Supermicro Backplane and 2TB+ Hard drives

Hi. I'm working on a new server using 6TB hard drives. Here are the specs:

- SuperMicro X8DT3-F Motherboard with
- SuperServer case 24 trays using a SuperMicro SAS2-846EL2 backplane
- SuperMicro 0108L SAS Cable
- 6 x 6TB SATA Drives

The X8DT3-F motherboard comes with a LSI SAS1068E Raid controller and the
drives are recognized as only 2TB drives. From my research it seems that even
after updating the bios drives the full capacity of the drives are not useable.

1) What PCI-E raid controller can I use, if any, that will work with the Supermicro SAS
cable that will see all 24 drives?

Thanks

1068e based HBA's will only address up to 2TB per drive, you would need an SAS2008 or newer based card in order to take advantage of larger disks.

Also keep in mind that some users have reported issues with use of SATA disks through an SAS expander. I have not run into this issue myself, but be aware that some have.

I have a 36 bay Supermicro 4U server and am using the LSI 9271-8i with 4TB SATA drives. This server has two backplanes - one for the front bays and one for the rear bays. You may only need one SAS channel, if so the LS 9271-4i controller would do the trick for less $$.

More info on the controller at http://www.lsi.com/products/raid-controllers/pages/megaraid-sas-9271-8i.aspx

Thanks. I was going to ask if the LSI card would work with all 24 drives.
I am looking at a lsi 9211 as well it mentions 8 ports. One card hopefully
Will do the trick I Hope.

I have an adaptec 52445 and it doesn't detect any drives when attached to the backplane. Is that expected or do I have a configuration problem?

Wow the 9271 runs expensive. Is there any other non-raid options since I am going to be running ZFS anyway.

As stated before, any SAS2008 or newer chipset based card.

there are many: http://www.servethehome.com/lsi-sas-2008-raid-controller-hba-information/

When last i looked the PERC H310 was cheapest option.

The 9271-8i is a fully fledged RAID card. If you want to run ZFS, this is wasted money and could be much harder to handle.
When you look for an HBA, the 9207-8i is also a good choice, it is the successor of the 9211-8i.

The Adaptec 52445 looks like it has already an expander onboard. Depending on the brand and type of the expander chip, it can be problematic to chain two of them, especially with SATA disks.
The expander on the board is probably a PMC Sierra, while the expanders on the backplane are most probably LSI.
Did you try the external port? This probably comes directly from the controller and not from the expander (but I'm not sure about this).