C606 SAS1/SATA2 for 2-3TB 2.5" SATA drives

[pro lamer]

I think it may be treated as a sanity check thread...

Should anyone use a 2TB or 3TB 2.5" HDD with the X9DRL-3F SAS/SATA2 ports - please post :)

Long story short: can one safely use X9DRL-3F's SCU's SAS/SATA2 ports for 2-3TB 2.5" SATA drives?

I've seen posts in our forums giving warnings about some SAS1 backplanes and some SAS1 hardware in general (including the hardware recommendation guide).

I hope it may not refer to the Intel C606 PCH though...

More details:

I guess I am right that C606 is SAS1 since I've seen somewhere it's 3Gbps.

I'm choosing between an X9DRL-3F or X9DRL-iF. The latter is available $15-$30 cheaper to me but has less SATA compatible connectors (10 vs.14). I'm tempted by more connectors onboard since initially I'm starting with a DIY open-case testbench and don't want any expansion cards (at least for now) but I'd like to be able to try more than one pool (possibly 3 pools) one of them a 6x2TB raidz2 2.5" pool... (or 7x2TB) with possible upgrade to 6/7x3TB in future. This is why I consider 10 SATA ports not necessarilly enough :p

Planned connection method: no expanders but mixture of plain cables and some SATA backplanes (not any unfamous SAS1 found in our forums).

The warning here

You probably want to avoid older controllers, cabling, expanders, etc. that doesn't support 6Gbps because some of it has "gotchas" in it.

may refer to me or not - I've checked the supermicro's HDD compatiblity list for the motherboard's c600 SAS controller and there are many 6Gbps disks there so this stuff supports 6Gbps drives but again I don't know if it supports 6Gbps transfer rate...

And is the C606 an old one?

And from the Hardware recommendation guide:

SAS1 (and why it should be avoided)
LSI SAS1 devices are well-supported in FreeNAS. However, due to hardware limitations, these HBAs are limited to drive sizes of 2.2TB or below. (...)

It's Intel but on the other hand the supermicro compatibility list I mentioned above has even 4TB HDDs there (but not 2.5") while the list for SATA 3.5" (not 2.5) has 12TB disks.

Still the Hardware recommendation guide:

Finally, due to their age, SAS1 devices may have weird quirks when used with modern hardware.

I guess if one encounters the quirks he/she has to be ready to change their drives to some other brand or buy an expansion card anyway...

 

[jgreco]

The C602/C606 does not support SAS. See https://ark.intel.com/products/63986/Intel-C606-Chipset

It does have a variety of mostly SATA 3Gbps and a few SATA 6Gbps ports.

The issues with SAS1 mostly revolve around limitations in the LBA addressing that can be handled. I'm not really recalling any issues with SATA 3Gbps. I actually have an X9DRI on the bench right now that has an unused handful of SCU ports but I've been kinda swamped and haven't really had a chance even to do the things I ought to with it.

 

[pro lamer]

The C602/C606 does not support SAS. See https://ark.intel.com/products/63986/Intel-C606-Chipset

That's interesting... SuperMicro advertises the x9drl-3f (the one with c606) as SAS equipped:

Is there some additional chip in between onboard?

For future reference: Other supermicro c606 motherboards advertised as SASsy by the means of the c606 SCU:
X9dr3-f, X9DR3-LN4F+, X9DRW-3TF+, X9DRW-3LN4F+, X9DRW-3F, X9SRi-3F, X9SRE-3F. Should anyone reading this post have one of them: will you please share your SAS experience with the SCU?

a few SATA 6Gbps ports.

Two :)

The issues with SAS1 mostly revolve around limitations in the LBA addressing that can be handled.

That's good news :) thanks.

I'm not really recalling any issues with SATA 3Gbps. I actually have an X9DRI on the bench right

These mobos are advertised as SATA-only :( Update: and are c602.

 

[Arwen]

Documentation is never perfect.

In this case, they likely mean that 8 of the SATA ports are in 2 x SAS connectors, (which handle 4 ports each). I've seen both Supermicro boards do this, as well as other vendors. It's simply to save space or simplify internal disk connections. Sometimes the block diagram for there server motherboard will be much clearer. Showing the SATA ports from the Intel chip to 2 x SAS connectors.

 

[Johnnie Black]

It's news to me also but apparently the Intel C606 does support SAS:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/chipsets/c600-series-chipset-datasheet.html

 

[pro lamer]

they likely mean that 8 of the SATA ports are in 2 x SAS connectors, (which handle 4 ports each). I've seen both Supermicro boards do this, as well as other vendors.

I'd be happy if it was true but the X9DRL-3F manual picture

and web search results:

clearly show 14 connectors...

And I suppose the supermicro's HDDs compatibility lists might differ less for the C606 SAS and SATA ports if it was only connector type difference.

X9dr3-f, X9DR3-LN4F+, X9DRW-3TF+, X9DRW-3LN4F+, X9DRW-3F, X9SRi-3F, X9SRE-3F

@fielder / @briandm81 / @skmattias / @Makje / @jellybean green / @snowdenforpres2016 / @Skookum / @kyleman7 / @pvuchetich / @stefanb / @mkopel / @Darren Myers / @geopfarth / @tmueko / @rezin8 / @timb_yyc / @Shankage / @dturner71.dt / @melloa have you tried/used any 2TB or 3TB 2.5" SATA HDDs with the SAS motherboard connectors?

 

[pro lamer]

I've just read some other part of the manual and found this:

SAS Ports (X9DRL-3F Only)
In addition to four I-SATA ports, eight Serial_At-
tached_SCSI connectors (SAS 0~7) are located on the
X9DRL-3F to provide SAS support. Please note that
SAS0~SAS3 can also be used for SATA connections.
See the table on the right for pin definitions.

The manual seems not to be consistent about ports SAS4~7 but the above makes me avoid the -3F version - avoiding the risk.

So the bottom line: the -3F version probably has no more than 10 SATA compatible connectors. The -IF the same number. But 4 out of 10 ports of the -3F are SATA/SAS with unknown/limited compatibility. So if I bought -3F version and the SATA/SAS connectors appear not to be compatible with disks I want... I better stick to -IF version with broader compatibility list.

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