New Build - HGST SAS Drives Not Detected - Please Help!

[-=Striker=-]

Hello,

 

I am new to Unraid, but from what I've seen so far it looks awesome!

 

I'm working on building a new setup and i've run into an issue that my SAS card won't detect my SAS drives.

 

My SAS card is a LSI 9271-8i which I have flashed to the latest firmware (MR 5.14) from LSI.

 

I'm using these cables: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B013G4FEGG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

The drives i'm using are 10x used HGST hus726020als211.  These are 2TB SAS 7200rpm 128mb cache drives that were pulled from a data center and were verified as working before the seller sent them to me (acquired through Ebay).  I'm planning to setup a 7 drive array with an 8th drive for parity and two drives as spares on the shelf, just in case ;)

 

When I boot up my system, I can go into the WebOS for the controller card but it doesn't see any of the connected SAS drives.  If I try connecting a regular SATA drive using different cables, I can see the SATA drive without issue.  So I know the controller card is working.  As this is my first venture into SAS equipment, I don't have any other SAS drives or systems that connect to SAS to try and validate if the issue lies with the drives or the cables.

 

What i'm hoping someone can help with, is:

 

1. Do I need to flash my SAS card to a different firmware?  Something that treats it as an HBA without RAID functions?

2. Does anyone have any experience with these particular drives and/or controller card? 

3. I've read that some newer drives are designed to be very low power consumption and some RAID cards have trouble detecting them as a result, so maybe these just aren't compatible with each other?

 

Any insight or suggestions that people can offer would be greatly appreciated.  If there is any other support information that I can share or upload, please let me know.

[skaterpunk0187]

Welcome to Unraid,

The LSI 9271-8i is a Megaraid card not an HBA (host bus adapter) and does not support HBA. You can look into IT firmware that will make it an HBA, but IT firmware isn't available for all megaraid cards, it could also be crossed flashed with another card firmware but do your research first it could render the card unusable. During boot the card should give an option like ctrl i or ctrl h or something like that to open the raid utility you will have to create an array using only a singles drive in each save and reboot and the drives should so up in Unraid. This isn't the best way to do it but it works thats how I did it when all I wad was a raid controller.

[-=Striker=-]

Yes, I can push CTRL+H to enter the WebOS during boot, but the drives don't show up for me to configure into any kind of RAID array.  I know that if I could get them to show up, I could put them into individual RAID0 arrays and then they would appear in Unraid as you are suggesting, but if I can't get them to show up in WebOS, how do I proceed?

[skaterpunk0187]

I'm not familiar with LSI WebOS. If it has a spot to list drives and its empty it could be a problem with the cables and/or backplane. The cables connecting the lsi card to the backplane can be directional, make sure they are not installed backwards. What case and backplane are you using?

[-=Striker=-]

I'm using a Coolermaster Cosmos case, it doesn't have a backplane, i'm connecting the drives directly to the LSI card.  The cables are only one way as there is an SFF-8087 connector that connects to the controller which then splits to four SFF-8482 connectors.  You can see the cables here:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B013G4FEGG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

After connecting the four connectors to the drives, i've connected sata power connectors to the back to power the drives.  I can feel the drives spinning when the system is powered on, but they don't appear in the WebOS.

 

 

Edited February 1, 2020 by -=Striker=-

[Xaero]

6 minutes ago, -=Striker=- said:

I'm using a Coolermaster Cosmos case, it doesn't have a backplane, i'm connecting the drives directly to the LSI card.  The cables are only one way as there is an SFF-8087 connector that connects to the controller which then splits to four SFF-8482 connectors.  You can see the cables here:

 

The primary takeaway: You can connect SATA drives to an SAS port and it is expected to work. You cannot connect SAS drives to a SATA port.
Quoted from:
https://www.ixsystems.com/community/resources/dont-be-afraid-to-be-sas-sy.48/

 

EDIT:
Disregard, you are using SAS to SAS cables. This shouldn't be the problem.


