• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Adding HDDs to Media Server

U

Unborndragon

n00b
Joined
Nov 29, 2013
Messages
18
After quite a bit of searching and quite a bit of reading I have come to the conclusion that I need to ask for assistance.

Goal: Add more HHDs to my system. Ideally in groups of 3.

Current setup: i7 920, Gigabyte X58A-UD5 Motherboard, 12 GB RAM, 4 x 4TB HDDs, 3 x 3TB HHDs, and 2 x 1TB drives, 32GB SSD for Win 8.1 Pro, Corsair HX1000 PSU, and Mountain Mods Ascension Extended case so I have room for 15 more HDDs.

Ideally I would like each set of drives to be in pairs of 3 for the Win 8 parity mode. It is super slow but I am aiming for ease of use here as I work way to much and occasionally I have to walk my wife through server admin stuff. I have already filled the 10 SATA ports on my motherboard and I do not want to replace my 3TBs with 4TBs yet. I am fine using the software RAID that I am using so I am not wanting to switch to hardware RAID.

TLDR- SAS Expander (Controller?), SATA Expander, or SATA Multiplier? Super confused on options here.

Side note: I noticed I would make the 10TB+ list on the sticky. It gave me the sickly happy feelings in my inside gut parts.
 
How many PCI Express slots have you got free, and what physical/electrical lanes are they?

Grab a M1015 in IT mode (or 9201-8i, or other equivalent), two 8087->4xSATA cables and you'll have 8 more drive spaces available. A second one would give you 16 more total with no expanders.
 
I only have an old graphics card installed to power a monitor when I decide to fiddle in the BIOS. All of PCI and PCIe slots are open. http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3304#ov
I shall be researching the options you have listed. Thank you.

EDIT:
Just to be sure - Both items listed have hardware RAID. They should just show up as the drives attached once installed and in OS. The OS will not even know it is there and I will "magically" have 8 more HDDs attached to use the WIN 8 parity mode in. Is this correct?
 
Also, I should not have any issues using a Blu-ray reader/writer on one of these? Ig, 3 x 4TB drives and an optical drive. My last experience with a hardware RAID card was a very expensive failure. Needless to say it has been quite a few years so I am not super familiar with some of these newfangled options.
 
You will probably not get dvd/bluray drives to work with a SAS card.

You would need a native SATA device to connect them to (your motherboard).

Personally I would suggest getting the m1015 and the intel expander. That way you have the capability to connect 24 drives extra drives to your computer without loosing an PCIe slot Though its about $100 more expensive than just getting 2 m1015s.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816117207
 
So, M1015-SAS cable (x2?)-Intel Expander=24 drives. I understand my HDDs are slow but it seems to me that would be quite a bit of data put through the same device. I will plan on using my Optical drive and OS on the native SATA ports.
I kind of like that option as eventually I plan on turning this in to my main system when I get around to replacing the MB/CPU/GPU/PSU. I noticed the newer motherboard tend to have only 6 SATA ports which is a bummer.
 
I am running 20 drives in a raid 6 config on the same card (connected to only 1 of the card's ports) and expander and I can easily do over 600 MB/s reading from it

Even a single port on that card has more bandwidth than you could possibly ever use on even dual gigabit lines. It's on a completely different level than most people are used to.
 
I would definitely NOT mess with an expander. It just adds unnecessary expense and complication unless you really need it, and you do not need it.

You can still pick up IBM M1015 cards relatively inexpensively. When I got mine a couple years ago, they were easy to find for $75/ea. Now they are a bit harder to find, and a bit more expensive, but I saw several choices on ebay for less than $100/ea. You can buy 2 or 3 of those cards for the price of an expander. They are basically the same as an LSI 9240-8i, and very similar to an LSI 9211-8i.

Note that the IBM M1015 cards are x8 PCIe 2.0. It looks like your motherboard can do 4 slots of x8 PCIe 2.0. With one for your graphics card, that leaves 3 slots that could be filled with M1015 cards, for a total of 24 ports. For less than $300, which is about the price of an expander by itself (and you need a SAS HBA plus the expander to do anything).

As for your question about the OS, no, the OS definitely will know the card is there. You need a driver. Most people use the LSI Windows driver, I think (I run mine in linux so I cannot help you with details of Windows drivers). But the card can be configured for pass-thru, so as long as the card is configured properly, and the OS driver is installed, then the OS should just show you the individual drives that you attach to the card.
 
