depending on your motherboard). This article discusses the difference from a gaming perspective, but the concepts are the same...after all, in the end its ALL data! http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/pci-express-3-0-vs-2-0-gaming-performance-gain/ I bought this card: https://www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9207-8i, which has performed well (get 120mb/s across gigabit ethernet). Link to comment
Fireball3 Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 17 hours ago, 172pilot said: Thanks.. I'll check that out - I had heard of that, but havent done that before. There is a wiki page about controller cards. https://lime-technology.com/wiki/Hardware_Compatibility#PCI_SATA_Controllers Many LSI based controllers are listed. Just check which ones are available at your location for reasonable prices. Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 Many LSI based controllers are listed. Just check which ones are available at your location for reasonable prices.If you can still edit the wiki please change the 9207-8i to working ootb. 2 Link to comment
Peaceful Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 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 Link to comment
SoAvenger Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 (edited) 57 minutes ago, Peaceful said: Any recommendations for a replacement controller card that is <=$150? 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. Edited January 24, 2018 by SoAvenger added some more explanations. Link to comment
Fireball3 Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 (edited) 7 hours ago, Peaceful said: 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. 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. Edited January 24, 2018 by Fireball3 Link to comment
Peaceful Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 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 Link to comment
Frank1940 Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 On 1/23/2018 at 7:32 PM, Peaceful said: Any recommendations for a replacement controller card that is <=$150? On 1/24/2018 at 2:51 AM, Fireball3 said: Dependent on your location, especially the rebranded cards can be very competitive in terms of pricing, but they have to be crossflashed. 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. Link to comment
Peaceful Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 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 Link to comment
SSD Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 The LSI SAS9201-8i is a pure HBA and requires no crossflashing. Not suitable for SSDs, but great for 8 spinners. Price normally ~$50 US on eBay. Link to comment
172pilot Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 10 minutes ago, SSD said: The LSI SAS9201-8i is ....... Not suitable for SSDs, but great for 8 spinners. Why is it not suitable for SSDs? just curious why an HBA would care?? Thanks! Link to comment
Frank1940 Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 1 minute ago, 172pilot said: Why is it not suitable for SSDs? just curious why an HBA would care?? Total Band width on the Card-to-MB buss (Not enough channels to carry the full data rate for SSD's) Link to comment
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