kakburken Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 So I was thinking Id buy this sata card. LSI SAS 9207-8i But I'm not entirely sure on how many disks I can (or should) connect to it? Reading info about the card or says 256 sata devices. But that seems way wrong.. I guess it's more like 8 sata hdd? And do i need some sort of cables to connect between the card and the disks? Since it seems to be SAS. And Guess it needs to split in more sata cables/connections? Link to comment
Frank1940 Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 Basically, see here: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/69018-sata-controller-replacement-question-and-advice/?tab=comments#comment-630097 Make sure that the card is in the IT MODE or be prepared to upgrade the firmware. The difference between the various LSI model is the firmware and the hardware chips are identical for many of these models. In the secondary market, some sellers seem to want to use the more common model numbers regards of the state of the firmware. As to the second question, there exists a hardware solution will will expend the number of drives that these LSI controller can support. However (as I understand it), it has a direct impact on throughput. Most of the folks here are using LSI SAS XXX-8i cards for eight or less drives. There are some -16i cards but the price seems to be more than double the -8i... Link to comment
itimpi Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 1 hour ago, kakburken said: So I was thinking Id buy this sata card. LSI SAS 9207-8i But I'm not entirely sure on how many disks I can (or should) connect to it? Reading info about the card or says 256 sata devices. But that seems way wrong.. I guess it's more like 8 sata hdd? And do i need some sort of cables to connect between the card and the disks? Since it seems to be SAS. And Guess it needs to split in more sata cables/connections? The ‘-8i’ part indicates the card supports 8 internal SAS drives. If you want to use SATA drives then you need 8087 breakout cables to convert SAS to SATA. Note that these come in two variants ; ‘forward’ and ‘reverse’. You need the ‘reverse’ variant that connects SATA drives to a SAS controller (like the LSI) - not the ‘forward variant that is for connecting SAS drives to a SATA controller. Each cable connects 4 drives so with the 8i variant of the LSI controller you will need 2 such cables. Link to comment
Frank1940 Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 41 minutes ago, itimpi said: If you want to use SATA drives then you need 8087 breakout cables to convert SAS to SATA. Note that these come in two variants ; ‘forward’ and ‘reverse’. You need the ‘reverse’ variant that connects SATA drives to a SAS controller (like the LSI) - not the ‘forward variant that is for connecting SAS drives to a SATA controller. Each cable connects 4 drives so with the 8i variant of the LSI controller you will need 2 such cables. According to this post, I think you got it backwards. https://forums.unraid.net/topic/6723-sas-to-sata-cables-forward-or-reverse-which-where-why/ This is the cable that I bought for my Two LSI controllers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FBYS2U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 By the way, the 0.5m length makes the inside of the case so much neater than the more common 1m cables. Link to comment
itimpi Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 9 minutes ago, Frank1940 said: According to this post, I think you got it backwards. https://forums.unraid.net/topic/6723-sas-to-sata-cables-forward-or-reverse-which-where-why/ This is the cable that I bought for my Two LSI controllers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FBYS2U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 By the way, the 0.5m length makes the inside of the case so much neater than the more common 1m cables. Possibly - but the ones I bought (which worked) claimed they were the ‘reverse’ variant. Regardless I think the key point is to realise there are two types of cable identified as ‘8087’ and you need to make sure that the ones you get are the right verdant. There have been a number of forum posts where someone got the wrong type and wondered why their drives were not seen. It is not helped by the fact that visually they look identical, it is just internal wiring that is different. Link to comment
kakburken Posted May 28, 2019 Author Share Posted May 28, 2019 9 hours ago, Frank1940 said: Basically, see here: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/69018-sata-controller-replacement-question-and-advice/?tab=comments#comment-630097 Make sure that the card is in the IT MODE or be prepared to upgrade the firmware. The difference between the various LSI model is the firmware and the hardware chips are identical for many of these models. In the secondary market, some sellers seem to want to use the more common model numbers regards of the state of the firmware. As to the second question, there exists a hardware solution will will expend the number of drives that these LSI controller can support. However (as I understand it), it has a direct impact on throughput. Most of the folks here are using LSI SAS XXX-8i cards for eight or less drives. There are some -16i cards but the price seems to be more than double the -8i... If I'm not mistaken. The LSI SAS 9207-8i works ootb without flashing to it. If the wiki is correct that is... Link to comment
JorgeB Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 1 minute ago, kakburken said: If I'm not mistaken. The LSI SAS 9207-8i works ootb without flashing to it. Yes, 9207-8i is IT mode only, you can connect 8 devices directly, for more you need a SAS expander, and the cables you need are forward breakout SATA cables. Link to comment
kakburken Posted May 28, 2019 Author Share Posted May 28, 2019 ok, great. thanks! anyone know if there is some known issues with the stock motherboard in Dell T20 (the one with G3220 cpu) computers when using a/any LSI sata card? i mean if there are any cards that work better for that motherboard. or something else i should think about since i have that motherboard. and how can i be sure that its the correct cable? Since im looking at swedish shops, they dont list it as "forward breakout sata cable". this is one cable i found, but no idea if its the correct one. https://www.dustinhome.se/product/5010764284/seriell-ata-kabel (yeah, the page is in swedish) or perhaps this one: https://www.dustinhome.se/product/5010967576/satasas-kabel (yeah, still swedish) Link to comment
Frank1940 Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 I am not the best person to be talking on the difference between the Chip Sets used on the various LSI cards. There are difference in the speed of the various chip and some sets support certain functions for SSD operations. (To avoid this latter issue, use the onboard connectors for SSD drives!) But they are basically interchangeable for HD's as even the oldest chip sets are faster than any current HD. About issues between the Dell T20 and LSI controllers--- I did a quick Google search ( Unraid Dell T20 LSI ) and I didn't see any posts suggesting that there were any. Dell has used an OEM LSI card in their servers--H200 and H310 -- that many folks have crossflashed with IT-Mode firmware from LSI to use in their Unraid servers! Now about the cables. I looked at the ones that you posted (and used Chrome translator service) and they don't say which variety they are. However, the Reverse Breakout Cables are actually the 'special case' cables in most instances. I would bet that 90+% of all of the cables sold will be the Forward Breakout cables. IF you very carefully read the first post in that thread that I posted a link to in my previous post in this thread, you will begin to understand why I say this. Link to comment
kakburken Posted May 28, 2019 Author Share Posted May 28, 2019 Ok, thanks for all the help! Both those products say they are SFF8087 (as the SATA-card im planning on buying), so my guess is that they work. But for some reason that SATA-card isnt listed on the productinformation on the first product where it says which cards its for. well well, guess ill just try. once again, thanks! Link to comment
JorgeB Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 5 hours ago, kakburken said: this is one cable i found, but no idea if its the correct one. https://www.dustinhome.se/product/5010764284/seriell-ata-kabel This one is forward breakout, so the correct one, you can see by the product code, not sure about the other one. Link to comment
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