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3tb drives AND supermicro aoc-saslp-mv8

post #1 of 45
3/26/11 at 11:05pm
Thread Starter 
Several people recommend the inexpensive supermicro aoc-saslp-mv8 as a way to add additional sata ports. However, I spoke with Tech Support and he indicated that despite having Win 7 x64, UEFI BIOS, GPD formatted HDD in my sandy bridge system, the supermicro card cannot and will not support 3tb drives.

Just thought I'd pass along for anyone else considering this card. Such a shame considering it is fairly inexpensive. As an aside, one would thing the vendor could release updated drivers with support for 3tb, but doesn't seem like that is an option. Anyone have first hand experience with 3tb and this supermicro HBA card?
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post #2 of 45
3/26/11 at 11:56pm
At "Starting Windows", the system shuts down and restarts. If you attach a 3TB drive when Windows 7 is running, you will get BSOD.

TYAN P3208 (P3208SR) (LSI 1068E controller), $180 at Newegg, is supposed to support 3TB drives.
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post #3 of 45
3/27/11 at 7:48am
Thread Starter 
Not trying to hot swap. Just disappointed the supermicro card won't work with 3tb and more hdd. Not sure if I should now return the card. I definitely plan to add 3tb hdd some of which I could run directly off the mobo, but others will need to run off the card.
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post #4 of 45
3/29/11 at 1:54am
The latest firmware 3.1.0.21:

ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/driver/SAS/.../MV8/Firmware/

3TB HDDs are supported.
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post #5 of 45
3/30/11 at 7:25am
Thread Starter 
That's the FW the card came with. The drivers are also current. Despite that, per tech support, they don't support 3tb.

I may have a solution: How about formatting the 3tb with two regular partitions (not GPT) as 2tb + 1tb for instance. Would that work?
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post #6 of 45
3/30/11 at 9:07am
OK, I updated the firmware 3.1.0.15 to 3.1.0.21. WD30EZRS is recognized by BIOS of the card just fine and this time I can boot into Windows (7, x86//64) instead of the endless cycle of shutdown at "Starting Windows" logo and restart. But I still get BSOD a few seconds after login. This happens if the drive is unformatted or if the drive is formatted with GPT partition (using H67 SATA controller).

HighPoint RocketRAID 2680 SGL (with the same chip Marvell 88SE6485) works with 3TB drive (*according to* HightPoint tech support ) and is as cheap ($100 at Newegg). The only issue is that it's a RAID card and you are forced to create arrays (you can still create a JBOD for each drive of course).
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post #7 of 45
3/30/11 at 9:26am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post
OK, I updated the firmware 3.1.0.15 to 3.1.0.21. WD30EZRS is recognized by BIOS of the card just fine and this time I can boot into Windows (7, x86//64) instead of the endless cycle of shutdown at "Starting Windows" logo and restart. But I still get BSOD a few seconds after login. This happens if the drive is unformatted or if the drive is formatted with GPT partition (using H67 SATA controller).

HighPoint RocketRAID 2680 SGL (with the same chip Marvell 88SE6485) works with 3TB drive (*according to* HightPoint tech support ) and is as cheap ($100 at Newegg). The only issue is that it's a RAID card and you are forced to create arrays (you can still create a JBOD for each drive of course).
Did you try having two regular partitions (MBR) and booting from a seperate hdd?
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post #8 of 45
3/30/11 at 9:27am
No. Creating two partitions, with each < 2TiB, that fill the entire 3TB disk under MBR is simply impossible (because of the 32-bit address space of MBR). The maximum total size of the two partitions is always limited to 2TiB, like this:

(512 bytes x 2^32 = 2 x 2^40 bytes = 2TiB = 2.199TB)
LL
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post #9 of 45
3/30/11 at 9:51am
Thread Starter 
I am out of ideas. I could use a few of the existing sata on mobo for the 3tb hdd. Honestly, I don't really need all the space just yet, so hopefully something else comes out in the next few years. The highland has suboptimal reivews, the heat concerns me as I have a antec p183 with sound insulation foaming mod. Plus, the incompatibility with ich is concerning.

If anyone finds another pciE x4 with 2 8087 for 8 sata drives, let me know.

Thanks!
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post #10 of 45
3/30/11 at 10:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ymarker View Post

If anyone finds another pciE x4 with 2 8087 for 8 sata drives, let me know.

