SATA Controller Cards

[brandon]

For a cheaper 4-port SATA II PCI-e 4x solution than the ones listed, I'm successfully using a Rosewill RC-218 card.  It uses the Marvell 88SX7042 chipset.  The only note is that you need to make sure the jumpers are set properly.  By default, two eSATA ports and two internal SATA ports are enabled.  You need to switch jumpers to enable all four internal SATA ports (and disable the two eSATA ports).

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132018

[tmp31416]

well, reading a bit to see if personal experience was out of the norm, it appears that i am not the only one who had issues with inexpensive sil3132 pci-e 1x controllers -- syba "i/o crest" cards to be exact.

 

but after reading quite a few messages (and user reviews on newegg et al), i don't know what card i could use.

i am running out of drive bays in my server (using 3 'SUPERMICRO CSE-M35T-1B' assemblies in my tower) and will have

to expand outside.

 

thing is, i have only one pci-e 1x slot available.

so i'll need something that can fit in such a slot and can do port multiplication.

 

one (or two) sans digital TR4M+BNC enclosures might do the trick (very unsure about its cooling capabilities, though), but i still cannot figure out what esata controller might do the trick.  suggestion / recommendation, anyone?

 

thanks in advance.

 

 

 

p.s.: i'm still running unraid 4.5.6 (spot the production support guy in the picture, if it ain't broken, don't fix it), but i might upgrade to unraid 4.7 if it adds necessary drivers for sata controllers.

 

[tmp31416]

so, to semi-answer my question above:

 

talking to another nerd at the office, it appears he's been using the following card without any issues

for a year or two already:

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158088CVF&Tpk=PEXESATA2

(StarTech PEXESATA2)

 

it is also sold as a Rosewill RC-219  or a Koutech IO-PESA220 (also sold on newegg).

 

anyone else care to say if they've been using this card, in any aforementioned incarnation, successfully or no?

 

and if there exist a better alternative, i'm all ears.

 

cheers.

 

*edit* p.s.: would the HighPoint Rocket 622 (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115073) work with unraid 4.5.6 or 4.7?

  is it worth it?

 

[joeman2116]

I can't say anything about this card but I have a rose hill 219 with 4 drives and it has been working well since was installed.

 

Joe

Unraid 5 bldRc8a. 10 drives

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[isrdude]

I'm having trouble getting a HPT RocketRAID 2740SGL up and running.  Have you heard of anything special that a newbie needs to try to get this going?

[elkay14]

Do you mean a 2720?  I don't see a 2740 on HPT's website.

[reggie14]

Are there any relatively safe choices for a (cheaper) 2-port PCIe controller card?  The sil3132 cards seem to be the closest thing to recommended, but even those have had reports of silent drive corruption.

 

I really don't need more than a couple ports, so I don't really feel like shelling out $110-$120 for a AOC-SASLP-MV8 card with a breakout cable.

[PeterB]

Are there any relatively safe choices for a (cheaper) 2-port PCIe controller card?

 

Rocket 620?

[TimSmall]

I don't trust any of the AHCI marvell stuff (e.g. RR 620) - in my experience marvell's tech guys don't answer emails from Linux kernel developers if there is any mention of bugs in their chips, and you need to sign an NDA to see the errata list for their chipset (in contrast to the full-disclosure policy of Intel etc. etc.).

 

Sadly, the only stable add-in cards I've found are the Silicon Image ones.  If you do go for a Marvell AHCI card, then you'll need to disable NCQ support I think.

 

http://marc.info/?l=linux-ide&m=130768923727513&w=2

[BobPhoenix]

I don't trust any of the AHCI marvell stuff (e.g. RR 620) - in my experience marvell's tech guys don't answer emails from Linux kernel developers if there is any mention of bugs in their chips, and you need to sign an NDA to see the errata list for their chipset (in contrast to the full-disclosure policy of Intel etc. etc.).

 

Sadly, the only stable add-in cards I've found are the Silicon Image ones.  If you do go for a Marvell AHCI card, then you'll need to disable NCQ support I think.

 

http://marc.info/?l=linux-ide&m=130768923727513&w=2

Never had a problem with my Rocket 620 card works fine in unRAID 5.0 without needing any additional steps to get it running.  I got this model for my N40L.

[reggie14]

Rocket 620?

 

Aren't you currently having problems with slow parity checks with your 620?

[BobPhoenix]

Rocket 620?

 

Aren't you currently having problems with slow parity checks with your 620?

If you meant this for me rather than PeterB:  Not since I replace the original drive I got with my N40L with a 1.5TB Green WD.  The 250GB Seagate was the problem.

[reggie14]

It looks like PeterB had a problem too, based on this thread.

