shire Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Hi! In my current built I use a Supermicro C2SEE. I'm quite happy with this mobo. Nevertheless I used all of the six onboard controller and I want to expand the array. I have a few questions regarding buying two new SATA-Controller. I want to buy two 8 port controller to be able to max out unRAID. Right now I can add up 9 drives to the machine. Sooner or later I want to buy three of theses 5 in 3 backplanes (15 drives max.). It is also possible that I will replace my current case with a bigger one. Maybe a Lian Li PC-P80. Right now unRAID doesn't support 3 TB drives. Maybe this will change with version 5. I asked myself if the support for these drives have only something to do with unRAID itself? Or do it need a special SATA-Controller to run these drives with my current mobo? Or maybe I have to buy a new mobo for that purpose? What would be the best choice of SATA-Controller regarding my questions? Bye. Link to comment
Kaygee Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 If you need to buy a new controller right now buy a single Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 and 2TB or smaller drives. No one currently knows how the industry will solve the 3TB drive issue. As I understand it, a (u)EFI bios is required to boot from drives >2.2TB (UnRaid boots USB so non issue). GPT support, this is the issue for UnRaid. I believe UnRaid only supports MBR entries. This means changes to emhttp and the MD driver. In a year or so when the dust has settled and we have a clear answer as to the way forward, Tom will implement the required changes. Link to comment
BRiT Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Limetech is looking to finalize the 5.0 series soon and then start development on the 5.1 series which will have support for >2TB drives as a feature. This would put large drive support within the next 6 to 9 months, perhaps sooner depending on how development and testing goes. Link to comment
bonienl Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 If you need to buy a new controller right now buy a single Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 and 2TB or smaller drives. No one currently knows how the industry will solve the 3TB drive issue. As I understand it, a (u)EFI bios is required to boot from drives >2.2TB (UnRaid boots USB so non issue). GPT support, this is the issue for UnRaid. I believe UnRaid only supports MBR entries. This means changes to emhttp and the MD driver. In a year or so when the dust has settled and we have a clear answer as to the way forward, Tom will implement the required changes. Does this imply that with current SATA hardware (motherboard/controllers) we use for unRAID it will support the newer drives by updating the unRAID software only? Or are there hidden obstacles in the way such as BIOS upgrades? Thanks, BonieNL Link to comment
Joe L. Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Or are there hidden obstacles in the way such as BIOS upgrades? Thanks, BonieNL It is entirely unknown at this time which SATA controllers will need BIOS upgrades. (and for some, if they can be upgraded at all) Link to comment
SSD Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Or are there hidden obstacles in the way such as BIOS upgrades? Thanks, BonieNL It is entirely unknown at this time which SATA controllers will need BIOS upgrades. (and for some, if they can be upgraded at all) As I understand it, BIOS updates are only needed to BOOT from large disks. The data sheet for the Hitachi 3T drive listed a number of compatible controllers to use the disks as data drives. The list was encouraging and included ICH5+ motherboard ports common to most (all?) Intel compatible motherboards. The supermicro SAS controler wasn't specifically mentioned. Link to comment
BRiT Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Be careful when you read the Hitachi 3TB controller testing lists as some controllers are marked as only supporting upto 2.2 TB. Link to comment
SSD Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Be careful when you read the Hitachi 3TB controller testing lists as some controllers are marked as only supporting upto 2.2 TB. It mentions that the manufacturer provided drivers are limited to 2.2T, but the controllers themselves are compatible and that Microsoft drivers should be used. Not sure what this means for Linux. Link to comment
BRiT Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Indeed. It really ought to be interesting for LimeTech to do their 3TB drive testing on various hardware they might have around. Now if only someone would have a list of hard drive software that is or is not compatible with > 2TB drives. This is what might cause some endless hours of heartache, using some non-compatible hard drive software tools with the potential high risk of data corruption. Link to comment
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