From LSI 3008 to Adaptec ASR-71605...

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fl0w

Active Member
Oct 28, 2015
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Hi,

I'm doing a hardware upgrade on my server at home, and I'm planning to change the LSI 3008 on-board controller to a dedicated Adaptec ASR-71605. The LSI 3008 is used in IT mode, if I switch to the Adaptec controller, will it detect directly the hard drives as HBA and pass it through to the OS? I don't want to lose my data (there is a RAID6 but a mdraid one, managed by the OS). I've previously tested an Adaptec ASR-6405E and the controller had to convert the disk to raw to pass it through the OS, meaning that I would lose all the data on it.
Also, I have a mix of SATA and SAS drives, will it deal with these hard drives without any issue?

Thanks!
 

oneplane

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2021
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Hi,

I'm doing a hardware upgrade on my server at home, and I'm planning to change the LSI 3008 on-board controller to a dedicated Adaptec ASR-71605. The LSI 3008 is used in IT mode, if I switch to the Adaptec controller, will it detect directly the hard drives as HBA and pass it through to the OS? I don't want to lose my data (there is a RAID6 but a mdraid one, managed by the OS). I've previously tested an Adaptec ASR-6405E and the controller had to convert the disk to raw to pass it through the OS, meaning that I would lose all the data on it.
Also, I have a mix of SATA and SAS drives, will it deal with these hard drives without any issue?

Thanks!
If a controller has to 'convert' a disk, it's not really raw. If you want a HBA and not a hardware raid card, perhaps its best to find a card that actually has the specs you need ahead of time. Perhaps a more important question: why are you switching away from the LSI3008?
 

fl0w

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Oct 28, 2015
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This is the goal of this thread, to know if ASR-71605 needs to convert disk, or the disk are directly recognized and usable.
 

fl0w

Active Member
Oct 28, 2015
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Wow so rude... And asking for a feedback from someone who owns the card, is it still possible?
I guess I'm not the first to try switch from LSI to Adaptec.
 

oneplane

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2021
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Wow so rude... And asking for a feedback from someone who owns the card, is it still possible?
I guess I'm not the first to try switch from LSI to Adaptec.
I think not reading the manual and asking other people to read it and sort it our for you is so much more rude. Instead of just spending your own time, you are now asking others to spend their time too, with the same net result.

Switching RAID controllers while not using the RAID functionality makes no sense unless you are looking for more or different interfaces, but you wrote that you just want to know if you can use the controller with disks that have no metadata and the answer is yes.
 

fl0w

Active Member
Oct 28, 2015
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I think not reading the manual and asking other people to read it and sort it our for you is so much more rude. Instead of just spending your own time, you are now asking others to spend their time too, with the same net result.
You are completly wrong. As I said, I have another Adaptec controller, I've read the manual, but still, I wanted a feedback, to confirm, or not, if I could easily switch from and LSI to this particular Adaptec controller.
Switching RAID controllers while not using the RAID functionality makes no sense unless you are looking for more or different interfaces, but you wrote that you just want to know if you can use the controller with disks that have no metadata and the answer is yes.
LSI 3008 IT = HBA
ASR-71605 = Dual mode RAID or HBA
So what's your point?
If you just want to pollute this thread, you can find another thread...
 

oneplane

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2021
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What is your point? You have the answer to your question, you have the configuration options, and all you have done in response is complain. And instead of just doing basic research you made someone else do it for you.
 

Sean Ho

seanho.com
Nov 19, 2019
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seanho.com
Most Adaptec 7-series and 8-series, including 71605, have a config option to use HBA mode, without needing to flash "IT" firmware like with LSI cards. The drive SCSI devices will be passed through to the OS; you can do sg_format, smartctl, etc.
 
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fl0w

Active Member
Oct 28, 2015
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Hi Sean, thanks for your reply. So it wouldn't need any modification on the hard drive from the controller utility?
If I understand correctly, it's an evolution that 6 series don't have, right?
 

Sean Ho

seanho.com
Nov 19, 2019
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Vancouver, BC
seanho.com
Yep. I'd start without any drives connected to the Adaptec, and update it to latest firmware, then switch it to HBA mode. Then connect up drives, and they should be passed through directly to the OS; the Adaptec should not touch any data on the drives. You may want to try it with unimportant drives first.