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Can someone recommend cheap PCIE x1 disk controller under $50 that works with freeNAS
- Thread starter rnicolas
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Milhouse
Guru
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- Jun 1, 2011
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Have you checked the Hardware FAQ? The SYBA is probably the kind of controller you are looking for.
Your post got moved because the FAQ is for answering questions, not asking them.
How many SATA ports do you need on the card? 2-port SATA-II cards can be had for under $30. When you start going over 4 ports though, financially it doesn't make sense to buy a 4-port SATA-II card. Here's why.
If you look on a site like Newegg, the Syba card with 4 ports goes for about $60 (the Rosewill RC-218 goes for almost $70). If you hunt around on eBay you can get an IBM ServeRAID M1015 8-port SAS/SATA controller for the same price. Once you flash it with the 'I.T.' firmware, it works flawlessly with FreeNAS.
The SAS to SATA cables are inexpensive too. I bought two .75m SFF8087 to 4 SATA forward breakout cables from monoprice.com for about $8 each.
In other words, you can spend $60 and get four SATA ports or you can spend about $20 more and get eight SATA ports on one card. :) Granted it's not a PCIe-1X card though.
If all you need is two ports though, I've got a 2-port Silicon Image SATA PCIe-1 card I'll sell you for $15 shipped (its this card here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132008 ). Since upgrading to the IBM M1015 controller I no longer need it and I'd rather sell it cheap than let it collect dust. ;)
Thank you. All I need is a two port SATA. Preferably one that doesn't bog down the speed when both drives on it are read/writing. So most of these Rosewill and SYBA cards work fine with freeNAS? That's good to know.
Hey,thanks for the offer but I'd rather just buy it new :)
Hey,thanks for the offer but I'd rather just buy it new :)
Something to keep in mind is that technically speaking, by having the controller on a PCIe-1x bus, you'll be limiting the max data transfer to about 500MB/sec. I originally bought my card to use in one of my desktop systems with a 128GB SSD but I ended up taking the card out since it was performing worse than the integrated SATA controller. With conventional hard drives I doubt you'll hit the transfer limit though (but with SSD's there is a measurable difference between a PCIe-4x or better or integrated SATA ports compared to PCIe-1x cards).
With two hard drives on the card you'll probably be getting close to what the card and bus can handle. Four port SATA cards like the Syba that are on the 1x bus will under-perform because of this. Just something to keep in mind if you decide to get a four port card instead (get a PCIe-4x card at minimum).
With two hard drives on the card you'll probably be getting close to what the card and bus can handle. Four port SATA cards like the Syba that are on the 1x bus will under-perform because of this. Just something to keep in mind if you decide to get a four port card instead (get a PCIe-4x card at minimum).
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