Looking for guidance... H200 or LSI for Dell R710?

[delebru]

I usually never join a forum just to post a question but here I am needing some guidance... There's a lot of information out there and some of it looks a bit contradictory so here I am begging for help :(

I want to use a Dell R710 which has a PERC 6i but I read that using all disks on their own RAID0 is a bad idea so I'll have to replace it. What controller should I use? Dell H200 or LSI 9211-8i?

I read that from those options only the H200 would work on the storage slot. But also read that the H200 needs to be flashed to it mode, and here comes the tricky part because it seems I would need to use an LSI firmware which wouldn't allow the card to be installed in the storage slot. Or is there a Dell firmware that can be used?

Should I just go for an LSI 9211-8i? Or will there be any issues booting from the drives in that card? We'll be running 4TB SATA WD Reds or maybe 4TB SAS Seagate Constellations, unless there's any issues with SAS drives?

I would really appreciate any help! Even just the links to what I should be reading would go a long way :)

 

[Alecmascot]

I run two Dell T110II and have flashed the H200s to IT mode using LSI firmware with no problems.
I normally boot from an ssd connected to the mobo, but the ssd does boot if connected to the H200.
https://techmattr.wordpress.com/201...-flashing-to-it-mode-dell-perc-h200-and-h310/

 

[sfcredfox]

IS there inherently a benefit to using the Dell H or T card over the LSI card? I am not familiar with Dells storage slot versus a regular PCIe slot, but a post I saw said they were both 8x.

Like @Alecmascot said, you'll want to be in IT mode.

Not sure if you're new to FreeNAS, but check out the resources section and Cyberjock's guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzHapVfrocfwblFvMVdvQ2ZqTGM/view

It helps a lot