Cheap SAS (Preferably LSI) with External ports

[BritGuy]

Hi All.

Just looking for a cheap SAS Constroller that has external ports.

I have been looking at the 9280-8e (Dell), 9285-8e (LSI) and 9750-8e (3ware).

Any recommendations or comments about those three or another option perhaps?

Thanks

BritGuy

 

[WeekendWarrior]

Hard to do better than this for "cheap SAS controller that has external ports": LSI SAS9201-16e - H3-25379-01F 6Gb/s SAS/SATA to PCIe Host Bus Adapter - Tested | eBay

I have a 9201-16e and it works well for basic SAS with external ports.

 

[j_h_o]

9750-8e is not an HBA, it won't support IT mode, so I'd avoid that.

If you want hardware RAID, then it's a good option

 

[Stephan]

Another vote for 9201-16e and for 25 USD man, won't get any cheaper than that. One cable is easily twice as much. LSI driver support is good in many operating systems, unsure about 3ware. Make sure to have a good stream of air over the heatsink, controllers will run hot (65°C idle to 90°C operating) and malfunction or reset due to thermal trip if they are not cooled properly.

 

[BritGuy]

Thanks for the feedback. Hadnt seen the 9201-16e

Maybe i should give a little more detail. I currently have a Norco 4220 that is running with a supermicro board and 2x 9260-8i (with 4 RAID 10 arrays that have been added over the years).

I was given a Netapp sas shelf and already have the cable but need a sas controller that has an SFF-8088 external connector.

I would be more than likely looking at hardware raid so that may rule out hte9201-16e.

Would you guys still recommend the 9201-16e and not using hardware raid? or is one of the ones i listed better? or perhaps something else?