(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best raid controllers

When doing raid, you need to make sure you do your homework, if you purchase drives, you need to make sure they have the ability to turn off onboard caching such that raid controllers can use them as dummy drives. Many already support this, stay away from WD green drives as they have sleep features which has been known to cause problems.

If you have the very best, go with Areca (if you can afford it), their raid platform meta data, atleast according to an old friend of mine said it virtually never changes, so if you downgrade or upgrade your raid controller, you can continue to use the same raid volumes because the new controller will still recognize all the previous drives.

This is a pretty good deal, https://www.amazon.com/Areca-ARC-1280ML-Port-PCIe-Controller/dp/B001OOTNFE/ + BBU, and you're set. Cost-wise that is an excellent deal. Unless you're running SSD's, with many drives, you'd get excellent performance for sequential read/write.

> I doubt you'll be able to run 8 HDD on PCIe x1 (500MB/s per lane IIRC)

Why not? If I'm only reading from 1 HDD at a time, I should be able to use up that full 500 MB/s bandwidth, can't I? And if my HDDs are capped at about ~250 MB/s anyway, shouldn't 500 be plenty?

I found this card which is PCI-E V2.0 X 1. My mobo actually has V3.0 x1 slots, which according to wikipedia, should allow up to 985 MB/s -- but I don't know if a V2.0 card is capable of taking advantage of that, or if it will still be capped at 500 MB/s; do you know?

I've got two x16 slots free in the sense that nothing is physically plugged into them, but one of them is disabled thanks to my M2 drive, and the other shares bandwidth with my GPU -- putting something in that slot reduces it to an x8 apparently, and I'd rather not choke my GTX 1080, which I'm assuming will utilize that extra bandwidth.

So my only option then is the PCI-e x1 slots. I've got 4 of them, but I think 2, maybe 3 of them are physically blocked by the GPU too, depending on how big these controller cards are.

> You'll need SAS to SATA fan-out/splitter cables though.

I don't know anything at all about SAS, but a quick Google shows that 1 SAS can be split into 4 SATAs, and all 4 can run at the full 6 Gbps -- is that correct?

If that's the case, couldn't I get a PCI-e x1 2 SAS port card? Granted I'll still be capped at 500 MB/s total bandwidth, but I don't see why that wouldn't be enough.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for the reply!

Sorry, I don't know the exact system as it depends on the budget, but they told me to send them a wishlist. The specs for the minimum system I'm asking for are:

21.5" Imac with
-3.1GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
-16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X8GB
-1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
-NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1GB GDDR5

And this is what I was referring to:
http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-9000438U-8TB-2big-Thunderbolt/dp/B00KQD0Y9I/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1407342013&sr=1-1&keywords=lacie+thunderbolt+8tb

Is that not an 8TB Lacie? Not trying to be an asshole, I genuinely want to know if im misunderstanding something, which I know there is a good chance I am.

I was able to get my hands on a PowerVault D1200 MD1200, which looks like it's got 4 sas ports (1 in 1 out on each board, 2 boards total). Is this as simple as getting a 4 port SAS card:

IBM LSI SAS9201-16e 4-port miniSAS x8 PCIe 2.0 SAS Plug-in Card

What I'm reading indicates that Dell likes to have another Dell box for the management / raid side of things. I'm wondering if I'm better off going the HP D2600 route, as it's a ProLiant DL386 G6?

Any advice? I'm also reading that a PERC H810 Adapter may be a better route to go on the connection; as it can then use the Dell Management interface software.

I hope someone with way more experience comes and gives you options. There's lots of cards out there, especially older enterprise ones that would work just as great. But if I was buying new and want something with lots of longevity, growth and performance, this is my ultimate (yet still cheaper than others): https://www.amazon.com/High-Point-SSD7120-dedicated-Controller/dp/B0774WLSH4

There comes a time with every hardware device where it becomes obsolete.

This raid controller your trying to use with windows 10 appears to be old enough to have survived the fall of President George W. Bush, the world trade center buildings and the possibly the win2k bug.

If your really committed to having a raid controller that apparently appears to have a 2 TB raid volume size limitation you really need to consider using Linux with that raid controller because the likelyhood of it still being supported by windows i suspect isn't happening any longer or for much longer.

