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controller recommendation

D

dl666

n00b
Joined
Jul 19, 2012
Messages
7
which controller do you recommend to connect around 40 sata hdds?
no raid, pci, pcie or pcie 2.0 x1 and keeping in mind large capacity hdds (3tb and future capacities).

thx
 
For 40 hdd i would use the latest LSI HBA and 2 Intel sas expander which gives you exactly 40 ports.
 
that lsi hba is pci-e 3.0 x8.

let me put it in another way:
i have 4 pci-e 2.0 x1 and 2 pci slots free. What would you use?
 
dl666 said:
that lsi hba is pci-e 3.0 x8.

let me put it in another way:
i have 4 pci-e 2.0 x1 and 2 pci slots free. What would you use?
Click to expand...

In all honesty, I would add a new motherboard into the upgrade budget. In any case, how many users will this 40 drive array see, what kind of data will you be storing on it predominately and how will the users be accessing it? How many arrays do you see breaking these 40 drives into? Are you planning on Hardware RAID? What level(s) are you planning? What are you planning to use to backup the ~80TB (before parity loss)?
 
dl666 said:
that lsi hba is pci-e 3.0 x8.

let me put it in another way:
i have 4 pci-e 2.0 x1 and 2 pci slots free. What would you use?
Click to expand...

This
mwroobel said:
In all honesty, I would add a new motherboard into the upgrade budget.
Click to expand...
with that lsi hba. Pcie x1 and pci have way to low bw to run ANY hdds (maybe 2) let alone 40.
Or if you're gonna go with 2 chasis (20bay & server + 20bay external), you can get this .
 
mwroobel said:
In all honesty, I would add a new motherboard into the upgrade budget. In any case, how many users will this 40 drive array see, what kind of data will you be storing on it predominately and how will the users be accessing it? How many arrays do you see breaking these 40 drives into? Are you planning on Hardware RAID? What level(s) are you planning? What are you planning to use to backup the ~80TB (before parity loss)?
Click to expand...

2 users simultaneously, the data will be films, dvd images (software), music. I'm planning on using software raid more specifically flexRaid.
Single chassis btw. All hdds internal.

Even if i do get a new mb (and at this point it seems almost inevitable) the hba suggested seems overkill.
 
Last edited:
the hba suggested seems overkill.
Click to expand...

I totally disagree. You are planning to install 40 hard drives to a single machine. You will need either several 8 or 16 port HBAs and a motherboard that can handle that or a good 8 port HBA + new motherboard + sas expander with 36+ ports.
 
For 40 HDs at the lowest cost:

New MB with two PCIe x16 (can be x8), integrated video and 6 SATA ports
======================================================
Controllers:
2 x M1015 flashed in IT mode - $100 each or less if you can wait for a deal
one Intel 24 ports SAS expander - $250 or less
one no name 2-ports PCIe x1 controller - around $10
Around $90 for forward breakout cables and a single SFF8087toSFF8087 cable
 
Unfortunately there are no mb with pci-e 3.0 and socket 1156. The cpu is an i3 530. So I was looking at this controller instead. Any comments on it?
Unless i can use the previous hba on a pci-e 2.0 slot. Would that work or would i be heading into problems?

What about the sas expander? Are they all basically the same or is there something specific i should look for (number of ports excluded)?
 
Last edited:
At work I have the LSI 16i card you linked at work on a linux software raid 6 server. Works really well. I plan to purchase more of these and phase out all raid arrays with drives smaller than 1TB (most of these were 2008 purchases that approaching the end of their 5 year warranty and they have a high RMA rate). I am not using an expander however. I limit my raid servers to 16 to 20 7200 RPM SATA drives in hotswap cages.
 
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drescherjm any issue with 3tb hdds?

i'll probably get one depending on your answer.

Also gonna try move the graphics card to another pci-e slot and put the controller on its primary pci-e (2.0 x16). If it doesnt work then i'll get the new mb.

thx everyone
 
If you are going to upgrade the MB, you might as well just sell the MB and your first-gen Core-i CPU as a set. Update to a new MB and a more efficient (lower power/cooler/faster) core ix or Xeon processor and a server-grade board. Some consumer/prosumer boards can have issues with non-video PCIe cards.
 
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