Best computer internal scsi port cards according to redditors
We found 170 Reddit comments discussing the best computer internal scsi port cards. We ranked the 58 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 170 Reddit comments discussing the best computer internal scsi port cards. We ranked the 58 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
You can get PCIe SCSI cards, and SCSI is designed to be backwards compatible. You would need to find an adapter though.
http://www.amazon.com/Adaptec-2248700-R-Express-1-Channel-Adapter/dp/B000NX3PII
I was just in this position.. I've got an older i7 box with 24GB of ram, and had 8x3TB drives crammed into the tower forming a RAID-6 array that was ~97% full. I'm running openmediavault to manage the storage simply because I prefer Linux to something like FreeBSD. It also has a PLEX plugin as well, and I run PLEX on the storage box locally.
After a lot of research, I purchased the following.
LSI 9200-8e - SAS HBA - ~$40
Lenovo ThinkSever SA120 DAS - ~$200
12 drive caddies / trays for the DAS (optional, but suggested) - check eBay, ~$100 total. You can use the caddies that come with the SA120 but need to dremel them and drill screw holes.
I moved all of my drives to the DAS (Except OS drive) leaving 4 more bays for expansion. I added 2 more 3TB drives and grew the array (actually still waiting on that to finish...).
So for ~$350 I moved to a much more flexible setup (you can actually daisy chain the DAS's, so you can buy another one for 12 more bays when you're ready) and extended the life of the setup by quite a bit.
IBM M1015 in IT mode -> SFF-8088 to SFF-8087 adapter card -> NetApp DS4243 via QFSP -> SFF-8088 cables.
I didn't have to reformat the disks or anything, just plugged it in and FN detected all 24 disks.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00XI4OL82/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
If you want something weird there's THIS thing. I've never USED it but it seems to be FOUR of those chips on one card. I think it might ACTUALLY be four discrete devices, each getting their own PCIE lane. In retrospect it'd have been more space efficient on my system, cause I could have had a lot more on my 16x slot.
Okay, here's what you're going to want to learn.
Mini-SAS comes in two versions (internal - 8087 or external - 8088).
If you want to connect drives internally, you get an LSI card with internal (8i, 16i)
If you want to connect drives externally, you get an LSI card with external (8e, 16e)
Say you have two boxes, you need one external LSI card with 8088 and one passthrough 8088-8087 card.
You'll need 8087 cables to SATA (an 8i card will have two ports for 2 cables where each support 4 sata cables)
You'll need 8088 cables to connect the external cards together
Figure out how many SATA hard drives you want to support.
8e - 8 SATA drives per external card.
16e - 16 SATA drives per external card.
Shopping List for 16 External Hard Drives from one computer to another:
External Card ($30): https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-6GB-16-Port-SAS-SATA-HBA-Controller-Card-SAS9201-16e-H3-25379-01G-Grade-A/273461892263?hash=item3fab9954a7:g:CSMAAOSwfkFbm-XI:sc:USPSFirstClass!33175!US!-1
Mini-SAS Passthrough (2 x $30): https://www.amazon.com/CableDeconn-SFF-8088-SFF-8087-Adapter-bracket/dp/B00PRXOQFA
8087 to SATA (4 x $8): https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-SFF-8087-female-Internal-Splitter/dp/B013JP7YI8/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_bs_lp_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=AYXPARRHH92MDMM64NJJ
8088 to 8088 (4 x $15): https://www.amazon.com/CableDeconn-SAS26P-SFF-8088-External-Attached/dp/B00S7KTXW6/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1537045400&sr=1-3&keywords=8088+to+8088
Edit: Please don't hesitate to ask questions before spending money, just make us a diagram showing where your disks are and where you want to hook them up.
My most recent DAS build:
Add in a 9201-16e for a DAS. Here's a simple DAS build i recently completed for a total of 12x3.5 HDD slots and 4x2.5 SSD slots:
• mATX case [InWin Mana 137]
• 3x5.25 to 5X3.5 HDD adapter [or this one]
• PCIe HDD adapter
• power supply
• fans
• fan controller
• cables [SAS, SAS to SATA forward breakout, SATA power, etc.]
• Optional - PCIe adapter for easier cable connect/disconnects
• Optional - SAS expander
He mentioned in his last post that it has QSFP ports, and that he would be buying an SFF-8088 to QSFP adapter. No idea how NetApp handles it though.
OP says
> IBM M1015 in IT mode -> SFF-8088 to SFF-8087 adapter card -> NetApp DS4243 via QFSP -> SFF-8087 cables
LSI LOGIC SAS 9207-8i Storage Controller LSI00301
Mini-SAS to 4x SATA Forward Breakout Cable
I picked up one of these cards and the breakout cables and it handles 8TB drives, easy to install. Works great
Assuming you have PCI express 3 in your computer expansion slots, Get a card like this:
LSI Logic SAS 9207-8i Storage Controller LSI00301 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085FT2JC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_xQ-jDbVZ3R30V
It will feed data connections to 8 sata drives all by itself.
