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SATA 4 Port Controller Recommendation (JBOD)

post #1 of 25
12/7/12 at 4:35am
Thread Starter 
I had bookmarked a link posted on this forum for an ebay sale for a recommended controller here, but cant seem to find it.

I want to add 4 sata ports to my W7Pro htpc, JBOD. It is PCI-E X4 slot that i will be using.

I dont want the $300+ cards which seem to have good reviews. I have read mixed things on there about highpoint 620/640/2300/2310.

Any recommendations on a good stable supported card?

Thanks.
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post #2 of 25
12/7/12 at 5:22am
Check out the Adaptec 1430SA. It's a 4-port controller for a PCI-e x4 slot. This may be the card you were referring to.
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post #3 of 25
12/7/12 at 6:55am
Lots of sata ports? Bare drive/JBOD mode? PCI-e? Well supported and stable? Thats easy: a LSI 2008 card.

IBM M1015 on ebay + breakout cable is <$100

Bonus: 8 ports for future expansion

x8 works in x4, if its not open ended you can perform exacto knife surgery on the slot. (its easy just don't overdo it)
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post #4 of 25
12/7/12 at 1:07pm

A stock IBM M1015 can work in JBOD mode without any flashing? I'm also looking for a sata card for my snapraid server.

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post #5 of 25
12/7/12 at 1:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrkazador View Post

A stock IBM M1015 can work in JBOD mode without any flashing? I'm also looking for a sata card for my snapraid server.

I am not sure about that.

I am flashing mine.
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post #6 of 25
12/7/12 at 2:02pm
There's a difference between "JBOD" and straight disk pass-through, i.e. dumb controller. For the "dumb" mode (and that's what you want), you need to flash it (to the IT mode).
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post #7 of 25
12/7/12 at 2:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kapone View Post

There's a difference between "JBOD" and straight disk pass-through, i.e. dumb controller. For the "dumb" mode (and that's what you want), you need to flash it (to the IT mode).

I am not sure I am seeing the difference.

Does the JBOD pool them or something?
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post #8 of 25
12/7/12 at 2:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

I am not sure I am seeing the difference.
Does the JBOD pool them or something?

Well, lemme ask you something.

Is there a difference between a RAID 0 on a single disk and a disk that's passed through straight?

smile.gif
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post #9 of 25
12/8/12 at 1:07pm
Thread Starter 
on the IBM M1015, IT mode makes sense, but when looking at the product page for drivers, it does not show windows 7 pro 64bit as a compatible system. you sure it can still be used on w7p?
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post #10 of 25
12/8/12 at 1:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aliaskary77 View Post

...
.... I have read mixed things on there about highpoint 620/640/2300/2310.
Any recommendations on a good stable supported card?
Thanks.
I think those comments about Highpoint are unfound, especially by those promoting software RAID solutions by knocking on HW RAID solutions. I have quite a few of these and they work fine, in RAID modes and JBOD. I have these in use:
8 port RR2320
4 port RR2300

Note that these two are SATA2 and Highpoint have SATA3 also. This is a large product line and some models are used in data centers extensively. I got my cards from local datacenter equipment recycling places around San Jose. Many offerings on eBay.
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post #11 of 25
12/8/12 at 3:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aliaskary77 View Post

I had bookmarked a link posted on this forum for an ebay sale for a recommended controller here, but cant seem to find it.
I want to add 4 sata ports to my W7Pro htpc, JBOD. It is PCI-E X4 slot that i will be using.
I dont want the $300+ cards which seem to have good reviews. I have read mixed things on there about highpoint 620/640/2300/2310.
Any recommendations on a good stable supported card?
Thanks.

LSI makes a 4 port PCIe x4 version, 9211-4i for about $180 new, it is more expensive than the highpoint.
http://www.macmall.com/p/LSI-Logic-Data-Storage/product~dpno~7934812~pdp.fhjbbef

It works in Win7 32bit and 64bit using the in-box drivers.
Edited by Tong Chia - 12/8/12 at 3:05pm
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post #12 of 25
12/8/12 at 3:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aliaskary77 View Post

on the IBM M1015, IT mode makes sense, but when looking at the product page for drivers, it does not show windows 7 pro 64bit as a compatible system. you sure it can still be used on w7p?

