Using an Enterprise SAS Drive LSI 9207-8i


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I'm having problems connecting ST6000NM0034 to an LSI 9207-8i.  Prior to purchase I checked with all the vendors to see if this would work (great price on 6TB SAS Drives from Backblaze as they are swapping tech).

 

I spoke with a Seagate pre-sales tech who said I could connect this drive into an LSI 9207-8i and it would work.

I spoke with the Icy Dock folks ((https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013G4EMH8/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)) who said I could use a SAS drive in the Fat Cage, but it would run single channel only (no big deal - I thought...)

I spoke with the Broadcom folks who also confirmed that this configuration should work.

 

Today the drive came and I eagerly inserted it into the Icy Dock Fat Cage just fine. Unfortunately the cage does not recognize the drive is actually in the cage (i.e. no green light). I'm assuming something in this chain isn't as anticipated.  I heard from someone that Seagate Enterprise SAS drives can't run in single channel?  But I verified with Seagate this configuration and they have verified it should work.

 

The configuration in my server is this:

1. Asus P8V77-V LK

2. LSI 9207-8i Controller card in PCIE x8 port.

2. Icy Dock Fat Cage - see Specifications tab (https://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=155). Icy Dock has confirmed that I can use SAS drives in their cage.

3. 2 SAS to Sata Cables connected to the Fat Cage from the HBA. 3. Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD| ST6000NM0034 | 6TB 7.2K RPM SAS 12Gb/s 128MB Cache 3.5" | 512n

4. The other drives in the system are SATA.

 

Any thoughts?  I suspect its just a bad drive and try again...

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What do the unpaid logs show? Do they report something like "Unsupported sector size 520". If this the case, you may need to reformat the drive to 512 by either removing the drive and performing said task in another machine that contains a SAS adapter or install sg3_utils on the unraid box. I personally use enterprise SAS drives in external SAS/SAE appliances and enclosures and have to perform this task quite often when adding drives.

 

Generic process to follow with sg3_utils:

 

sg_scan -I (queries the bus for the offending drive)

 

sg_format --format --size=512 /dev/sgX (formats the offending drive to the new sector size)

 

Sit back, hurry up and wait...... This will take a while.

 

When complete, you may need to remove the drive and then reinsert. This will prompt unsaid to rescan the bus and hopefully the drive shows up.

 

Good luck and let me know how you make out.

 

-MW

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15 hours ago, mfwade said:

What do the unpaid logs show? Do they report something like "Unsupported sector size 520". If this the case, you may need to reformat the drive to 512 by either removing the drive and performing said task in another machine that contains a SAS adapter or install sg3_utils on the unraid box. I personally use enterprise SAS drives in external SAS/SAE appliances and enclosures and have to perform this task quite often when adding drives.

UnRaid didn't see the drive at all.  No power light on the drive either.  I've assumed either...there's not enough power to support the drive or the drive is bad.  I don't have a way to test the drive, so I sent it back.  I'll try one more and see what happens...  Thanks for the tip on the sector size.  Would running a preclear against the drive take care of that?

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