It has 2 sff-8087 ports. Then get the special 'forward breakout' cable. Well two really. One end goes into the sff-8087 port and then it splits out into four sata data cables. Which go into the hard drives of course.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012BPLYJC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_2T-jDbHFP0FHC
The card can support hardware raid, but fewer and fewer folks do that. After all, hardware raid usually requires identical drives, and us folks at home often have a motley collection of drives of various sizes, speeds, and geometries. So software raid it is. In linux, folks often use freenas or unraid. In windows 10 you can use something called 'storage spaces'. Using raid will allow you to treat all those drives like one device... And have some tolerance for failure (which happens with so many)
Next question.. does your case have room? Do you have enough power connectors?
You didn't ask me, but you could get a Lenovo SA120, LSI 9200-8e, and the appropriate cable for under $300 – leaving some cash for Lenovo drive trays.
(Note also that none of these parts are necessarily ideal for you; for example, the MSA60 costs less and includes trays but has its own drawbacks. It's hard to say without knowing requirements.)
You could get a SAS raidcard and cables all for ~$27 on amazon. that would give you 8 ports with those cables and if you wanted you could use a SAS expander cable to get more.
OR
Get a $20 4 port SATA raidcard and go with that.
FYI you can plug a SATA hard drive into a SAS raidcard just not the other way around just like how you can fit a small box inside a bix box but not the other way around.
My reccomendation would be to get the SAS raidcard so you have a little expansion room if you want more drives.
You get a PCI-express SAS controller to install. They come in 2 and 4 port varieties, and you get SAS to SATA cables (turns one SAS port to 4 SATA connectors) to plug into it to connect your hard drives. That could be 16 drives per card, a couple of PCI-Express slots and you'll have more SATA connectors than you have room for hard drives.
Edit: I'm in no way recommending this specific one, but here is one example of what I'm talking about:
https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Logic-9207-8i-Controller-LSI00301/dp/B0085FT2JC/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=SAS+controller&qid=1567797015&s=gateway&sr=8-4 (it's a 2 port variety).
and for cables:
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-SFF-8087-Breakout/dp/B012BPLYJC/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=SAS+SATA+cables&qid=1567797027&s=gateway&sr=8-3
If it's just a data drive and you're not looking to do anything super fancy with it. These work great.
However, be advised that, because the card is PCI-E x1, if you were to actually plug in 4 hard drives or SSDs, you're gonna run smack against bandwidth limitations if you start trying to hammer I/O on the drives connected to the card all at once.
I have this exact card as well as the 2-port PCI-E x2 slot version in use and they work very well for supplementing on-board headers when you're a few short.
I would not attempt to use these cards to run HDDs/SSDs that were going to be datastores for VMs nor as the HBA for something like FreeNAS. If your goal is along those lines, you'd be much better off looking for an HBA like the 9207-8i. You can get those way, way cheap on ebay, and then you just need the correct cables for 'em.
I bought a 24-bay supermicro 2u case with an old AMD motherboard in it and gutted it into a JBOD array with the help of a few small adapters, like so:
Topology is: SAS expander backplane top and bottom ports (ignore middle) to the two internal ports of the low profile adapter via two 8087 cables, then a standard e-SAS (8088) cable to the LSI 9207-8e in my server from the external ports.
This has worked out fabulously for me.
For added comfort (aka noise and power consumption), I removed the stock dual power supply that the 2u case included and replaced it with the guts of a 230w atx power supply, since I don't have dual sources. That cut the power draw down by ~80w or so. I also replaced the fans with much quieter ones (standard ~50 CFM 80mm units) and then improved airflow by taping over holes with masking tape, and using a thick paperboard to block other areas - the main purpose being to force the airflow through the drive bays.
Edit:
If you prefer LFF drives, there are 12-bay 3.5" already assembled with all the necessary parts from ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/222338813833
You can also buy adapters if you have trouble finding a card like the 9207-4i4e
SFF-8087 vs SFF-8088 do the same thing, just SFF-8088 (external) are larger and much more durable. So converting between them is easy and safe.
https://www.amazon.com/CableDeconn-SFF-8088-SFF-8087-Adapter-bracket/dp/B00PRXOQFA/ref=pd_cp_147_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00PRXOQFA&pd_rd_r=GE4FNVAZ8Q0AGPSFF88G&pd_rd_w=88BoN&pd_rd_wg=kiVIF&psc=1&refRID=GE4FNVAZ8Q0AGPSFF88G
More specifically an external SAS HBA like this one
I expanded to add extra drives to my 8 bay NAS with this card
it works great. I also have 6 SATA ports so even if you drop 2 ports you have room on this card.
Nice! Here's one for free! I mean I don't see how I could charge you for pointing out at something!
https://www.amazon.com/Adaptec-2248700-R-Express-1-Channel-Adapter/dp/B000NX3PII
https://www.amazon.com/SHINESTAR-Splitter-Controller-Expansion-Non-Raid/dp/B07KNXZFRH/ref=asc_df_B07KNXZFRH/
If you want brand new, there's this
eBay too
For used, if you want to flash it (super easy), you can pick up an H200. Keep in mind you want ones with internal SAS ports like this, not external.
There are 1, 2 and even 4 port sata adaptors for m.2 slots, maybe that's what you're looking for. Edit: link
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Syba-SD-ADA40118-4-Port-SATA-Adapter/dp/B01N5O4UNB
Cheap? $100-150 is going to be cheap. Anything cheaper, is shitty and you will have issues.
