Sata Controller

jack.mitchell · 22 Nov 2011 at 14:15

So, I'm looking to further upgrade my home server. I want to move from my currently inadequate 2 drive non-redundant solution, and switch over to a 5 drive beast with a bit of redundancy.

I'm going to re-use my matx motherboard + cpu from my current mediaserver which is a basic AM2 foxconn model (http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_spec.aspx?ID=en-us0000359) with a x2 4800+ chip. Chuck in an extra 2 gb of ram to bump it to 4gb and stick linux/solaris/bsd on it and get a ZFS/BTRFS raid 5 style parity solution on the go. The drives are 5 x seagate greens STL**003's and housed a Fractal Design Define Mini.

Then I'll rebuild the mediaserver as ITX with a bit of graphics oomph for downstairs tv gaming and I'll be in networked home bliss.

Now, my real question: I need a sata controller as 4 sata ports on the motherboard isn't going to cut it and I'm worried about overloading the onboard sata controller. PCI or PCI Express it doesn't really matter. However cheap would be nice, it doesn't need any special raid features - just to be reliable and have good linux/solaris/bsd support.

What do you server gurus think, heading towards disaster or a well thought out plan?

Essexraptor · 22 Nov 2011 at 18:29

I've been in the same boat for the last 2 weeks... researching parts for a self build (Although I've now succumbed to the HP MicroServer !!!! LOL)

All I can suggest really is :

1. make a firm decision on which OS you are going to use

2. visit the forum sites of your chosen OS and check out the hardware comapatibliy lists. Just to avoid buying a non compatible card

I would have thought that a 2 port would be OK to suppliment the MB ports. More ports = more expense

jack.mitchell · 23 Nov 2011 at 09:21

I'm really not clued up on controller manufacturers at all. There are multiple £10 jobbies on the auction site but I don't want to get something that's going to start silently corrupting my disks due to a dodgy firmware/hardware design.

Just some decent quality manufacturer suggestions or personal experience with cards would be help a lot!

skyripper · 23 Nov 2011 at 15:38

If I was doing this I'd go for a LSI, Adaptec, Arecca, 3Ware or one of the Dell PERC controllers. Second user you should find a bargain somewhere.

I wouldnt go for a cheapo ebay no-name card for data I wanted to rely on. If one of the above cards die on you, you should be able to buy a replacement and just hook your drives back upto it.

Are Seagate Greens suitable for RAID? (ie. do they timeout longer than the Raid controller likes and flag up as errored?) I know the WD Greens are not recommended for just this reason by some Raid card manufacturers. (Although I have 3x WD Green on my 3ware just fine!)

jack.mitchell · 23 Nov 2011 at 15:50

I'm going to be using software RAID so hopefully there shouldn't be any problems with hardcoded timeouts. Thanks for the suggestion of manufacturers, I'll keep an eye on the bay!

skyripper · 23 Nov 2011 at 16:18

Ok, just make sure you check how easy it is to rebuild with software raid. Never used it, but in the event of a disk crap might not be the best time to find out its a pain.

RimBlock · 25 Nov 2011 at 10:03

Grab a LSI 3081E-R or any other card based on the LSI 1068 chipset second hand and it will work fine with almost any OS.

The drives will be shown as just extra drives so software raid is fine.

For a step up you could look for a IBM M1015 SAS controller which uses the newer LSI 2008 chipset but it is a PCIe 2.0 card.

These cards will give you another 8 ports but you need to get the breakout cables.

RB