EDIT2:

Those cables are reported as not working with drives that have the PWDIS feature. Looking at the data sheet for those hard drives I see Power Disable is listed on the connector pinout, making me believe that PWRDIS is supported by the drive. You may be able to do the Pin 3 mod to a cable to see if you can get a single drive to connect.

Edited February 1, 2020 by Xaero

[-=Striker=-]

OK, i don't know what the Pin 3 mod is.  Could you please explain a little further what is involved?

Alternatively, it might just be a matter of purchasing different cables?  Are there ones that you would recommend?  I was thinking of getting rid of these cables anyway as i don't like how bulky they are with the sata power connector directly on them, i'd rather have something with more of a pigtail style connector for the power.

[skaterpunk0187]

How big is your power supply? SAS uses more power then sata drives thats why backplanes use molex conntectors instead of sata power. Try plugging in one or two drives and see what happens

 

[skaterpunk0187]

the pin 3 mod is for drives themselves and as far as i'm aware that is a sata drive only that are shucked from USB enclosures and does not apply to SAS drives

[Xaero]

Just now, skaterpunk0187 said:

the pin 3 mod is for drives themselves and as far as i'm aware that is a sata drive only that are shucked from USB enclosures and does not apply to SAS drives

"The PWDIS function responds to the presence of 2.1-3.6V on pin 3 of the plug and presence of this voltage shuts down a hard drive with this function."

The White Label drives had this feature supported.
That's why the PIN 3 mod applied to them.

It would be worth testing this with one cable and seeing if the issue is resolved (since you can modify your cable, rather than your drive in this case)

[skaterpunk0187]

Its easier to tape or clear nail polish over the third pin then modify a cable. I guess it could be worth a try its only takes a few seconds to do. And -=Striker=- is using SAS drives and HGST brand not WD, you will never find a SAS drive in an external enclosure. I have some "white" labeled SAS drive but they are not white label implied in that sense

Edited February 1, 2020 by skaterpunk0187

[Xaero]

8 minutes ago, skaterpunk0187 said:

Its easier to tape or clear nail polish over the third pin then modify a cable. I guess it could be worth a try its only takes a few seconds to do. And -=Striker=- is using SAS drives and HGST brand not WD, you will never find a SAS drive in an external enclosure. I have some "white" labeled SAS drive but they are not white label implied in that sense

His cables have a sata power connector on the back of them. I was suggesting he do the mod there, rather than on the drive.

[skaterpunk0187]

11 minutes ago, Xaero said:

His cables have a sata power connector on the back of them. I was suggesting he do the mod there, rather than on the drive.

That is a good point and just as easy. I would still say do it on the drives to help in the future (if that is the issue) changing hardware. Maybe at some point upgrade case with a backplane and forgets about the mod.

[-=Striker=-]

OK, it is definitely something to do with these cables, I think that pin3 issue is the problem.  I swapped from using a sata power connector directly off the PSU, to using a molex to sata converter (i found a post on another forum that says this is effectively the same thing as doing the pin3 mod), then connected the sata power to the drive and it shows up in WebOS!

 

To answer the previous question, i am using a 1200 watt enermax platimax psu.

 

Thank you everyone for the helpful input!  I think this gets me going again!

[skaterpunk0187]

4 minutes ago, -=Striker=- said:

To answer the previous question, i am using a 1200 watt enermax platimax psu.

That is more then enough power. Glad you made progress.

[Phibster]

Just to add my 2 cents and thank everyone.  I upgraded from SATA to SAS drives and was trying to work out how none of them showed up.  I had a similar cable with the SATA power on the back of it.

 

I fixed it by removing the 3.3V pin from the modular power supply plug (looked at molex vs sata connector.  I just taped it with some electrical tape so that it couldn't short anything and hey presto! All drives working!!

 

So thank you to everyone here.