And fuck crossflashing. Get one of these: https://www.amazon.com/LSI-9207-8i-Storage-Controller-LSI00301/dp/B0085FT2JC
I think the budget may be what ends up deciding it. I don't want to go with something that is going to be too slow though. I am using the storage area for my Plex media if that matters.
This the LSI HBA I've found so far and from what I see they're both 6Gb/s so I'm not seeing the advantage.
For the motherboard I didn't really notice any difference in my power bill when I starting using this one so I've never thought too much about it. Can you give me an example of a board you're talking about? The only thing that's ever been a little annoying with this box has been how loud it can be.
This is the case I'm using if that helps.
Here is one on Amazon. Be aware that you will be limited to SATA-I 1.5Gb/s.
QNINE 4 Ports PCI SATA Raid Controller Internal Expansion Card with 2 Sata Cables, PCI to SATA Adapter Converter for Desktop PC Support HDD SSD https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5LQ7Z3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_OMv5CbP70TQP5
Another question, this sounds like very old hardware, any chance of upgrading so you could take advantage of newer revisions of SATA or PCI-E?
This? https://www.amazon.com/Adaptec-2248700-R-Express-1-Channel-Adapter/dp/B000NX3PII/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=scsi+adapter&qid=1557844260&s=gateway&sr=8-4
Since M.2 is really just PCIe x4 with a different form factor you don't even really need an adapter. Just get one of [these] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072BD8Z3Y) to get 4 SATA III ports. I use one with an Espressobin and it works great!
Edit: Oops the device I linked above is for Mini-PCIe not M.2 (different form factors!) An M.2 4 port SATA controller can be had here.
So far the least expensive solution I've found is ordering this overnight, which comes to about $100, and hope it do as it says and reads SAS hard drives.
That all depends on what you want to do with it. I use a Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 that I got for ~$130 on Amazon (actually have the older version as well the AOC-SASLP-MV8 but that doesn't support quite as large of drives so stick with the SAS2 now). It supports 8 SATA drives via 2 SAS to SAS connectors. Much easier to run 2 cables than 8. It doesn't have any hardware RAID support, but I don't want that anyway. Trying to rebuild a hardware RAID built out of 8 or more 2+ TB drives would be incredibly long and painful. I use SnapRAID instead for parity inside the OS.
In order to use the drive at full link speed (SAS3) you would need something like this: https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Broadcom-9300-8i-PCI-Express-Profile/dp/B00DSURZYS and this cable to go with it (for a desktop anyhow): https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-Internal-SFF-8643-SFF-8482-connectors/dp/B01F378UF6
if you don't care about getting the full 12Gb/s from it you can go with the cheaper LSI-9207-8i controller ( https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Logic-9207-8i-Controller-LSI00301/dp/B0085FT2JC ) and this cable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013G4FEGG/ which would allow you to get 6Gb/s which is the current max SATA speeds anyhow. (SATA1 is 1.5Gb/s, SATA2 is 3Gb/s, and SATA3 is 6Gb/s while SAS1 is 3Gb/s, SAS2 is 6Gb/s and SAS3 is 12Gb/s
The question about PCI-E SATA cards is how much you are willing to spend and what available PCI-E slots do you have on your motherboard.
The cheapest I've tried (with slowest throughput) when you only have PCI-E 1x slots free is to use four port SATA cards like this Marvell 88SE9215 chipset based card for $33 on Amazon:
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZ9T3OU)
If you got at least a PCI-E 4x slot you can something faster for $100 - $160 such as (note these are 8 port cards):
On eBay used:
A number of the above solutions are not as fast as you can go since they use PCI-E 4x slots. But 8x slot cards can cost a lot more. Personally I don't notice the slow down as much since I'm really using these drives to stream and don't notice that parity checks and moving data from cache to permanent drives take longer.
Sorry, I misinterpreted it as 16 HDDs total. I think the only real way is to get some external enclosures, or move to a case that supports more drives.
You can get enclosures that connect with mini-SAS, but they require different cards like this.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Semlos-Internal-Controller-Sil3114-Chipset/dp/B00L2X6DE6/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1504388169&sr=1-2&keywords=4+port+sata
Sata pci
Here is the HBA I use with FreeNAS.
LSI Logic SAS 9207-8i Storage Controller LSI00301 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085FT2JC/
You will also need these to connect drives to that card.
Cable Matters Internal Mini SAS to SATA Cable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012BPLYJC/
CT16G4WFD8266 edit: also make sure to only run it in pairs of two. Odd numbered ECC does not work well, if at all in Ryzen for whatever reason.
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I'm running 4 of these sticks in an Asrock X370 Taichi and Ryzen 1700 (another user reported they work with the 2700X and another board). First boot, ECC was enabled and automatically set to 2666mhz.
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Generally most Asus/Asrock motherboards have great support for ECC. I wouldn't be too concerned on the number of SATA ports though and would opt for higher quality motherboard like the aforementioned Asrock Rack or the X370 Taichi (12k capacitors, debug LED, stupid strong VRM, 10 SATA ports). With any board though you can always add an HBA like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085FT2JC/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A3SCB8M3AWX80L&psc=1
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last edit: Taichi is ATX, you're looking for MicroATX. Definitely if you're not going the Asrock Rack route (IPMI is a nice selling feature) I would opt for the B450M Steel Legend. It has THE highest build quality of any consumer MicroATX board on AM4.
