HBA Card related Issue

Rintu

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 13, 2023
Messages
20
Hello All,
I have a old computer lying around my home with a specifications of

1. CPU - Intel Pentium G4560 (2C, 4T) 3.50Ghz
2. RAM - 16GB Crucial DDR4 2666 MHz
3. Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2
4. Storage - 1 x 240GB SSD (TrueNAS Core OS), 2 x 1TB HDD (Main Storage)
5. PSU - 350Watts

The motherboard comes with only 4 SATA ports but I want to connect more drives into it. I have choose this LSI 9240-8i 6Gbps SAS HBA FW:P20 9211-8i IT Mode ZFS FreeNAS unRAID 2* SFF SATA Card for my system. My Big Question is will this card work with my motherboard as it has only one PCIe x16 slot??

ebay.com/itm/143604880894?epid=1037286617&hash=item216f8495fe:g:J7sAAOSwcjpevOg8

the link of the card is mentioned above ☝️☝️
 
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Jun 15, 2022
Messages
674

Rintu

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 13, 2023
Messages
20
That's a MegaRAID hardware RAID card. You probably want a much cheaper Host Bus Adapter without RAID--the IT mode cards.

Resources List including Detailed Hardware and System Build Notes (plus new user advice / help)
Required Hardware:
- Hardware Guide (READ THIS BEFORE BUYING ANYTHING!!!)
Storage:
- LSI HBA Card Insight (and how to frugal)
- Fake LSI Cards (eBay is full of them)​
Okay Then pls suggest me some Cards according to you which will surely work in my system as my system is limited by only 4 sata slots.

If possible please share the link of the cards available in eBay
 
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Messages
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Well, what's your plan? If you don't have a purpose in mind you're just spending money blindly, in which case we should head out for a night of booze and women. We'll make mistakes, sure, but they won't be lying on your counter in the morning, unlike your old P.C.
:wink:
 
Last edited:

Rintu

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 13, 2023
Messages
20
Well, what's your plan? If you don't have a purpose in mind you're just spending money blindly, in which case we should head out for a night of booze and women. We'll make mistakes, sure, but they won't be lying on your counter in the morning, unlike your old P.C.
I want to make a storage server with my computer... presently I have 2 drives and want to expand it up-to 12 drives as my pc case supports only 13 3.5" HDD drives. But my motherboard is limited by 4 sata ports in which 2 ports are connected with 2 HDD drives and one is connected with a SSD which contain TrueNAS Core OS.
 

NugentS

MVP
Joined
Apr 16, 2020
Messages
2,947
Then you need an LSI HBA or its equivalent, Not MegaRAID. Something like: https://www.ebay.com/itm/185237182921?hash=item2b20ff19c9:g:-C0AAOSw5HlhzpgP&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAAwD92LuaIgdrm9gfb6/9yUE7uLe0NWEqsqcEf6smyB/8PLeF1ghI8+WHT5J2G742l9TGLyqEckNRYQxKoy7ogEuEiYP1kWXwGzzOuzBS2kOc0HZqDKu/FCpHZZcJiyPhTRPKeyqgjB2UziiPaHdXyWfjQl41URr5SAYg03yXaEJKU2WX3Hjk8sGkTaUnsnU224j6lkhyvhmjYDfUzoSgOf4CjxyyNQ2iOUMBaCRbFPYsQJVYRd2o9dnI1oHeD/gH88Q==|tkp:BlBMUMKgsYr1YQ

This will allow you to attach directly 8 disks. To get more you either need another LSI HBA OR you need a SAS Expander card OR you need a suitable backplane that acts as a SAS Expander.

SAS cards generally come in 2 port, 4 port or 6 port. 2 Port is much cheaper than 4 port which is much cheaper than 6 port

SAS Expander Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/165984546437?hash=item26a5732e85:g:Je0AAOSw0AhkEtsD&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA4P7jqN38or/YqqraNBCU56hAHRKZubmD6yheZLiYeb3LAkHKvaTYvjE9KTsVxTF9hbMdNJQUFmk7Vh/zvgXlq2gf1UED/8hi18mFPe8OBpRbaxjhzxrWQOluVyXJgGcRXbjp476djkktfAHVu3N24pOkWOd2uvdLwUwU+sk5GX0spGelgM4aW7Kw7MU9gTWy4MpT4tSModm/aBeMqjZPzD5gW9Snt6yTLiBVZU0uL4Qxu/ApvNC88aZBZS8EO1uM1l9gCxnUWlJmGdV+cX/z+L4BohVWBllocMnU2gmHolk5|tkp:Bk9SR5iAuYr1YQ

All US based I am afraid

A SAS Expander is like a switch, but for SAS.
Be careful buying cards from China. if you can buy 2nd hand cards from computer recyclers (Like Art of Server in the US) then do so.

