AOC-USAS2-L8I vs. L8e

[hotzen]

Hello

I know that the L8e is JBOD *only* while the L8i is JBOD + Raid-Capability.
However, the L8i is 30EUR cheaper in germany!

Does it have any disadvantages to use the L8i instead of the L8e for ZFS?
I think that the L8e has IT-firmware by default, in contrast to the L8i. Is it possible to patch the same IT-firmware to the L8e?

crazy prices...

 

[hotzen]

Is it true that independent from the firmware (IT vs IR-mode), the L8e uses the preferable(?) mpt_sas driver wheras the L8i uses the mr_sas drivers (Solaris).
So, in fact, those two cards are totally different and only for marketing they seem to sound alike?

 

[sub.mesa]

As far as i remember the L8e version can connect many more disks in expander mode than the L8i version, and sometimes was even more expensive than the L8i version. The L8e lacks any RAID functionality though.

You can flash the L8i to IT mode firmware yes, by default it probably comes in this mode; although the default firmware appears to differ according to reports i found on the net. When flashing the firmware you should be asked whether you want IR or IT mode firmware, easy enough!