You already kind of linked to the combo card on amazon, its one of the other models on the product page: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MVTB8TK
I can't really link to the single cards since they're all weird Chinese brands that disappear from stock. I just search for the chipset and buy it, and hope its not fake. The most reputable brands I have are Chaintech and Orico.
I have chipsets 200, 201 (4 port) and 202 (newer 2 port) cards.
You can turn internal SAS SFF-8087 ports into external SAS SFF-8088 ports using a bracket like this and some 87 to 87 cables.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PRXOQFA
Are you talking about getting just the SSD for now to install on their existing machines? I'd check to see if their motherboard has SATA connectors to support the hard drive. If not you'll probably need something like this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00L2X6DE6/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1419014929&sr=8-2&pi=SL75
Assuming there is no SATA they would probably have a white PCI slot, again, I would double check.
Yeah, it wasn't cheap but I'm hoping this NAS will last for years so I was willing to spend the money. This is the RAID Card that I got along with this SAS Expander
I’m using an LSI 8200-8E, MD1200 is attached to it with two SFF-8088 cables. Supports full 6G.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005MQP232/
I've got this in my unraid box. haven't had a problem yet. you'll also need some cables like this though.
This is what I bought building my new rig: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085FT2JC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I paid less than the current price listed there. Shop around for the LSI 9207-8i, it's best bang for the buck HBA that's new in box I've found.
For that price you could get standard consumer variants with zero hassle. If you're just collecting hardware because you like hardware then I understand. But here's alternatives:
And that's if you REALLY want something specifically using mSATA.
you can get a LSI 9211-8e (external - https://smile.amazon.com/SAS9200-8E-8PORT-Ext-Sata-Pcie/dp/B002QJZLCA?sa-no-redirect=1) or use this thing https://smile.amazon.com/CableDeconn-SFF-8088-SFF-8087-Adapter-bracket/dp/B00PRXOQFA/ref=pd_sim_147_9?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00PRXOQFA&pd_rd_r=59QXW49RVYW1RCGSPHFA&pd_rd_w=SQrX3&pd_rd_wg=pdwvN&psc=1&refRID=59QXW49RVYW1RCGSPHFA
Where did you get the extra 2x usb 2.0 cable? I cannot find it in stores (in my country). Did you also get a hold of the rear sound cable?
I'm planning to use the spare NVMe with something like this M.2 to 5x SATA card, because I want to attach this device to my ZFS cluster. I know the JMicron JMB585 looks pretty slow and doesn't even bring a towel (heatsink), but so are HDDs. The ZFS cluster is more about storage than about speed.
Now I just need to find some nice looking external power adapter that will do ~35 sustained watts (real watts, not marketing watts).
So I would want 2 of something like this? IO Crest 16 Port SATA III PCIe 2.0 x2 Controller Card Green, SI-PEX40097 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XI4OL82/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_pClzDbHH2EXC0
Is there a specific card that is popular in the UnRaid community ?
Thanks so much. This one would already be in IT mode wouldn't it. Then I could just update the firmware using the normal firmware update process?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085FT2JC
For home server applications, something cheaper like this would work? I know the LSI cards have a great reputation for solid build quality, plug and play, and longevity. Just proposing a cheaper option for OP.
https://www.amazon.com/SHINESTAR-Splitter-Controller-Expansion-Non-Raid/dp/B07KNXZFRH/)
I tested my server by adding 1080p transcoding streams one at a time while monitoring the system resources. I found that when I reached 4 simultaneous streams, my memory utilization was at 88% of 8GB while the AMD FX-8350 CPU was at 56% utilization. My guess is that you will run out of RAM before you run out of CPU. I would look at increasing your RAM to 8GB or higher before anything else.
As you mentioned additional storage will always be an issue as your system grows. While most Motherboards will only support 4 to 6 SATA ports, if your case size permits, look at adding a SATA card to your system for additional ports. My Motherboard currently has 6 ports plus the four additional provided by my SATA card.
Does this look good?
>PCIe 2.0 4x
I guess that's why my shitty Dell motherboard has a 4x slot. The older version of it has a 1x slot and one less SATA port, and 2 ports are USB 2.0 instead of 3 on the back. I put a 2nd graphics card in it, then I put it in an older computer that needed it badly. Chipset graphics suck ass, why use those when I can use a GTX 650 lol
From what I understand the drives were mirrored, and the server admin told me I could to take this one out and mount it standalone without having to do any of that. Does that hold up in your eyes?
I just looked on newegg, and it would be something like this right? https://www.newegg.ca/p/0ZK-035T-00010?Description=SAS%20HBA&cm_re=SAS_HBA-_-0ZK-035T-00010-_-Product , instead of what I posted in the original channel. or https://www.amazon.ca/IOCrest-SI-PEX40097-Port-PCIe-Controller/dp/B00XI4OL82/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=SAS+HBA&qid=1567090932&s=gateway&sr=8-3
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From the looks of it it's just a PCI-E, which would fit into my PC fine, but then there's a little green connector to the left of it that I'm not sure of. Should the only requirement be a fullsized PCI-e slot?