Looking at the IBM M1015 card at amazon, http://www.amazon.com/IBM-Serveraid-M1015-Controller-46M0831/dp/B0034DMSO6/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top, I noticed one of the reviews mentioned "One important thing to note, is when buying cabling, make sure you're getting a SFF-8087 forward cable, this is important as reverse cables wont work". I have not seen this specified when looking at cables. Any thoughts or suggestions on cables. I just bought 5 x 4TB Seagate drives, Bestbuy ($119 each), so I am looking to install them soon.

Also, I found an LSI 9211-8i http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118112 for $225, which is about $100 less then the IBM M1015.
I was unable to find the 9201-8I but I did find the 9201-16i http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118142 for $369. But it has some pretty harsh reviews.

TLDR: Still not sure on which card to get as I have no experience with these types of cards and the prices are all over the place.
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
The fastest and best explanation I have even gotten on a question. No confusion left on that front.
 
Also, I am finding some of the cards stating HBA (host bus adapter) and people saying they can not use the sata ports on their motherboard with those cards. Any thoughts or is that a case by case issue. Also, I edited the post prior to your last on staticlag (you were to quick for me tonight.)
 
Also the m1015 should be purchased under $100 each. Any more and you are getting shafted.

The m1015 is an OEM version of the LSI 9211-8i that can be flashed to become an LSI 9211-8i. So just know that most people flash it to get the best performance out of it. (via this guide http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/)

If you are thinking of spending $200+ per card I would just get the legit retail 9211-8i, or even a next gen 9300-8i which will do SAS 3 or even probably SATA IV (12Gb/sec).
.
 
If I were looking to pick up some IBM M1015 cards today, I'd take a close look at reputable ebay sellers. For example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-SERVERA...063?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item485d54c9b7

That one has a low-profile bracket; you may want to find one with a standard bracket, or with no bracket, or you can add your own bracket, for example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Standard-Fu...sk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item4179c5d72f

As for breakout cables, I just remember that it is indeed a "breakout" cable, i.e., one to many, so forward breakout means you are going from a controller miniSAS 8087 port to 4 SATA jacks on peripherals. A "reverse breakout" cable is actually a merge-in cable, so you go from a controller with 4 SATA ports to a miniSAS 8087 port (usually on a hot-swap backplane). And the convention is that your signal "starts" at the SAS or SATA controller and goes to the peripherals.
 
Last edited:
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
The 9300-8i is HBA also, which still leaves me with the same HBA question. I am not to keen on gaining 8 ports to lose 10. All the m1015 I have found are more than $100 as I am not a fan of ebay and other marketplace sellers as I have had bad experiences in the past with non major retailers.
 
Unborndragon said:
Also, I am finding some of the cards stating HBA (host bus adapter) and people saying they can not use the sata ports on their motherboard with those cards. Any thoughts or is that a case by case issue. Also, I edited the post prior to your last on staticlag (you were to quick for me tonight.)
Click to expand...

Some HBA cards have chipsets whose drivers are not very compatible with onboard ports' drivers.

It's a driver issue between some companies.

But the LSI cards, (9211-8i, m1015, etc...) are so widely used by everyone because they are so incredibly compatible. You won't have any issues with them and your onboard devices.

Well... Not true exactly. In total I've owned 12 of the m1015/9211-8i cards, 6 are currently in use by me. One thing that I have found is that older sandy bridge 1155 motherboards that were created before ivy bridge came out have a crappy BIOS driver bug with the 9211-8i that causes the card to not be recognized on the motherboard.

What causes this condition, is if you have a 1155 motherboard that was originally made to be compatible only with sandy bridge, but was later flashed a new BIOS that allowed ivy bridge to be used, then there is some issue with the IRQs or something. But it can be remedied by flashing an earlier BIOS that does NOT have the Ivy bridge patch incorporated.

But that's a pretty rare case. So you should probably be fine.
 
Unborndragon said:
The 9300-8i is HBA also, which still leaves me with the same HBA question. I am not to keen on gaining 8 ports to lose 10. All the m1015 I have found are more than $100 as I am not a fan of ebay and other marketplace sellers as I have had bad experiences in the past with non major retailers.
Click to expand...

If you're not a fan of ebay or having to flash an OEM card, or having to deal with a possible broken card or other issue

Then the best course of action would be to buy the LSI 9211-8i on newegg/amazon. You get a warranty, and a product that will work the way you expect it to right out of the box.

It's not your cheapest option, but it's ultimately the card that everyone wants to have (that's why they flash the m1015 to become it).

The 9201-16i is a nice option if you more ports.