Yes, definitely.

http://www.lsi.com/support/Pages/Download-Results.aspx?productcode=P00049&assettype=0&component=Storage%20Component&productfamily=Host%20Bus%20Adapters&productname=LSI%20SAS%209211-8i
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post #13 of 25
12/8/12 at 3:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aliaskary77 View Post

on the IBM M1015, IT mode makes sense, but when looking at the product page for drivers, it does not show windows 7 pro 64bit as a compatible system. you sure it can still be used on w7p?

I don't think there are any current x86 OSes left that don't work with LSI 2008 cards. Hell, someone probably went through the trouble to get one working on a Mac by now.

Win7 has a native driver, no download needed (LSI Falcon) but you can use the windows server 2008 R2 drivers for most recent version.


IR can pass JBOD but the KISS principle says IT is best.


As for the 9211-4i "retail" recommendation, it costs nearly double buying it that way, and only 4 ports. Seems a pointless way to go for a DIY kind of project.
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post #14 of 25
12/8/12 at 4:41pm
Do you have an open PCI slot and not that concerned about speed? The price is right.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10407&cs_id=1040702&p_id=2667&seq=1&format=2

Adds 4 sata ports but is on the PCI bus so you looking at max speed of 133MB/s.
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post #15 of 25
12/8/12 at 5:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by toohip View Post

Do you have an open PCI slot and not that concerned about speed? The price is right.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10407&cs_id=1040702&p_id=2667&seq=1&format=2
Adds 4 sata ports but is on the PCI bus so you looking at max speed of 133MB/s.
Placing a SATA controller will create a huge bottleneck in transfer rates between any drives connected to it (been there and done that). I'd definitely stick with a PCI-e controller.
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post #16 of 25
12/8/12 at 5:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aluminum View Post

As for the 9211-4i "retail" recommendation, it costs nearly double buying it that way, and only 4 ports. Seems a pointless way to go for a DIY kind of project.

It is 4 ports because that is what the OP asked for, as is the PCIe x4 requirement.
The OP is somewhat risk averse, wanting a supported card, expressing some concern about the Highpoint cards.

Proposing a card running firmware on board was for which it was not validated or tested, runs counter to this concern as it is not a supported configuration.

The M1015 is a custom board design, while the controller chip (LSI2008) is the same as the regular LSI cards, the LSI drivers and firmware from LSI would have only been tested on the LSI designed boards.

It is the responsibility of the ODM, IBM in this instance, to perform the necessary testing validation on the M1015 and the card is meant to run IBM's custom drivers
and this is only on Windows server, on their server hardware. They also have special features like the RAID key not present in the standard product, cross flashing to a version of the firmware that may not understand this change in the hardware is not a good idea.

Some people have successfully cross flashed and got it to work as regular card, but if problems occur you are on your own, this is may happen when LSI releases a new driver for their version of card.
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post #17 of 25
12/8/12 at 6:49pm
Thread Starter 
thanks for the thoughts.

at this point, the x8 card in an x4 slot is my only concern. i will open and check if its open ended.

i would have preferred something in the 40-60 range, but looking long term, i am willing to go higher. i am quite tech savvy and open to mods. the only concern nowdays is that i dont want to mess with returns or exchanges for a few reasons, one mainly being i am currently in st. John's, newfoundland (Canada)....quite remote. not many options locally, and shipping will add up quite quick if i have to mess with returns or exchanges, and shipping can easily take 2 or 3 weeks sometimes.

i did start looking at highpoint 640 and 2310 as well the HighPoint RocketRAID 2640X4 SGL just to see what people are saying about them.

i understand there are no guarantees on reliability, but with so many people with huge storage servers, would have liked to see what people are using.

i dont see ever going more than 6 hdd....ever, the other 2 devices being a bluray drive and a boot ssd. an sata controller wouldnt really be needed if i had a new mb/cpu as the new mbs can have 8 sata on board. thats maybe another reason i am trying to stay much lower. getting into 160 + 20 in shipping, 180 would be getting into new internals territory which i prefer not doing now. i would want an 8 sata port mb with a decent i5 (i will need to fight the urge for an i7) and 16gb ram. a quick look and i am in the 400 range i think.
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post #18 of 25
12/8/12 at 8:21pm
This is view inside my server.