Check out the UnRaid forum. I'm looking at these:
-Supermicro PCI Express x4 Low Profile SAS RAID Controller (AOC-SASLP-MV8) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002KGLDXU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_UPmFxb8KHH59P
It's definitely a rosewill 4u.
However, he has the 12 bay hotswap version.
I'm pretty sure he's using this controller. There are not too many 16 port sata cards, most people use sff8087 to sata breakout cables.
That looks like an OEM board with an OEM AMD heatsink. But I'm just guessing at this point.
OP here, sorry guys I've been busy at work with EU problems :)
It's setup to be a hybrid SAN/NAS depending on how I decide to configure it (currently no OS). You're correct in saying it's a SAN device, and not an entire Storage Area Network, but Id didn't think I'd have to be so specific. The original plan was to install this into my rack and piggyback it to my NAS over fiber, but I might use it as an off-site mirror for NAS.
It didn't really need much horsepower, so I used a mainboard out of an old HP dx2300MT I had kicking around. RAM is 2GB of DDR2 & CPU is a Pentium D 3.4 GHz.
As for the case, you're correct as it's the Rosewill RSV-L4411 and the card is also an Areca ARC-1160D with the RAM upgraded to 1GB.
Thanks so much for all this!
I had found the memory and controller card below in the interim.
https://www.amazon.com/Tech-PC3-12800-PowerEdge-A3721494-Snpp9rn2c/dp/B01C7YS08U
https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Logic-9207-8i-Controller-LSI00301/dp/B0085FT2JC
I think these will work. What do you think?
On this build I probably won't try to get a slog for the zil but in the future I may if we test and can hook these up to our vm hosts. Do you have any recommendations for that? I know NFS does sync writes so I think I'll need a slog if I do that.
You know if there's a list of supported chipset on the ROCKPro64 PCI-e?
With something like this I could connect up to 16 SATA discs and run ZFS with it.
I currently have an old server: Tyan motherboard, intel core2duo, 8GB DDR2 ram, PCI-X (not express, the old PCI-X format), 10 3TB hard drives in RAID-Z2... It's massive, heat a lot for not so much perfs, and I'd like to replace it with a lighter config like a ROCKPro64...
Performance-wise, I only need gigabit speed, about 100MB/s top.
So I'm seeing stuff like these:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00MVTB8TK?tag=tomshardware_forum_ca_vgl-20
But it seems I wont get full USB3/SATAIII speeds using a PCIe x1 slot on my motherboard. I'm seeing some posts say that if I use a floppy power connector with it, I can, but how reliable is this if I only have a x1 port open?
For a case maybe a node 804? Or a Silverstone ds380? If you can't find a micro atx or mini itx motherboard with enough sata ports you'll need a controller in IT mode. The mini itx is smaller but you'll be limited on memory ports and sata ports most likely. I suggest building it with pcpartpicker to ensure compatibility. You can also filter for various qualities like number of sata ports or number of 3.5 inch hard drives things like that.
They can be, yeah. But you can find them for pretty cheap some times, too. link
As for the 36 bay case, it costed me ~$600. $300 for the case, and $300 for "parts" (upgrading to SAS2, drive trays, rails).
As for the 45-60 bay enclosure, I'll be saving up for. $700-1000 is a reasonable price for these, used. THough, if you're luckly, you can find them for much less.
link
I followed the link to your NAS build. Instead of a SAS breakout cable, do you think something like this would work just as well? I am doing a very similar build, but with 8tb HDD's.
That's an 80 pin SCSI drive. Making this work in your PC isn't worth the expense. There is no adapter to go from SATA controller to SCSI drive. You'd need a SCSI controller, which was obsolete when PCIe came out. However, you're in luck as controllers are still made. If this is a 10k or 15k RPM drive it's going to be super loud and super hot. I also never trust used hard drives to last long at all. You'll need a SMART report on the drive and hope it logs its power up/down counts and run times.
Another (more ghetto), is to convert the external cabling to internal, using something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/CableDeconn-SFF-8088-SFF-8087-Adapter-bracket/dp/B00PRXOQFA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542284971&sr=8-1&keywords=8088+to+8087 and then using a SAS expander.
I didn't get joy from this card under Linux when I briefly tried it, but Windows might be more accomodating. It's a 16-port SATA controller https://smile.amazon.com/IO-Crest-Controller-Green-SI-PEX40097/dp/B00XI4OL82
For best performance, 8 of these:
mSATA x4 to PCI-e 2.0 x4 adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/Syba-HyperDuo-Controller-Marvell-Chipset/dp/B00KKO6N98
price: 62 USD each.
and a motherboard that can take 8 PCI-e slots, like one of these:
MSI Big Bang Marshal : https://bit-tech.net/previews/tech/motherboards/msi-big-bang-marshal-preview/1/
or: Colorful B250A-BTC PLUS : https://i.redd.it/9c1di1ndfv901.jpg
I'd recommend using ZFS and disabling any RAID functionality on those adapters.
I'm looking at a very similar card to do something very similar. But this card seems to be the best/cheapest/working method I've found. Does anyone know of a cheaper card (or option)? One that works with either a single slot or only pcie x1?
YUP! This. USB 3.0 works just fine. The MediaSonic Probox is fairly popular around here. It supports both USB 3.0 and ESATA. You'll need to make sure your ESATA supports port multipliers, or get an add-on card. Here is the one that I use. Works great and can support 2 of the MediaSonic ProBoxes.
