I'm looking to upgrade my unraid setup by adding a 2TB SSD (Samsung 860 EVO) to use as an Unassigned disk for VMs and I'm looking for some guidance on the best way to configure/use this controller.

 

I’ve maxed out all the data ports on my mobo (5 x HDDs + 2 x m.2 SSDs) thus the need for the new LSI Controller. The one I bought off eBay is supposedly already in IT Mode so hopefully I'm all good there. 

 

My question is around the best way to configure and use this controller:

1. Should I just install the controller and plug the SSD into it and call it a day?
   1. Are there any pros/cons to connecting directly to the mobo vs the controler?
   2. Assuming the controller has more than enough bandwidth for this but has anyone seen any performance differences between connecting an SSD directly to the motherboard vs the LSI?
2. Or should I instead move some of my data array spinners to the LSI as they likely don't need the bandwidth?
   1. Would this be as easy as unplugging/plugging them into the LSI?
3. Something else?

 

Thanks!    

Use the onboard ports for the SSDs as the LSI won't support trim, disks can be in either, performance will be the same.

Thanks @johnnie.black!

 

Will I need to do in anything in unraid after moving the spinners to the LSI or will it just pickup the changes automatically? 

 

Would you recommend moving all 4 data +1 parity HDDs to the LSI or just the data drives and keep the parity on mobo or does it even matter 😬 ? 

7 hours ago, unRaide said:

Will I need to do in anything in unraid after moving the spinners to the LSI or will it just pickup the changes automatically? 

Yes, devices are tracked by serial number.

 

7 hours ago, unRaide said:

or does it even matter 😬 ? 

It doesn't.

Hi @johnnie.black, thanks again for taking the time to respond... much appreciated!

 

I forgot to get a breakout cable so I'm waiting on that before continuing with this project