Urgent help needed! SAS - SATA cables for HP H220

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fullerms

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Hi all, just stepping into the world of SAS / HBA cards, please be gentle :)

I ordered these cables for a HP 650933-B21 H220 Host Bus Adapter, and just realised that there are quite a few connector types for SAS - SATA cables.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018YHS8BS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Will these work with 2.5" SSDs and HDDs?

Will appreciate some urgent clarification, in case I need to cancel my order before it ships out.

Thanks in Advance
 

fullerms

Dabbler
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Those will work.

Thank you very much for the confirmation.

I will be using the HBA on a Windows 10 Desktop with Two SATA 3 SSDs.

I downloaded the Windows drivers from the SuperMicro site, will the drivers in the folder "lsi_sas2_win8.1_x64_rel" work with Windows 10 64 bit?

Anything else I should watch out for while trying to use this HBA with Windows 10?
 
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Well, this is a FreeNAS forum, so probably not the best place to find users who run these on Windows, I sure don't, but it should be easy, just install the correct driver, also Win10 can probably auto install it from Windows update.
 

kdragon75

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Well, this is a FreeNAS forum, so probably not the best place to find users who run these on Windows, I sure don't, but it should be easy, just install the correct driver, also Win10 can probably auto install it from Windows update.
I Agree on all points. As for the driver, see if windows picks it up and pulls down a driver. This is my prefered method for a desktop system as its easier and for me has more consistent results. If you need some special thing that only the OEM driver provides, then fiddle with installing from the OEM.
 

fullerms

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Well, this is a FreeNAS forum, so probably not the best place to find users who run these on Windows, I sure don't, but it should be easy, just install the correct driver, also Win10 can probably auto install it from Windows update.

Ok thanks. I went snooping in other forums, and it is confirmed that the Windows 8.1 drivers will work in Windows 10.

I'm having a bit of buyer's remorse with my purchase after seeing this card on Amazon. The IO Crest SI-PEX40057 is based on the Marvell SE9230 Chipset and sells for a lot cheaper than the HP H220, and I was wondering whether that would be sufficient for desktop requirements. Will I gain a lot more real world performance with the HP H220 over the Marvell 88SE9230 based card?
 

kdragon75

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The HP H220 will likely be more reliable and better supported as its based on the LSI 2308 chip. In fact you may be able to cross flash it into a "true" LSI card. Here's a random thread about it. It also supports SAS drives and generally they are faster (IOPS) than a SATA disk.
 

kdragon75

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Will I gain a lot more real world performance with the HP H220 over the Marvell 88SE9230 based card?
That's almost impossible to say without perfect knowledge of every piece of hardware you will be using, the configuration, and exact usage patterns. Are you planing to use storage spaces or some other software RAID? How can you trust windows to keep your data safe?
 

fullerms

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The HP H220 will likely be more reliable and better supported as its based on the LSI 2308 chip. In fact you may be able to cross flash it into a "true" LSI card. Here's a random thread about it. It also supports SAS drives and generally they are faster (IOPS) than a SATA disk.

Thanks for the info.

I decided to go with the Marvell based consumer card and cancelled the order on the H220. All that I am trying to do now is to replace the onboard SATA 3 ports which have failed on my motherboard. The Marvell comes in at $35, while the HP costs about $70 with cables. I am unable to justify the increased cost. Will checkout the Marvell and if it turns out a dud will return it and get the HP.

I am looking into setting up a FreeNas server sometime in the future and will come back with more questions :)
 

kdragon75

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If the marval does not work for you, look into the Dell H200 or H310 and cross flashing them to LSI firmware. The cost should be about the same as the marvel. If you go that route you will need to flash both the firmware AND the BIOS for the card otherwise you would not be able to boot from the card (if you care)
 

fullerms

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If the marval does not work for you, look into the Dell H200 or H310 and cross flashing them to LSI firmware. The cost should be about the same as the marvel. If you go that route you will need to flash both the firmware AND the BIOS for the card otherwise you would not be able to boot from the card (if you care)

Will do, thanks.

One more question, might sound a bit silly.

Most Cards have two or more SATA ports. If data is transferred between ports on the same card, will it have to pass through the PCIe interface or will the data be just routed through the onboard chip (whether it is LSI or Marvell etc). I ask because the Marvell card I bought has a PCIe 2x1 interface which is about 4 Gbps, and it if it is shared between the two ports then the throughput available for both SSDs will be even lower :(
 
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Will do, thanks.

One more question, might sound a bit silly.

Most Cards have two or more SATA ports. If data is transferred between ports on the same card, will it have to pass through the PCIe interface or will the data be just routed through the onboard chip (whether it is LSI or Marvell etc). I ask because the Marvell card I bought has a PCIe 2x1 interface which is about 4 Gbps, and it if it is shared between the two ports then the throughput available for both SSDs will be even lower :(

It always goes through the PCIe bus, to RAM, CPU, etc.
 

fullerms

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ok thanks for that.

Will see how I go with the Marvell. The H220 is available for as low as $40, but the shipping cost to where I live is $105 :(

Will have to watch out for deals while testing the Marvell
 

fullerms

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Hi all,

Ok, I'm back again.

Managed to order the HP H220 for $10 more than the Marvell; and a friend is bringing it in for me, so no shipping costs :)

Couple of questions.
Is the H220 in IT mode by default?

One more question on the firmware.

Latest firmware on HP's website is version 15.10.10.00, dated 21 Apr 2017
but, there is another LSI firmware version PH20.00.07.00-IT, dated 24 Apr 2017

which of these two is the latest for this card / chipset? Is HP's version 15 the same as the LSI V20 (just a different versioning scheme perhaps?)

Any guidance will be appreciated.
 

kdragon75

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Hi folks, any thoughts on those questions in my previous post?
If you cross flash to LEI firmware the answer should be clear which to use. Hint use the LSI one.
 

fullerms

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If you cross flash to LEI firmware the answer should be clear which to use. Hint use the LSI one.

I did not cross flash to the LSI firmware, but updated to the latest HP firmware. The HP firmware is already in IT mode, and any other reason to cross flash to "Pure" LSI?

Sorry about the noobish questions, this is all new to me.

BTW, the H220 arrived today, installed without a hitch and did some benchmarks. Throughput almost doubled compared to the onboard Marvell SE9120 :)
AS SSD score went from 500 to 830!
 

fullerms

Dabbler
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Ok,

I went ahead and tried to install the PH20.00.07.00-IT from the Supermicro site as per this guide (thank you @Slovak for that tip on reflashing to HP)

But I hit a problem when trying to update the firmware.

Error details below, can someone tell me how to resolve this?



Error: Nvdata image does not match controller Subsystem id
Nvdata Subsystem id:0x86
Controller Subsystem id: 0x41

Error: No compatible NVDATA Images(s) found

Edited output of sas2flash -c 0 -list

Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2308_2(D1)

Controller Number : 0
Controller : SAS2308_2(D1)
NVDATA Version (Default) : 0F.00.00.15
NVDATA Version (Persistent) : 0F.00.00.15
Firmware Product ID : 0x2214 (IT)
Firmware Version : 15.10.10.00
NVDATA Vendor : LSI
NVDATA Product ID : Undefined
BIOS Version : 07.39.00.00
UEFI BSD Version : N/A
FCODE Version : N/A
Board Name : H220
Board Assembly : H3-25278-05D
 
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