This one:
https://www.amazon.com/SHINESTAR-Splitter-Controller-Expansion-Non-Raid/dp/B07KNXZFRH/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1I0QU5KUDBRNW&keywords=sata+pcie+card+4+port&qid=1557075435&s=gateway&sprefix=Sata+PCIe+card&sr=8-3
However you may want to look for one with more ports.
So it's a PCI controller like this? ASM1062 is a chipset, could be onboard or pci -- need to specify.
If it's PCI and consumer hardware its probably not a PCIE 2.0 x4 (or anything higher) so probably x1 or x2. x1 can do 500MB/s, x2 can do twice that. But that's going to be shared between read and write across all drives. If this is your configuration I'd assume you are bottlenecking the bus. If you have onboard (on the motherboard) SATA ports I would offload as many drives to those as you can.
depends on what you need the drive for.
you can either use a USB drive (if it's just for backups), eSATA (your motherboard may have an open slot for one on the back), or buy a SATA card like this
That would be the most efficient and economical, and done properly with this CableDeconn Dual Mini SAS SFF-8088 To SAS36P SFF-8087 Adapter In PCI bracket https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PRXOQFA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_BqNwzbV4SGD8K I personally would just run it in a empty pcie bracket though to keep component count down to decrease failure rate.
For anyone who finds this later - I decided to go with the RAID array despite it not being a financial slam dunk. What happened is that I lucked out finding an adapter that allows you to put two 2.5" drives in a 3.5" front drive bay (link) on sale at newegg for $10, so I bought two. My system board has 6 sata ports and a built-in raid controller. I was looking that that vs software RAID solutions and I found Storage Pools in Windows. Hardware RAID solutions are traditionally inflexible (pun intended), and Storage Pools allows you to add drives to the pool as you go. So I set up a 4x500gb storage pool with parity. Turns out the performance on Storage Pools in Windows with Parity is god awful, and some more searching led me to r/DataHoarder, which recommends the software solutions of DrivePool ($30) for concatenating the disks, and SnapRAID (free) for writing parity information. So that's what I'm going with for now.
Like Storage Spaces, Drivepool allows you to add more disks to the pool at any time, which means I can use some of my smaller disks as well if I can get the ports to plug them in. I'll need a PCI SATA adapter, but those are pretty cheap. I'll then need a place to mount them. I can buy more drive bay adapters, some slot mounting adapters, or make my own.
So far I'm at least $50 in the hole, and maybe more depending on whether I get that expansion card and/or mounts. So let's say $90 for an array that'll be about 2.5TB, maybe. I can get a 4TB HDD for $120 or an 8TB for $200 when they're on sale, which seems to make them clearly better deals. I get slightly more data security with the RAID array, but it seems like old laptop hard drives still don't have a specific use.
Ah thank you. Today ive learned the differences between all the types of PCIe x slots.
Now, what stops me from installing this controller in my bottom most PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot?
Will i get more bandwidth overall and be able to use more SSD's?
From my P8Z77-V LK manual:
>2xPCI Express 3.0* / 2.0 x16 slots (single at x16 or dual at x8 mode)
>1xPCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (black) (max at x4 mode, compatible with PCIe x1 and x4devices)*
>2xPCI Express 2.0 x1 slots
>2xPCI Slots
>PCI2 3.0 speed is supported by Intel 3rd generation Core processors.
>**PCIe X16_3 slot shares the bandwidth with the PCIe X1_2 slot. The default setting is x2 mode. Go to the BIOS setup to change the settings.
So from what i can gather, if i put any card in the PCIE x16 slot just below the gpu, it will drop down to x8 mode correct? Thats the slot for SLI. That sounds like itll slow down the bandwidth from the gpu..? avoid that.
The x4 card wont fit into PCIe x1 slots or PCI slots.
The x4 card should fit just fine in the 1xPCI express 2.0 x16 slot (black) just fine correct? bottom black pci slot. Would that be better for more bandwidth which leads to me being able to use more than two SATA 3 drives?
I think im starting to understand how it all works now hah.
https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Logic-LSI00154-LSI20320IE-Controller/dp/B000UPX9YE/
I would assume the one pine64 sells is compatible, but the one I got was defective so I can't speak to that, but I do know of an alternative. I picked up the below card instead which works great with the vanilla armbian build for the RockPro64 which I installed OpenMediaBox on top of.
SHINESTAR SATA Card 4 Port with... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KNXZFRH?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
The pro to this card is you get 4 Sata ports vs 2 on the card that pine64 sells, so in my NAS enclosure I have 2x 3.5" platter disks and 2x 2.5" SSDs which I power off the RockPro64 with the power splitter that shipped with the Sata card.
https://www.amazon.com/Asus-U3S6-True-Support-Motherboard/dp/B002VVQ58M/
https://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-Controller-Non-Raid-SI-PEX40064/dp/B00AZ9T3OU/
https://www.amazon.com/SHINESTAR-Splitter-Controller-Expansion-Non-Raid/dp/B07KNXZFRH/
how does the HC2 perform?
i've been seriously eying the H2 to build a NAS.
thinking i could add this to use in the m2 slot : https://www.amazon.com/Internal-Non-Raid-Adapter-Desktop-Support/dp/B07T3RMFFT/
could go a more ghetto route, depending on case etc.
int to ext
like here
but yeah second the LSI 9201-16e, for 6gb/s, and new off newegg was $26
I’m not the best guy for a definitive answer on hardware, but to the best of my understanding the 6g/s SAS cards are guaranteeing you 6g/s capable speeds per 4x SAS port which then has to be shared by however many of the 4x drives per SAS port are in use at any given time.
