SATA Controller Cards


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  • 4 weeks later...

I have been running a PROMISE SATA300 TX4 PCI SATA II since 2008, that is 5 years) no problems.

The product is out of manufacture but is available on ebay for around $15

Supports 4x SATA drives on the PCI bus.

 

I have:

4 drives on the Promise SATA300 TX4 controller

5 SATA drives on the motherboard (ASUS A8N32-SLI)

3 PATA drives on the motherboard

 

Total storage 13Tb +parity

5.0-rc16c Unraid server Pro

 

Not the fastest rig but its built with mostly handme down parts from my main PC - have seen 38MB/sec on Parity Checks

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm still looking for a decent, "safe" 2-port PCIe SATA controller.

 

From what I understand, SIL3132 is potentially problematic.  I can't tell from recent posts whether the RocketRAID 620 requires a special script or not.  Rocket 620, at least, appears to require a script on unRAID 4.7 (which I'm still on), but I'm not sure whether that's required for more recent versions.  I'll probably go to unRAID v5 relatively soon (as in, likely before I add drives), but I'm watching a couple of the new issues in the Issue List folder.

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I'm still looking for a decent, "safe" 2-port PCIe SATA controller.

 

From what I understand, SIL3132 is potentially problematic.  I can't tell from recent posts whether the RocketRAID 620 requires a special script or not.  Rocket 620, at least, appears to require a script on unRAID 4.7 (which I'm still on), but I'm not sure whether that's required for more recent versions.  I'll probably go to unRAID v5 relatively soon (as in, likely before I add drives), but I'm watching a couple of the new issues in the Issue List folder.

Don't think a script is needed for the Rocket.  I am using this Rocket620 in my N40L and 5.0rc16c (haven't had time to upgrade to release yet) and have been since rc10 without a script.  Just plugged it in connected drives and was up and running.
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I've found the Marvell based cards (e.g. Rocket RAID) to be less reliable than the 3132 under Linux.  The only problems which I'm aware of with the 3132s is that some implementations are cheap/poor (e.g. I'd steer clear of all of the ones which I've seen which offer you the ability to switch between SATA and eSATA using a jumper).

 

I have debugged the problems with the Marvell AHCI cards extensively (I'm a developer with a couple of drivers in the Linux kernel - very much a 3rd tier kernel developer, but one none-the-less), and came to the conclusion that there were design faults in the chips themselves on more than one card (at the very least, you'll need to delay NCQ).

 

I admin a JBOD server which I built for a client with 27 drives, and I've replaced all of the AHCI Marvell cards with Silicon Image 3132s and 3124s.

 

What problems are you seeing with the 3132s?  If you have anything which is reproducible, then post to the linux-ide mailing list...

 

Cheers,

 

Tim.

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What problems are you seeing with the 3132s?  If you have anything which is reproducible, then post to the linux-ide mailing list...

You were not asking me but I can say that MY problems with 3132, 3124 controllers are all in Windows and were dropping drives in my WHSv1 VM which would cause problems in the other VMs as the WHS VM would try to steal all of the resources (Virtual CPU pegged at 100%, all of its allocated memory used up,  IO usage on the CPU/PCI e buss causing reduced access speed with the other VMs).  Since I switched to Marvel based controllers I've had very few problems in Windows.  I also put WHSv1 VM on a M1015 controller and not in external cage like I had it.  That was why I used a Rocket620 for my N40L box rather then my 3132 based card.  That and I didn't have an internal version of the 3132 just eSata ports.
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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I'm currently looking for a cheap no frills PCIe x1 2 port SATA card that's not going to give me issues with drives of 2TB and greater, also be good if it plays with xenserver (may go down that route).

 

There seems to be loads on eBay but unsure which to get, I read somewhere about silent data corruption so thought I better ask.

 

An example of what I found:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fast-Speed-PCIe-2-SATA-3Gbps-2-eSATA-RAID-Card-PCI-Express-PC-Desktop-UK-SELLER-/251327651087?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_InterfaceCards&hash=item3a844b9d0f

 

Appreciate any UK based cards / links, thanks.

 

 

 

 

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I read somewhere about silent data corruption so thought I better ask.