- HighPoint RocketRAID 2680 SGL
- TYAN P3208 (P3208SR) (LSI 1068E chip)
- Intel SASUC8I (LSI 1068E chip): x8 but should work at x4
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post #11 of 45
3/31/11 at 9:47pm
Thread Starter 
Just an update, that despite my RMA hasn't come through on the supermicro card, I went ahead and ordered the Highpoint rocketraid at the egg for $99 with the $25 discount for new customers = $75+ ship. Probably saved a little unless I have to pay restock for supermicro.

Hoping the solitary negative review on the egg for highpoint is an over exaggeration (aka it won't happen to me, right?)
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post #12 of 45
4/6/11 at 12:42pm
Supermicro sent me the *new* 4.0.0.1200 driver (DriverVer=04/06/2010,4.0.0.1200; 2010?? hmm, it's an ancient driver). Now WD30EZRS is working fine with AOC-SASLP-MV8 under Windows 7 32/64.

 

Windows_4[1].0.0.1200.zip 357.0224609375k . file
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post #13 of 45
4/7/11 at 8:48am
Perfect timing!

Any problems so far?

Can anyone else verify?

About to order one right now(I wish Newegg still had 25 off 100).
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post #14 of 45
4/7/11 at 8:21pm
Thread Starter 
Multiple queries to tech support yielded the same answer - no 3tb support so I returned the product. I was able to use the $25 off $100 with newegg and saved a little in ordering the highpoint rocketraid 2680. It looks smaller than the supermicro but is otherwise identical wrt the same two 8087 sas ports. I was able to re-use the forward breakout cables to get 8 sata connectors.

This also has a web based interface. I couldn't get the blu-ray sata to work with the highpoint hba for some reason and ended up switching to the onboard sata for the blu-ray drive. Not sure why it wouldn't recognize it whereas supermicro did. I don't have a 3tb currently but will purchase it as soon as prices come down and they use the higher density platters without spanning over to 5 platters.

As it relates to the solitar newegg feedback regarding heat from the highpoint card, I didn't witness that issue. He/she may have had a faulty piece where the heatsink wasn't seated correctly. BTW, this card also supports the card expander.
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post #15 of 45
4/8/11 at 3:23pm
hello all, I found this thread while googling about 3TB raid card support. I am currently running four WD30EZRS drives (RAID 5), two WD Raptors 300GB (RAID 0), and the HighPoint 2680SGL. I have had nothing but problems with this card. Roughly 5 minutes after logging in, the system locks up, the RAID card lets out a loud shreak, and I get the BSOD. I am running F/W 1.0 (I cant seem to get the updater app to run within Windows) and Driver version 1.4.10.

System Specs:
i7 965
ASUS P6TD-DELUXE
12GB DDR3
GTX465
Windows 7 64 Pro

Any help with this would be awesome, as HighPoint's tech support leaves much to be desired. I'd really like to start using these drives! Thanks!
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post #16 of 45
4/8/11 at 4:36pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pwntbywombat View Post

hello all, I found this thread while googling about 3TB raid card support. I am currently running four WD30EZRS drives (RAID 5), two WD Raptors 300GB (RAID 0), and the HighPoint 2680SGL. I have had nothing but problems with this card. Roughly 5 minutes after logging in, the system locks up, the RAID card lets out a loud shreak, and I get the BSOD. I am running F/W 1.0 (I cant seem to get the updater app to run within Windows) and Driver version 1.4.10.

System Specs:
i7 965
ASUS P6TD-DELUXE
12GB DDR3
GTX465
Windows 7 64 Pro

Any help with this would be awesome, as HighPoint's tech support leaves much to be desired. I'd really like to start using these drives! Thanks!


The loud noise is because the card defaults to having the alarm set for high temp (IIRC 50c). You can change that through the web interface https://localhost:7240 (or whatever port you have it configured). The install cd comes with the software required to get the webhost going. I'm just doing JBOD with two 8087 to sata forward breakout cables going into a 5 in 3 enclosure. I'm also having issues updating the firmware. Tried both windows update process and the dos based (by booting off a usb key). Not looked into the linux version (is there one?). Also how did you check what version of fw you're running?
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post #17 of 45
4/8/11 at 5:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pwntbywombat View Post

hello all, I found this thread while googling about 3TB raid card support. I am currently running four WD30EZRS drives (RAID 5), two WD Raptors 300GB (RAID 0), and the HighPoint 2680SGL. I have had nothing but problems with this card. Roughly 5 minutes after logging in, the system locks up, the RAID card lets out a loud shreak, and I get the BSOD. I am running F/W 1.0 (I cant seem to get the updater app to run within Windows) and Driver version 1.4.10.

Any help with this would be awesome, as HighPoint's tech support leaves much to be desired. I'd really like to start using these drives! Thanks!