Be aware that certain firmware is required.
 

Rintu

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 13, 2023
Messages
20
Then you need an LSI HBA or its equivalent, Not MegaRAID. Something like: https://www.ebay.com/itm/185237182921?hash=item2b20ff19c9:g:-C0AAOSw5HlhzpgP&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAAwD92LuaIgdrm9gfb6/9yUE7uLe0NWEqsqcEf6smyB/8PLeF1ghI8+WHT5J2G742l9TGLyqEckNRYQxKoy7ogEuEiYP1kWXwGzzOuzBS2kOc0HZqDKu/FCpHZZcJiyPhTRPKeyqgjB2UziiPaHdXyWfjQl41URr5SAYg03yXaEJKU2WX3Hjk8sGkTaUnsnU224j6lkhyvhmjYDfUzoSgOf4CjxyyNQ2iOUMBaCRbFPYsQJVYRd2o9dnI1oHeD/gH88Q==|tkp:BlBMUMKgsYr1YQ

This will allow you to attach directly 8 disks. To get more you either need another LSI HBA OR you need a SAS Expander card OR you need a suitable backplane that acts as a SAS Expander.

SAS cards generally come in 2 port, 4 port or 6 port. 2 Port is much cheaper than 4 port which is much cheaper than 6 port

SAS Expander Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/165984546437?hash=item26a5732e85:g:Je0AAOSw0AhkEtsD&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA4P7jqN38or/YqqraNBCU56hAHRKZubmD6yheZLiYeb3LAkHKvaTYvjE9KTsVxTF9hbMdNJQUFmk7Vh/zvgXlq2gf1UED/8hi18mFPe8OBpRbaxjhzxrWQOluVyXJgGcRXbjp476djkktfAHVu3N24pOkWOd2uvdLwUwU+sk5GX0spGelgM4aW7Kw7MU9gTWy4MpT4tSModm/aBeMqjZPzD5gW9Snt6yTLiBVZU0uL4Qxu/ApvNC88aZBZS8EO1uM1l9gCxnUWlJmGdV+cX/z+L4BohVWBllocMnU2gmHolk5|tkp:Bk9SR5iAuYr1YQ

All US based I am afraid

A SAS Expander is like a switch, but for SAS.
Be careful buying cards from China. if you can buy 2nd hand cards from computer recyclers (Like Art of Server in the US) then do so.

Be aware that certain firmware is required.
Thank You for your kind answer
I have chosen this card for my system which comes with the cable also


One last Question after receiving this card do I have to make any changes in it or just plug it in my system and will work ?
 
Joined
Jun 15, 2022
Messages
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For 12 drives I'd run a -16i card (supports 16 internal drives). In fact i do run a -16i card, it's listed in my build specs. (turn your phone sideways and they'll show up as long as your phone is set to rotate the screen automatically).

If you shotgun "things that work without any effort" into your system this will probably end badly as you won't understand how your system works, and it probably won't work well from the start anyway--this is how people lose data, time, and money. I'd suggest taking the time to design the whole system on paper, slowly, and understand each part as you go, continually learning and improving your design. You're going to invest that time a) on your terms up front or b) when things fail, the choice of when is yours of course. If you don't want to learn how this works that's fine, but buying a pre-built system is probably a better choice, iXsystems makes really solid ones.
 

NugentS

MVP
Joined
Apr 16, 2020
Messages
2,947
Thank You for your kind answer
I have chosen this card for my system which comes with the cable also


One last Question after receiving this card do I have to make any changes in it or just plug it in my system and will work ?
Just plug it in - it will support 8 drives by itself
Warning: Its from China so it may be a fake. Note may
 
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