But my recommendation is still to get the 9211-8i and the intel RES2SV240 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816117207

Since both the 9211-8i and the RES2SV240 are using LSI chipsets, you are assured compatibility (unlike using a chenbro or HP expander) with SATA drives. It's as easy as plugging it in and getting 20 more ports.

Sure its a bit more expensive, but I'm using that exact setup in one of my ZFS rigs and it hasn't given me an issue.
 
Why is the Chief Financial Officer being an accountant funny?

And why do you need 8 breakout cables? I would think 6 at most.
 
Because most people refer to their wife in the same manner yet they are not accountants. It just gives me a little snicker.
Edit to respond to edit: Because the intel card has 8 ports. I plan on attaching 24 drives.
 
Or I suck at math tonight. That might be a good explanation for making that horrible mistake. I do apologize and the wife thoroughly laughed at my expense once she pointed it out to me.
 
Just making sure I am understanding this.
6 ports on the intel card. 4-5 ports breakout to my drives. 1-2 ports are filled with cables from the LSI card. If use 1 port from the LSI card I could use the 5 ports for breakout and 1 port from the LSI card for breakout? or Should I be using 4 ports from the intel card for breakout, 2 ports for the LSI card and that fills the LSI card?
Darn you newfangled technology and me not finding decent reading material.
 
I did find this which worries me. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1732645
Which also goes back to what a previous posted had mentioned
JoeComp said:
I would definitely NOT mess with an expander. It just adds unnecessary expense and complication unless you really need it, and you do not need it.
Click to expand...
I am just not certain I want to get 3 of the LSI 9211-8i cards.

Also, I would like to thank all who have been super helpful. I know I am asking quite a few questions and I appreciate the patience and the level of amazingness.
 
Unborndragon said:
I just got the go ahead from the CFO (which is funny since she is actually an accountant).
So http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118112 and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...a&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite. For cables I found http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...16097&ef_id=Um23hgAABI9yiT67:20131110042830:s which I would need 8 of. Now I just need the cord to connect both the cards.
Click to expand...

I use these cables from monoprice, $10 each and they work great http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_id=102&cp_id=10254&cs_id=1025406

But yes those cables you linked will work.
 
Unborndragon said:
I did find this which worries me. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1732645
Which also goes back to what a previous posted had mentioned
I am just not certain I want to get 3 of the LSI 9211-8i cards.

Also, I would like to thank all who have been super helpful. I know I am asking quite a few questions and I appreciate the patience and the level of amazingness.
Click to expand...

This year's firmware update on the 9211-8i has fixed this issue.


The issue that other guy is experiencing is the problem inherent with using SATA drives on SAS cards with an expander.

You see SAS is the native protocol. When you attach a SATA drive it addresses it in SATA compatibility mode, where the SATA protocol is wrapped by the SAS protocol. SAS is very similar to an ethernet switch.

Because in SAS you address the individual drive, where in SATA you address by the port.

So long story short. When there are a lot of SATA packets being transferred on a SAS expander, previously there was an issue where packets would not be delivered in the correct order to the drive because of the firmware issuing differing priorities to the SATA packets. This caused the drive to freak out and throw errors. Because it would still get the same data, just with some of it slightly out of order.

This year LSI has addressed this issue, and it seems to be working just great for everyone. But the problem may still exist with older firmwared' hp and chenbro expanders that will still have trouble passing SATA packets with the correct priority.

Yeah that guy was incorrect in thinking that the controller didn't have enough bandwidth. You could easily connect 100 drives to it via multiple expanders and it would work perfectly, which is the usage that this type of controller was designed for.
 
Just make sure you are running the latest firmware and you should be good to go
 
Well, it looks like I will be getting the controller and expander. Time to add up these costs and post a list. Super annoyed that I am losing so much space of the "20 TB" I bought. This is not new to me, but it ...irritates.. me to see 20 TB go down to 12 TB by the time I am done.
 
In total I am looking at $1500 for purchases tonight. I bought the LSI 9211-8i, the Intel Expander, and 5 forward breakout cables. Those ended up being $550, 5 x 4TB drives were $636 w/tax, and then about $250 in misc items for the computer. This will put me right around 50 TB (ignoring formatting and RAID) with room to expand to 100 TB total before I fill my case.
 
I've had nothing but problems in the past when I have tried expanders. I hope you have better luck than I have. Maybe the problems have been fixed, as staticlag said.
 
This is one of the reasons I am willing to pay more for certain items. If it fails or gives me too many issues it shall be returned to Newegg. I am going to be continuing my research and hopefully when my items arrive I will be able to ask for help more pointedly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top