Judging from how many are used in local server farms, I think you don't need to worry whether Highpoint cards have reliability problem. My 8 port RR2320 cost $50 used.
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post #19 of 25
12/8/12 at 8:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aliaskary77 View Post

thanks for the thoughts.
at this point, the x8 card in an x4 slot is my only concern. i will open and check if its open ended.
i would have preferred something in the 40-60 range, but looking long term, i am willing to go higher. i am quite tech savvy and open to mods. the only concern nowdays is that i dont want to mess with returns or exchanges for a few reasons, one mainly being i am currently in st. John's, newfoundland (Canada)....quite remote. not many options locally, and shipping will add up quite quick if i have to mess with returns or exchanges, and shipping can easily take 2 or 3 weeks sometimes.
i did start looking at highpoint 640 and 2310 as well the HighPoint RocketRAID 2640X4 SGL just to see what people are saying about them.
i understand there are no guarantees on reliability, but with so many people with huge storage servers, would have liked to see what people are using.
i dont see ever going more than 6 hdd....ever, the other 2 devices being a bluray drive and a boot ssd. an sata controller wouldnt really be needed if i had a new mb/cpu as the new mbs can have 8 sata on board. thats maybe another reason i am trying to stay much lower. getting into 160 + 20 in shipping, 180 would be getting into new internals territory which i prefer not doing now. i would want an 8 sata port mb with a decent i5 (i will need to fight the urge for an i7) and 16gb ram. a quick look and i am in the 400 range i think.

The main problem with the x8 in an x4 is mechanical stability, assuming you can get it fit, the risk is of shorting out the server when trying to move it with power turned on and the card shifts in its slot.

Given your remote location, consider buying new and from a place with generous return policies /return shipping policies.

LSI controllers' biggest downside is cost.

I suggest giving the Highpoint cards another look. Supermicro makes an 8port x4 card based on the same controller family as the Highpoint for about $100
http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AOC-SASLP-MV8.cfm
https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=AOC-SASMV8&c=fr&pid=6a8a1cf958c66a2b85222df0455cee7f20c65fa8129e51e37f8801d8e83c9990
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post #20 of 25
12/8/12 at 9:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aliaskary77 View Post

...one mainly being i am currently in st. John's, newfoundland (Canada)....quite remote. not many options locally....

Back flow from Bay of Fundy tide. Spent overnight there once.
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post #21 of 25
12/9/12 at 5:54am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dksc318 View Post


Back flow from Bay of Fundy tide. Spent overnight there once.

close, but not quite. you may be thinking of st john, new brunswick. still mainland. smile.gif

i am in st john's, newfoundland, the island. you cannot go any farther east in north america than where i am. majority of the goods come across the ferry, very dependent on weather.
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post #22 of 25
12/9/12 at 7:29am
IBM 1015 is best deal going if you can flash it to IT mode. Check my server thread- I just did mine with about every problem possible and worked great. Less than $80, TRUE x8 speed and 8 SATA port.
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post #23 of 25
12/9/12 at 9:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by aliaskary77 View Post

...
i did start looking at highpoint 640 and 2310 as well the HighPoint RocketRAID 2640X4 SGL....
Wow, Newfoundland is way out there. Is that GMT -4 or -3 time zone?

I actually have both the RR 2640x1 and 2640x4. Currently the 2640x1 is in the server running a small RAID0 just for fun. Originally I wanted to run 2x 2320 to get 16 ports. But the MB I'm using only recognized one. I am bring up a 2nd server with a different MB and try 2x 2320 in that setup. Because the data center recycling places around here are selling a lot of these, I have quite a few different models. I cannot get the newer models cheap because they are still in service and new retail are several hundred dollars.

Rocket 62X 2 ports (SATA3 WD OEM)
RR1640 4 ports (PCI)
RR1720 2 ports (PCI)
RR2300 4 ports
RR2320 8 ports
RR 2640x1 4 ports
RR2640x4 4 ports

Many of these will have the 2TB capacity limit. My new server MB has 4 SATA3 + 4 SATA2 ports so the 2TB limit on these cards is not a problem for me.
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post #24 of 25
12/9/12 at 10:28am
Thread Starter 
-3:30, they threw in another half hour for good measure.

i will try the offices data center too to see if they have any surplus, i know a few of the IT tech guys.

2TB wont be any issue for me either as anything bigger will go on the mb sata ports.
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post #25 of 25
12/9/12 at 11:05am
Well in that case, you usually can find a IBM ServeRAID BR10i for cheap on ebay.

I sold one already flashed for $35 a while back.
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