Can someone recommend an INTERNAL controller card?


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Can someone recommend an INTERNAL controller card? 

 

I realize I have other post asking for a recommendation on external cards however I would also like to have some hard drive in the box of the motherboard as well as the hard drive in the external cases. 

 

So I guess I would need a recommendation on an internal SAS card or possibly an SATA expansion card. 

 

Thanks. 

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What do you think about this one? How do you know if it can support over 2TB hard drives? 

 

 

Thanks. 

 

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

 

LSI MegaRAID Storage Controller
PCI Express Low Profile Interface w/ 3Gb/s Transfer Speed
Controller SAS3081E-R
 
path4591.pngSpecifications
Model SAS3081E-R
Internal Port(s) 36 Pin Dual Mini SAS
Host Bus PCIe x8
Manufacturer Cisco
Battery Included(YES/NO) No
Interface SATA 3GB SAS
Data Transfer Rate 300MBps
RAID Level Supported RAID 0, JBOD, RAID 1, RAID 10E, RAID 1E
Board Form Factor Low Profile MD2 Card
Supported Devices Disk Array, Hard Drive
Channel Quantity 8
OS Required Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Novell NetWare, Red Hat Linux 3.0, SuSe Linux, SunSoft Solaris 2.6 - 2.10 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition, VMware ESX 4.1, VMware ESXi 4.1, VMware ESXi 5.0, VMware ESXi 5.1, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 x86 Edition, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 for x86, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x64 Edition, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 for x86, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 x64 Edition, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 for x86, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 x64 Edition

LSI .jpg

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Look at the IBM M1015, LSI 9201-8I, LSI 9201-16e. Last one is a huge bargain but requires you to route external cables into the case for internal drives. The internal 16 drive version is much more expensive.

 

The 9201s are pure hba, no raid, and work very well with unRaid. Some others require doing a firmware update that disables the raid functions.

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As per above
Dell H310, Dell H200, IBM M1015
All cheap cards from server pulls that work amazingly well with unraid.

Also cheap as chips on eBay/GumTree (I'm an Aussie), Craigslist etc

Some sellers will even preflash them to P20 IT (HBA Only) mode for you if you ask nicely or even for a small fee


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Yep, Dell H310 for me. Just be aware that you may need the sellotape trick. The Dell cards have a non standard pin which can cause problems on some motherboards, so needs a bit of tape over it. Never caused a problem on mine, but it's best to be aware of it to save hours of frustration.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

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  • 2 weeks later...

The LSI SAS9201-8i it's a pure hba (no RAID OOTB) and avoids the whole flashing thing. Should be able to find for <$50 on eBay. I have the -16I version and works great. 

 

That's the one I recommend to avoid the risk and hassle of flashing the firmware.

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