Now how many drives in use via however many separate SAS ports at the same time will cause a bottleneck via the PCIe 2.0 controller operating at 8x speeds... I’m a little fuzzy on...
I was just in your shoes a week and a half ago and spent days looking at the field of cards. This one was really an outlier as to what it can do for cost. It’s also supply and demand involved here. If you noticed, this is an external SAS card and the number of people looking for them is much lower than those looking for internal connections. This same card with an internal port will run you over $200!
But all you have to do is run the cords back inside the case using the pci slot above/below wherever you have the card installed. Or you can use this if you’d like, but I prefer a straight single connection, less chance of problems.
CableDeconn Dual Mini SAS SFF-8088 To SAS36P SFF-8087 Adapter In PCI bracket https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PRXOQFA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Nf9PAb5TWXPZQ
But back to speed, can’t tell you how far you’d have to push the card to hit a bottleneck, but I’ve got 24x sata drives in mine (16x on this card) in a Windows 10 box, and the drives 5400rpm drives are still operating at the same speeds they always have with a direct MB connection.
Good luck with your build! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Thanks. I'm thinking I can use a 4 port card (but the H200 is only 2 ports) and break 2 of them off to an external SAS adapter like this.
Now I'm just wondering if the performance would be better with 2 cards or 1 card with 4 ports.
What SCSI version are the drives? If you don't know, post a model number or drive label and a pic of the port.
You'll need a SCSI controller, IDE won't work as SCSI uses an expanded command set which IDE doesn't support.
Best bet is to find a cheap PCIe SCSI adapter and a cable to host the drives on a machine to wipe them. Older SCSI is dated tech, but the controllers will still run you 50-150 ea, even for the old stuff. If this is out of the question, put a bullet through them or take them apart with a hammer.
DO pay attention to these controllers! Most of them are PCI-x not PCI-e because they were mostly for server boards from 90's to late 00's vintage. The link below is for an LSI PCIe card which will probably work for you if you have U320 SCSI drives. You'll have to add a ribbon cable AND the SCSI terminator for each unused port, AND have your drives addressed in the controller. SCSI is nowhere near as simple as SAS/SATA/IDE. Much of the drive/controller/cabling in SCSI requires setup on the controller firmware to address the drive.
https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Logic-LSI00154-LSI20320IE-Controller/dp/B000UPX9YE/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=pcie+scsi+card&qid=1555081551&s=gateway&sr=8-5
I'm looking around for a USB to SCSI adapter but they are extremely rare and expensive.
I don't think any such thing exists for multi sata to usb. Atleast not to my knowledge. Another solution would be to use an Internal SAS to External SAS card (Like this) and then use an LSI 9200-8e card in IT mode on your main computer. That would present each hard drive to the computer as an individual hard drive like you were connecting them over USB.
With each port on the Internal to External SAS card you can connect 4 Sata drives.
> https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Logic-LSI00154-LSI20320IE-Controller/dp/B000UPX9YE/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=pcie+scsi+card&qid=1555081551&s=gateway&sr=8-5
lol found that on ebay for a much better price https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-Logic-SCSI-LVD-SE-Controller-PCI-Express-x4-LSI20320IE-439946-001-Tested/142155949051?epid=1524610697&hash=item211927a3fb:g:i8UAAOSwHsRYCbli&frcectupt=true
yeah man, they all look like iomegal or something ones from late 90s/ early 2000s
Are you saying PCI Or PCIe? PCIe has loads of SATA III controllers boards, but PCI is gonna be limited to SATA II. I’m going to assume PCIe bc you said 3.0 afterwards though. I would go with this then: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KNXZFRH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rKlTCb1B4ZXDS
Yeah, but with one minor correction: I am not using a breakout in the PC. MB SATA -> 8088 Adapter -> 8088-to-8087 Adapter -> SATA breakout (the listing doesn't actually specify that it's Forward, but the description would make think so) -> HDDs
Yes, all layer one. Every adapter is totally passive.
Expensive? Yeah, probably if I had used two of the dual adapters (which, honestly, now that I'm typing this out I feel like a dingus for not having done that - I'm not sure what I was thinking). This was a cheaper alternative to purchasing a 4-bay Mediasonic and would potentially support up to six drives (assuming I get it working). I could have just run a bunch of long SATA cables between chassis, but that would be really messy, cable-wise, and there's no way I'd be able to move both enclosures at the same time. Unless there's some kind of SATA aggregate option, seemed like my best way to go (which, if that's a thing, I'd be interested in that route too, but some quick-ish googling didn't turn much up).
I was reading about some of those changes in the BIOS, IDE vs AHCI - is that what you're referring to? That certainly could be it, since I did see one drive initially. I'll look into that (and MB support...) tonight while I wait on the PSU replacement.
No intention of using the port multipliers. If I need more than four, I'll probably focus on just running another SATA->SAS adapter and use the second port on the 8088->8087 bracket.
