Advice on PCIe SAS/SATA HBA Expansion card

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ryan-74

New Member
May 19, 2019
4
0
1
Hello

I would like some advice on a PCIe SAS HBA Expansion card, I'm not sure which make/ model to look for...
I am looking for solution to add at least 4x/8x SATA Ports/ Drives for expansion.
I use StableBit DrivePool, to combine 5x WD RED 3TB drives, I would like to add a SSD (doesn"t have to be on SAS card) Cache drive for DrivePool, HDD's for SnapRAID parity and HDD's for future expansion.
I also need something that can be transferred to another system when I upgrade end of the year, something latest gen compatibility as I do not tend to upgrade frequently.

I currently have the following setup:
CPU: Core i5 750
GPU: GeForce GTX 1070 - PCIe 2.0 x16_1 slot (blue, single at x16 or dual at x8 link)
MB: ASUS P7P55D-E PRO (6x Intel SATA II ports, 2x MARVELL SATA III Ports, 1x JMicron SATA II port)
MB Available PCIe Expansion slots: 1x PCIe 2.0 x16_2 (gray, at x8 link), 2 x PCIe 2.0 x 1 (5GT/s, blue slots) , 1 x PCIe 2.0 x 1 (2.5GT/s,gray slot) , 2 x PCI
RAM: 8GB Corsair
Disk 1: SAMSUNG SSD 860 EVO 250GB on Intel SATA port - Windows 10 OS
Disk 2: WD Black 1TB on MARVELL SATA port - Plex Data, Steam, frequently changing data, etc...
Disk 2-6: WD RED 3TB on Intel SATA ports - Storage - Plex Media, data does not change frequently, etc...

Thanks
 

ari2asem

Active Member
Dec 26, 2018
745
128
43
The Netherlands, Groningen
are you talking about sas expanders? or about hba cards?

sas expanders ==>> mostly sff-8087 or sff-8643 ports. so no sata poorts.
my favourite sas expanders chenbro ck22603, or intel sas expanders.
hp sas expander is limited to 3gbps for sata hdd

hba cards ==>> lsi 9201 or 9211 (6gbps), or newer 9300 or 9400 serie (12gbps), configurable only as hba mode
adaptec 7 serie or 8 serie (configurable into hba or raid mode)

for snapraid doesn't matter which brand (adaptec or lsi) as long as it is in hba mode.
plz, no hardware raid with snapraid
 

ryan-74

New Member
May 19, 2019
4
0
1
@ari2asem
I am talking about HBA cards.
I want to use SATA HDD's, WD RED Drives, I'm not looking for performance, just storage space...
If I get a HBA card like 9211 or 9400, do I need to get SAS to SATA cables to connect the HDD's? or do these cards have actual SATA ports that I can use with regular SATA cables?
 

ari2asem

Active Member
Dec 26, 2018
745
128
43
The Netherlands, Groningen
@ari2asem
I am talking about HBA cards.
I want to use SATA HDD's, WD RED Drives, I'm not looking for performance, just storage space...
If I get a HBA card like 9211 or 9400, do I need to get SAS to SATA cables to connect the HDD's? or do these cards have actual SATA ports that I can use with regular SATA cables?
you need sas -->> sata cables.
Lsi 9400-serie is expensive. if you find one for price 150 euro, it is nice price.

Lsi 9200-serie is cheaper, around 50-70 euro.

as far as i know, there are NO cards with sata-ports and pci-e connection. sata cards are mostly pci or pci-x (old generation card, sas 1)
 

ryan-74

New Member
May 19, 2019
4
0
1
@ari2asem
Thank you very much for your advice.
Item 1 is a bit too pricey.
Item 2 and 3 are okay, I will have to check if the seller can ship to South Africa.
Can you advise which type of cables to get?
Thanks
 

ari2asem

Active Member
Dec 26, 2018
745
128
43
The Netherlands, Groningen
@ari2asem
Thank you very much for your advice.
Item 1 is a bit too pricey.
Item 2 and 3 are okay, I will have to check if the seller can ship to South Africa.
Can you advise which type of cables to get?
Thanks
about the cables....each cable sas sff-8087 -->> sata with price around 10 euro is OK.
dont use cheap cable because of quality. being cheap is mostly being bad quality.

for hba-cards you can also search for dell h200