The amazon store page with some details about the first release dats ope that raid controller claims it was first offered in 2013 but that may not be accurate as several google search results date back several years further.

If you need a hardware raid controller replacement look into sourcing an LSI megaraid 9361-8i they have excellent support on both windows and Linux as well as frequent software updates or you can look at some older model lsi megaraid cards on ebay such as the lsi 9260-8i

More or less adaptec is now a dead brand and the likelyhood of obsolete devices being supported by microsoft or adaptec is well unlikely.

If you have free PCIe slots, perhaps an adapter might be useful? If you can find one, find something that allows for 2+ SSDs, so you can use software RAID or Storage Spaces. Alternatively, you could buy an eSATA card for a PCIe slot and add a 1U drive enclosure which may not be the best of all worlds when it comes to performance, as you will be getting a bunch of JBOD on one SATA port, but it is far better than nothing, and Windows can easily handle software RAID for it.

Oh yeah, its a little ITX board looks like.

Tiny.

Yeah the only PCIe slot is for the GPU. Looks like you really don't have many options.

I found a chart that shows what chipsets support sata port multiplier which unfortunately would be your only choice but it doesn't seem like your chipset on that board is on the list:

https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/SATA_hardware_features

Here is an example of a port multiplier that will expand one of your sata ports to more.

http://www.amazon.com/Syba-Internal-Multiplier-Mounting-SY-PCI40037/dp/B0056HNROI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417461886&sr=8-2&keywords=amazon+port+multiplier

I have never used them only looked into them since I am also maxed out on my motherboards 6 ports and am shopping for options.

I have never seen a single PCIe device that has both.

This specific solution is ugly but a PCIe to PCIe bridge is what your looking for if you need more PCIe ports.

http://www.amazon.com/PCIe-Port-Riser-Extender-Bridge/dp/B00JEOO3CY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417462000&sr=8-1&keywords=pcie+bridge

Hope this helps.

YMMV

Here you go.

Whether this is actually a good idea that will create a reliable solution, I don't know, but on a personal hunch I'd never trust this with anything important. I've seen solutions like this fail many times.

It looks like the M1015 uses a SFF-8087 connector. The connectors on your r710's drive backplane may be the same. My r710's backplane has 2 SFF-8087 connectors. When I replaced the PERC 6i with a with a simple HBA I had to replace this the cables that look like this cable

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Poweredge-Controller-TK035-T954J/dp/B00K88EUXW

with ones that look like this

http://www.scsi4me.com/dell-0m246m-m246m-poweredge-r610-r710-t710-mini-sas-to-backplane-cable.html

Dell has 2 part numbers for each cable they have an A and B label etched in them and one is a little longer than the other. Also, that 90 degree turn is important or else you wont be able to close your case.

Edit: replaced the link

Software RAID, simply because it's the only way they can fit everything into a USB thumb drive the size of a pack of Wrigley's chewing gum.

Real, actual, hardware RAID requires a fully dedicated controller designed for said purpose, along with its own RAM cache and heatsinks. Example 1 Example 2 I'd like to see these clowns attempt to shrink-ray one of these server cards into something small and power-efficient enough to run off USB 3.0.

It can boot from an AHCI SSD like the Samsung SM951 MZ-HPV2560

You want to get something like this a PCIe card which supports NVMe and SATA 6G

Use the SATA 6G to boot the machine for now and work on finding an AHCI blade - you can get them on eBay for £60 - $70. That should get you up around 1200/1200. To get much faster you'll need a bifurcation controller.

I think Im gonna spring for that since there's such a preformance increase, however what about getting a gpu computing module in adddition, would it improve video encode times or is it better for gaming ?

Supermicro NVIDIA Tesla M2090 6GB PCI-E Computing Module (AOC-GPU-NVM2090) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ZLSZSI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Bwl.ybS5JD265

This is the one I was looking at.