You'd need a SCSI card in the PC.
If you have an older PC with a conventional PCI slot (pre-PCI Express,) SCSI cards are cheap and readily available on eBay.
If your only PC is a newer one, you'd need either a PCI Express SCSI card (not cheap) or an old USB SCSI adapter (really not cheap) then adapter cables to convert the "external SCSI" to an internal SCSI, or the high-density internal connector to the bigger/lower-density connector on the drive.
these bad boys?
meh, if it works, it works.
I'll toss a plug in for UnRAID here, it would do what you want. I use it and love it. May be the simplest option for you as it is a file server, and can also manage VMs and docker containers. There are dockers for Plex, backup software (crashplan, etc), and many other useful things (unifi ap controller, openvpn server, web server, ftp, etc etc).
I also just picked up two of these for my new server:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085FT2JC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They work with JBOD and can be used with HDDs and SSDs. Not sure what the T30 and R710 have currently, but you may be able to flash them to IT mode for JBOD support.
If the 9207-8i is too pricey, you can get an H310 for around $50-100 and flash it to IT mode yourself. Amazon has them but ebay may be better.
There are PCI SATA expansion cards. Like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00L2X6DE6/
I'm using two of these, myself:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085FT2JC
They work great with my 4 and 10 TB HGST NAS drives, but I did have a problem with my Samsung 850 EVO SSD. There is a firmware update available for them that I haven't tried yet (I just moved the EVO to on-board SATA ports and it's fine).
Edit: You'll need cables like these (it doesn't come with them): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013G4EMH8
It's a QNINE. This one to be exact: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5LQ7Z3/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Reviews are hit or miss but I guess I got a pretty good one.....so far.
>Why would you consider software raid for enterprise level applications / software and not hardware raid?
If he could afford hardware raid this crappy little file server would not even exist haha. Of course that would be ideal, just not in the budget. And this isn't an enterprise level arrangement, this is just a small business running one small application using consumer grade equipment.
I am actually planning on using this "Semlos New PCI SATA Internal Ports RAID Controller" for connecting the drives, which is not a RAID controller at all despite the description. It is only SATA II, but I think the drives I got won't even max that out, much less SATA III. It has 2x1.5Gbps channels, so each drive is getting 750Mbps. The drive specs say they are doing 554 MB/s / 512 MB/s sequential. Unless I misunderstand, there is plenty of room there? But, feel free to correct me if I have that wrong, this is all kinda new to me.
>Also, you sure it's the disk IO that's the issue, and not say network since you are using SSD's (Assuming your motherboard has sata 3.0 ports for those SSD's and not sata 2.0)?
Nope, I am pretty sure the CPU is bottlenecking in addition to the NIC. I ordered a new Gigabit NIC, as stated in my post, and that should also help things I believe. The rest of the network is on CAT6 with gigabit router and switching, but also consumer grade. The router is running DD-WRT though.
>Also, Access is horribly slow anyways, not really meant to be an enterprise level database software handling large volume.
Completely agree with you, but once again this is a small database with not very many users. It isn't heavily accessed all the time, which is why I have been trying to figure out why it is so slow. Some forms just take forever to load, and I didn't build it and am not allowed to modify it. If I came up with very clear and specific design modifications that would increase the performance I could definitely get the author of the DB to implement the changes. But due to my unfamiliarity with Access as a whole and this DB in particular, I am unqualified to do so.
This is the exact one I bought https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00L2X6DE6/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'm not big on computers so I'm not sure about all this stuff, from what your saying I guess I bought the wrong one?
For now, I was just going to use it as-is. I know it's some X3400 CPU under the hood.
Based on my order history, it was just one of these
I recently put in an LSI card to attach 8 HDD's into my array (I have 5 SSD's attached making up my cache - not ideal, but I had the parts so... ;-). Worked out of the box. no flashing. No updates. I ordered mine from Amazon.com. Was $75, but I did not want to risk it, as this is my server (worth the $25 to me for simple piece of mind).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085FT2JC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Combined that with the splitter cables (I used these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CKX6HVV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) and I have had 0 issues.
It was by far the most highly recommended card, and I did not want to deal with a bunch of random issues to save $25 dollars.
I think that answers my question. I'll just get another Siverstone DS380 case and a bracket
I also currently use an i7 920. I have an Asus P6T Deluxe (LGA1366). The x58 is an enthusiast class platform with 40 PCIe lanes. So I put in a PCIe USB 3.0 card with 4 ports for $18. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011LZY20G/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Also I got a SATA 3.0 PCIe controller card (will give you AHCI) for $68 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007EM7N70/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I then added 2 Samsung 850 Pro drives onto the new controller as well as a Samsung 950 M.2 SSD through a PCIe card https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018U79YQK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Also added 24GB of RAM over the years.
I run an EVGA 1080FTW and game at 2460x1440. I get the following avg framerates. Witcher 3 = 57fps Trine 2 = 76fps, Starcraft 2 = 50fps, Tomb Raider 2013 = 81fps.
Personally I am wanting to replace it with an equal or better system which Skylake is NOT because it only has 16PCIe lanes to the CPU. I'm eagerly waiting for Skylake-E at around middle of 2017, that's the next big enthusiast level upgrade.
Any questions just ask.