 

I can't recall if it is in this thread, but there have been a few cases of SiL3132 cards not reading consistently when reading from both ports at the same time. I suspect it is counterfit chips but have no proof. I'd buy a card and test it before using it further. You could just move 2 drives from motherboard ports to the card and start a non-correcting parity check to test it. It's likely bad if you start getting errors.

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  • 2 months later...

I would like to simplify my setup and sell some hardware (HBA and Expander) that might be overkill for my unraid system.

 

I can get by with either using a SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card  or SYBA SI-PEX40071 8 Internal SATA III Ports PCI-Express Card.

 

I searched the forum and it appears noone has used the latter, but I like the idea of just plugging the stuff in and go. I don't know if the former requires any configuring. Both devices are JBOD essentially.

 

Recommendations?

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I would like to simplify my setup and sell some hardware (HBA and Expander) that might be overkill for my unraid system.

 

I can get by with either using a SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card  or SYBA SI-PEX40071 8 Internal SATA III Ports PCI-Express Card.

 

I searched the forum and it appears noone has used the latter, but I like the idea of just plugging the stuff in and go. I don't know if the former requires any configuring. Both devices are JBOD essentially.

 

Recommendations?

 

Anyone please?

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I would like to simplify my setup and sell some hardware (HBA and Expander) that might be overkill for my unraid system.

 

I can get by with either using a SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card  or SYBA SI-PEX40071 8 Internal SATA III Ports PCI-Express Card.

 

I searched the forum and it appears noone has used the latter, but I like the idea of just plugging the stuff in and go. I don't know if the former requires any configuring. Both devices are JBOD essentially.

 

Recommendations?

 

Anyone please?

If I'm reading the description on newegg correctly for the SYBA SI-PEX40071 it looks like it might be using port multiplier tech to get to 8 ports from 2.  But maybe I'm wrong and they just mean there are 8 port multiplier capable Sata ports.  If my suspicions are correct you would have reduced capabilities compared to the SAS2LP-MV8 just because of that.  At the very least you would find your speeds reduced because the SYBA is not an x8 lane PCIe card like the SAS2LP.  The SYBA sounds fine for file reads and writes except for rebuilds/checks and drive simulations where data is being accessed from all drives at the same time.  So if top parity check speeds are not important to you the SYBA would work but at a slower speed.
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I would like to simplify my setup and sell some hardware (HBA and Expander) that might be overkill for my unraid system.

 

I can get by with either using a SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card  or SYBA SI-PEX40071 8 Internal SATA III Ports PCI-Express Card.

 

I searched the forum and it appears noone has used the latter, but I like the idea of just plugging the stuff in and go. I don't know if the former requires any configuring. Both devices are JBOD essentially.

 

Recommendations?

 

Anyone please?

If I'm reading the description on newegg correctly for the SYBA SI-PEX40071 it looks like it might be using port multiplier tech to get to 8 ports from 2.  But maybe I'm wrong and they just mean there are 8 port multiplier capable Sata ports.  If my suspicions are correct you would have reduced capabilities compared to the SAS2LP-MV8 just because of that.  At the very least you would find your speeds reduced because the SYBA is not an x8 lane PCIe card like the SAS2LP.  The SYBA sounds fine for file reads and writes except for rebuilds/checks and drive simulations where data is being accessed from all drives at the same time.  So if top parity check speeds are not important to you the SYBA would work but at a slower speed.

 

Thank you. I will go with the Supermicro controller then.

 

 

-posting from Blablablabatalk.

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just came across this thread rite now. since there was some demand for 2 port sata cards, i thought i put up my experience with IO Crest 2 Port SATA III PCI-Express x1 Card (SY-PEX40039) cards. using 2 of them at the moment. actually for nearly a year now. so far no probs at all - and for less than $20 a piece hard to beat. performance (not thoroughly tested) is completely ok for day to day use - i guess on parity checks etc. it could be better. but thats really not my main concern. have to watch the cash more, not the benchmarks on secondary issues.

has a 4 of 5 stars from me. dropped them in, they work (better than expected), no probs with multiple ones....

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Can someone help identify exactly which model Chenbro this is? I don't know if it is just an older version of the current CK22803. I want to sell it on ebay, but want to have the right information for listing it.

 

Edit: I believe it is a CK12803. Nothing on the Chenbro website about it tho.

 

DfsQd0cFyJ.jpg

 

 

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