Although these are low profile brackets,I would remove the brackets and find an old device with a full height mounting,remount it to full height and boom.. they are sas12 with raid, I would totally invest in something like this and keep the 2 drives,$207/$270 price range:

https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Logic-MegaRAID-9341-4i-LSI00419/dp/B00GTDTGES/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1479538818&sr=8-4&keywords=lsi+9341+8

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GTDT0VC/ref=pd_day0_147_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=M3NZ7N5MSK7KTGFD6N26

It would make for a really sweet experience, you will have loads of data to move clearly this will work out better for you..cut your transfer times in half from what 6gb can offer..computers only get more obsoleet

You've been gracious, please double check my setup for me?

• Dell Studio XPS 9100
  
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005JZDUHQ/?coliid=I37PVAE7FH82JM&colid=4GMQANWRNRES&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
  
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018YHS8BS/?coliid=I3IEENMIJPIFYW&colid=4GMQANWRNRES&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
  
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EHBERSE/?coliid=INZLNO6VWT4CM&colid=4GMQANWRNRES&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

Depends on how much you want to spend.
I have two of these and they are great.
Check the supported hardware list here

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I live in Canada..

I can't find anything on newegg.ca but I found this card on
amazon.ca and just wannted to make sure if its fine :

https://www.amazon.ca/Port-PCI-E-Express-Adapter-Converter/dp/B00QF01404/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1464829629&sr=1-1&keywords=PCI-E+PCI+Express+4X+m.2+adapter

If anyone wants six 3ware 9750-8i raid cards I'll gladly give them to you. Just cover shipping or if you're local to the LA area pick them up.

!!WARNING!! These don't do IT mode, only RAID.

Edit: 2 left All gone, unless someone changes their mind.

https://www.amazon.com/3ware-6Gb-9750-8i-RAID-Controller/dp/B0030CC1YI

What is IT mode: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/what-is-it-mode.328/

you want something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Controller-H5-25573-00-9300-8i-PCIE3-0/dp/B00DSURZYS

and you want cables to.

>these bad boys

I was looking at the 16-port 9201 along with one of those 9211 you suggested. Is it worth getting a 9201? I'm not sure what the advantage is if any to grab one. do you? Maybe one less PCI-E to use? Is the 9211 a better model?

In order to use the drive at full link speed (SAS3) you would need something like this: https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Broadcom-9300-8i-PCI-Express-Profile/dp/B00DSURZYS and this cable to go with it (for a desktop anyhow): https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-Internal-SFF-8643-SFF-8482-connectors/dp/B01F378UF6

if you don't care about getting the full 12Gb/s from it you can go with the cheaper LSI-9207-8i controller ( https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Logic-9207-8i-Controller-LSI00301/dp/B0085FT2JC ) and this cable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013G4FEGG/ which would allow you to get 6Gb/s which is the current max SATA speeds anyhow. (SATA1 is 1.5Gb/s, SATA2 is 3Gb/s, and SATA3 is 6Gb/s while SAS1 is 3Gb/s, SAS2 is 6Gb/s and SAS3 is 12Gb/s

They are suggesting a $13k price tag for a 13TB SSD using capacity-tier flash on a single 6G SATA channel.

If you spent something like $7100 for 8 x 2TB Samsung SATA SSDs and $600 for a decent 8 port card you'd have >$5k left to spend on a new server enclosure (if needed). In return you'd get 8 times the read performance.

Modern SSDs are already constrained by 6GB I/O channels. Putting this much capacity behind such an interface doesn't seem like a great idea for any workload that would expect performance, when you could accomplish the same thing for less money and much faster throughput with separate devices.

I second what Howdanrocks said. Rock on Dan.

Dell 512MB PERC H700 Raid Controller https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005JZDUHQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_DDYZCbSZ80498

M246M 0M246M SAS-A SAS-B SATA CABLE FOR DELL POWEREDGE R610 R710 H700 (Pack of 2) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077GMJP5F/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_2xYZCb0HWM3J4

https://www.amazon.com/16-PORT-Int-6GB-Sata-Pcie/dp/B003UNP05O/
Get four "forward breakout cables"
Done

Would you still get the max speeds of the NVMe drives? I'm slightly suspicious as to how cheap this is compared to this one that was recommended to me

https://www.amazon.com/16-PORT-Int-6GB-Sata-Pcie/dp/B003UNP05O

Go the single card route. It'll use less power and has one less item to worry about failing.