Most consumer drives aren't compatible in a Raid 5 Array anymore, no TLER. The shreaking or alarm going off is notifying you of a problem with the array most likely, could be a defective card though. What happens when you just have your Raid 0 active. I would just run the 3TB drives as Legacy discs. Have you tried updateing the firmware with nothing attached to the card, I'd make sure it's not setup to be bootable also.
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post #18 of 45
4/9/11 at 11:37am
@ym - you can see your card BIOS version when it is booting and detecting the drives. I know it cant be overheating because i have a fan blowing across all of my PCI cards. It gets warm, but not boiling like it was before the fan. I havent checked into updating VIA DOS or Linux, I'll be taking it in to work monday and ill toss it in an older workstation with ubuntu on it or one with a floppy to boot from a DOS disk. I'd rather not do a JBOD because i'd like to have some fault tolerance. With 6, 9, or 12TB of usable space depending on your config...thats a lot of data to loose

@DJ - atm it is set up to be bootable with the 2 Raptors I have in RAID 0, those work just fine. The card will not allow the computer to post when the intel ICH RAID is enabled; hence the booting from the card. When i set the drives up individually (a JBOD for each physical disk), I also get the shreaking alarm. I'll test running them in RAID 0 or RAID 1. I was really hoping for a RAID 5 setup, but obviously its too much to ask. haha

Update: Because my Raptors were configured with the RAID card, I cannot get ANY other system to pick them up...My BIOS does not even pick up the drives anymore. This is ridiculous!

Update2: Got DBAN to recognize the drives. DBAN will NOT see the RocketRaid (just an FYI), Going to try DBAN-ing the Raptors to see if they will be seen without errors by the BIOS. From what I've read, there is no way to Uninitialize the drives within the RAID utility, which is what is causing the BIOS errors, so this is the only option. Ill let you know how it goes. DBAN takes a while, so Ill probably have an update tomorrow...maybe. /sigh
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post #19 of 45
5/23/11 at 10:13am
I know this is a bit dated but supermicro support told me 3TB drives do work with the aoc-saslp-mv8.

Well, they actually said:

Quote:


Per our product team, 3TB HDD should be supported on the card

Confirm? Deny?

-g
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post #20 of 45
5/23/11 at 10:51am
Renethx already confirmed in this thread that 3TB will work.
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post #21 of 45
5/25/11 at 6:56pm
If you're buying now, might want to get a Sata 3/SAS2 controller instead, like LSI 2x08 based cards for example. Its been out long enough that its now fully supported in newer versions of the usual storage OS builds but new enough that it works with >2TB/GPT/EFI.

If you don't mind adapting the bracket, aoc-usas2 HBA can be found under $150. I believe dell has a perc card that is functionally identical as well. Both a cheap way to get eight 6gbps ports on a good chipset.
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post #22 of 45
5/25/11 at 9:09pm
LSISAS2008 SAS IC. Some cards with this IC:

- IBM ServeRAID M1015, ~$172
- Intel RS2WC080, ~$288
- LSI SAS 9211-8i, ~$222
- LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i
- Supermicro AOC-USAS2-L8i *UIO* (should work in a regular PCI Express 2.0 x8 slot if you remove the bracket), ~$135

Of course HDDs won't use 6Gb/s of bandwidth in a foreseeable future. A SAS/SATA 6Gb/s HBA is useful if you use it with a SAS expander that supports 6Gb/s (attached HDDs will run faster). Otherwise AOC-SASLP-MV8 is good enough.

At UnRAID forum

- LSI SATA 8 port 6GB/sec card...
- LSI Controller FW updates IR/IT modes

At HardForum

- HP SAS Expander Owner's Thread
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post #23 of 45
5/28/11 at 6:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post
Supermicro sent me the *new* 4.0.0.1200 driver (DriverVer=04/06/2010,4.0.0.1200; 2010?? hmm, it's an ancient driver). Now WD30EZRS is working fine with AOC-SASLP-MV8 under Windows 7 32/64.
Anyone know if this firmware or any will work with the AOC-SAT2-MV8 cards? I have 3 boxes with 5 of these cards.
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post #24 of 45
5/28/11 at 8:30pm
The latest firmware and driver for AOC-SASLP-MV8 are available for download at

ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/driver/SAS/Marvell/MV8/SAS2

- Firmware: 4.0.0.1800
- Driver: 4.0.0.2010
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post #25 of 45
5/28/11 at 8:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Killroy™ View Post
Anyone know if this firmware or any will work with the AOC-SAT2-MV8 cards? I have 3 boxes with 5 of these cards.
AOC-SAT2-MV8: Marvell 88SX6081
AOC-SASLP-MV8: Marvell 88SE6480