 

Dealing with hardware compatibility/reliability issues like these is certainly one of my least favorite parts about unRAID. 

[PeterB]

It looks like PeterB had a problem too, based on this thread.

 

Dealing with hardware compatibility/reliability issues like these is certainly one of my least favorite parts about unRAID.

 

I did, indeed, have poor performance but the card is now up to full speed on my Supermicro mobo.

[reggie14]

That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, though.  I guess I can give it a try and see if performance is OK.  Is there reason to think that it is more reliable than a sil3132 card?

[BobPhoenix]

That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, though.  I guess I can give it a try and see if performance is OK.  Is there reason to think that it is more reliable than a sil3132 card?

When I used the SIL3132 card that came with my port multiplier external encloser with a WHSv1 Server VM and SageTV server VM I got drive/controller errors which caused warnings in WHS and bad/split recordings from SageTV.  Since switching to my RocketRaid 622 (external version of 620) I have not had any instances of drive/controller problems in the Windows event logs.  I haven't noticed any problems with my Rocket 620 in my N40L unRAID box but I cannot say that I have done any extensive checking of the logs either.  Certainly haven't had any "Red" balls on the parity or cache drives on it however (those are the two drives attached to the 620).

[Just Me]

Hey,

 

I need a recommendation for a PCI 1 port eSATA card that works with unRAID 5.0 RC11 and 3 TB (or bigger) hard disks. I want to use this card along with an eSATA docking station or external storage enclosure for pre-clearing new hard disks, not for arrays expansion. All PCIe slots are in use, so I have to use PCI.

 

Btw., since I'm not from the U.S. I cannot buy from Newegg/Monoprice.

 

I hope you have a recommendation for me. Thanks in advance.

[EdgarWallace]

I was playing around with ESXi and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed. The only issue is, that my Adaptec 1220SA SATA Adapters are not being compatible with ESXi. Well, looking at it from the positive side it might be a great opportunity now to connect the fast Samsung 840 SSD that contains all ESXi data & programs to a SATA III adapter.

 

Does anyone has a recommendation for the following card:

• 4x SATA III
  
• ESXi 5.1 compatible
  

 

My mainboard is having the following PCI slots:

• 2 (x8) PCI-E 3.0 in x8 slots
  
• 1 (x4) PCI-E 2.0 in x8 slots

 

Btw, is there an adapter available that could connects the SSD to the DOM (Disk on Module) power connector?

 

Every great idea is appreciated. Thanks a lot.

[EdgarWallace]

I bought a Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 for just 40€.

 

I think that I have to do a couple of things when the adapter arrives:

 

* remove both Adaptec controller

* install the Supermicro adapter

* flashing the firmware

* moving the unRAID drives 7 & 8 to the MV8 card

* connect the SSD the I have prepared with ESXi to the MV8

* boot into ESXi

 

Need to spend some hours of reading.

[carlos28355]

Could some kind soul straighten me out, I'm a little turned around after reading all the comments on sata cards.

 

I'd suggest going for a M1015 flashed with LSI firmware in IT mode personally - they are faster than the MV8's.. only real issue I note is that you're running b13.. you'd have to go back to 12a as these controllers are borked in 13/14.  If you don't want to do that, the MV8 should be fine and will give you some performance increase (but not as much as the M1015's.)

 

Guys like this fella on ebay sell them with breakout cables, pci brackets and preflashed to the latest firmware of your choice - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/200739872127?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_855wt_1396

 

it appears this guy isnt selling these cards anymore...anyone else doing this with the option to flash prior? Thanks

[beautifulflower]

Some controllers, instead of having SATA ports, have larger "SAS" connectors.  Each of the SAS connectors can drive 4 SATA drives.  In order to hook up 4 SATA drives to 1 SAS port, you need a breakout cable.

 

Thanks alot for your reply

[sonata31380]

Hello

 

I use version 5.0 rc11 unRAID with an Asus P8H67-V motherboard

It has 6 SATA connectors that are now occupied

So I have to buy one or more SATA controller cards: is that the Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 would suit?

How many card could accommodate the motherboard?

According to the specifications this motherboard has:

1xPCIe 2.0 x16

1xPCIe 2.0 x16 (compatible with PCIe x1 and x4)

2xPCIe 2.0 x1

3xPCI

 

Thank you in advance for your answers

[sonata31380]

Someone to answer me?

[Yankton]

I have two of those cards in my current server.  Each one runs 8 drives and uses a PCIe x4 slot.  These cards will fit in the two x16 slots on that board.  There is a chart on the forum showing assorted motherboards, you should probably check to see if yours is on it and that it works with those cards.

[Smitty2k1]

Anyone ever use this with unRaid 5?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812161006