If you read README.TXT of the driver for AOC-SASLP-MV8, you will see:

Quote:
There are two driver packages for the 6320, 6340, 6440, 6445, 6480, and 6485 SAS controllers.
You may (or may not) be able to find firmware/driver for AOC-SAT2-MV8 at the Supremicro ftp site. Better contact the Supermicro support.
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post #26 of 45
6/7/11 at 6:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

AOC-SAT2-MV8: Marvell 88SX6081
AOC-SASLP-MV8: Marvell 88SE6480

If you read README.TXT of the driver for AOC-SASLP-MV8, you will see:



You may (or may not) be able to find firmware/driver for AOC-SAT2-MV8 at the Supremicro ftp site. Better contact the Supermicro support.

I think I may have found a driver that will work with the AOC-SAT2-MV8.

http://www.sonnettech.com/support/kb...tion=b150#b150

I need to buy a 3TB drive and test it but if anyone beats me to the punch can you please report.

The original report was here: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53027
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post #27 of 45
6/27/11 at 2:06pm
I can confirm that the Sonnet Tempo X4i drivers I posted above do work with the AOC-SAT2-MV8 with no problems. After I updated the drivers I was able to format and mount my 3TB Hitachi drives for storage.

BTW, this was on a Windows 7 Ultimate set-up.
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post #28 of 45
7/12/11 at 1:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

The latest firmware and driver for AOC-SASLP-MV8 are available for download at
...supermicro.com/driver/SAS/Marvell/MV8/SAS2

- Firmware: 4.0.0.1800
- Driver: 4.0.0.2010

Can you confirm you've used this firmware update? My attempt gave me a No Controller Available to Update error.
It appears that link (which I can't post) is for the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 which uses the 9485 processor, a PCI Express x8 buss and 6 Mb/s speed, instead of the 6480 processor of the AOC-SASLP-MV8.
I haven't given up on this card, yet but its future looks dim.
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post #29 of 45
7/14/11 at 11:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raada2 View Post

Can you confirm you've used this firmware update? My attempt gave me a No Controller Available to Update error.
It appears that link (which I can't post) is for the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 which uses the 9485 processor, a PCI Express x8 buss and 6 Mb/s speed, instead of the 6480 processor of the AOC-SASLP-MV8.
I haven't given up on this card, yet but its future looks dim.

A few modest comments:

1st gen card (AOC-SASLP-MV8):
Product page:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/a...SAS2LP-MV8.cfm
driver + firmware:
ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/driver/SAS/Marvell/MV8/SAS1/
Drivers: V3.1.0.22
firmware: V3.1.0.21

2nd gen card (AOC-SAS2LP-MV8)
Product page:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/a...SAS2LP-MV8.cfm
driver + firmware:
ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/driver/SAS/Marvell/MV8/SAS2/
Drivers: V4.0.0.1200
firmware: V4.0.0.1800

Note: It's really confusing what chip on the SAS2 card. you mentioned the 9485 (some firmware files suggest the same name). supermicro says the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 card has a 9480 chip but they also say it is JBOB only, no RAID. this suggests they use the 9485 chip as the 9480 supports RAID.

Marvell product selector is very useful:
http://www.marvell.com/selector_guide/#

the 88SE6480 is a PCIe x4 to 8 SAS/SATA 3Gb/s Ports RAID Controller
the 88SE6485 is a PCIe x4 to 8 SAS/SATA 3Gb/s Ports I/O Controller

the same logic applies to the 948x
9480 = Raid controller
9485 = I/O controller


with the new card in mind (SAS2), it would be nice to re-confirm if the old one (SAS1) supports 3TB drives and with which firmware/driver
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post #30 of 45
7/14/11 at 3:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx View Post

Supermicro sent me the *new* 4.0.0.1200 driver (DriverVer=04/06/2010,4.0.0.1200; 2010?? hmm, it's an ancient driver). Now WD30EZRS is working fine with AOC-SASLP-MV8 under Windows 7 32/64.

I can now confirm that the Windows_4.0.0.1200.zip driver you posted 4/6 with V3.1.0.21 firmware on the AOC-SASLP-MV8 card DOES support the (Hitachi HDS5C3030A630) 3TB drives. The cyclic rebooting has stopped and the drive is usable. I am now testing by filling the drive totally and doing multiple verifications using TeraCopy2.2.

THANK YOU, renethx

My test bed is a Foxconn A7DA-S 3.0 with PhII 1055T running 3.6GHz with 8 GB 1600 DDR3, a Seagate 400 GB IDE boot drive into Window 7x64 Ultimate.
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