Advice on LSI HBA Card

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Naveen_Reloaded

Galvanizer
I am planning to expand my storage on my unraid server. It has 4 sata ports and already two are filled.

I am planning to get 18/20TB HDD for parity disk and add 2x 14TB HDD ,

I want to know which LSI HBA expansion card will do the job.

MY MOBO : msi b450m pro-vdh plus

I am looking at exapnding to support 4-6 HDD (future proofing)

also what else i need along with it ? Cables ? connector ?
 
I am planning to get 18/20TB HDD for parity disk and add 2x 14TB HDD
If you already have 14TB drives, then get 16TB for parity since you're planning to expand the drives anyway. Right now price per TB is lower for 16TB drives compared to 18/20TB drives. Check PrimeABGB.

I want to know which LSI HBA expansion card will do the job
You can purchase LSI 9223-8i off of eBay which comes pre-flashed in IT mode and works without any issues on Unraid.

also what else i need along with it ? Cables ? connector ?
You'd need 2x SFF-8087 to SATA female cable

Maybe someone else can chime in and provide better/cheaper alternatives than the ones I've suggested.
 
I am getting (probably) 1x 18/20Tb and 2x14/16TB HDD from US next month. Price in india is toooooo high.. not worth at all.

Will also get LSI 9223-8i from there itself. sorry to ask , what is IT mode ? cant we flash it ourself ?

Thanks for the connector advice.

Have to get next level package from unraid also. Missed that opportunity recently when they went on sale.
 
You can also try Adaptec HBA cards. They can be changed to IT Mode in the BIOS without flashing. IT mode enable using these cards as a Host Bus Adapter since these were originally RAID cards. Essentially it's adding additional ports. Keep in mind that the LSI and Adaptec cards use different SAS cables. The Adaptec ones use slightly more expensive cables that aren't available easily locally so you can get them off Amazon US along with the rest of your stuff. I got my Adaptec cards for $10 delivered (US). There are apparently a lot of FAKE LSI cards floating around.

I bout the Adaptec 7805 https://www.ebay.com/itm/1658179030...teid=0&campid=5338535236&toolid=20013&mkevt=1
 
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this adaptec card you are using with unraid ? Also the one you mentioned has internal sata ports right , so need for sas to sata converter cables right ?

Also you ordered on ebay and shipped to india ? any customs issue ?
 
this adaptec card you are using with unraid ? Also the one you mentioned has internal sata ports right , so need for sas to sata converter cables right ?

Also you ordered on ebay and shipped to india ? any customs issue ?

A cousin of mine brought it down for me from the states. Ordered on eBay. Also using it with SAS HDDs so the cable is different from the one that sata disks need. I this is the one I'm using.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07B9SBSVW (Yeh the cables are expensive compared to what's the LSI sas2 cards use, but these are the ones that SAS 3 uses for the LSI 93XX cards.

I'm using it with Truenas core.
 
unfortunately i couldnt get from US , is there any other option ? Shall i order on ebay ? or is there indian website who sell these cards ?
 
unfortunately these megaraid cards cant be changed to it mode

 
Ugh that sucks.

I think you should try your luck with eBay with the Adaptec cards and see. Will still be cheaper than what you can get locally.
 
I bought a LSI INSPUR 9211-8i "FASTPCB" HBA card from ebay a couple of months ago, working great. I've been using it with 4 HDD's currently. Here's the link. It came in 12days, and I paid no customs. It comes pre-flashed in IT mode, and is plug and play on linux. I think I paid around 2300Rs for it, including the SFF cables. I did message the seller to flash it in IT mode though.
 

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I bought a LSI INSPUR 9211-8i "FASTPCB" HBA card from ebay a couple of months ago, working great. I've been using it with 4 HDD's currently. Here's the link. It came in 12days, and I paid no customs. It comes pre-flashed in IT mode, and is plug and play on linux. I think I paid around 2300Rs for it, including the SFF cables. I did message the seller to flash it in IT mode though.
thanks a lot.

Ordered this instead : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124200301210

Almost same , messaged the seller to flash to IT mode as you did. I would have ordered from your link , but the time it showed me was pretty long. Almost same price , nice reviews for this seller , so ordered. Lets hope it arrives ..

Thanks a lot for giving me final push to buy from EBAY.

Off-topic , are you buying items from Ebay regularly ? I stopped buying long before because of fear of customs.
 
I buy from eBay US occasionally. But that's when a friend or relative are coming down. Otherwise shipping from US sellers is a PITA
 
I buy from eBay US occasionally. But that's when a friend or relative are coming down. Otherwise shipping from US sellers is a PITA
I too get items when my relatives or my brother comes.. this time too getting few high capacity hdd , ambient lighting etc.

Is getting from ebay (chinese sellers) ok ? As far as customs is concerned ?
 
I too get items when my relatives or my brother comes.. this time too getting few high capacity hdd , ambient lighting etc.

Is getting from ebay (chinese sellers) ok ? As far as customs is concerned ?

It's YMMV kinda thing. There have been a few high value items (for me) like a Camera Monitor which was for $200 that I didn;t pay any customs on, but then some bulkier stuff which I paid almost 100% extra.

I think with occaisional PCIe cards you should be ok most of the time
 
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It's YMMV kinda thing. There have been a few high value items (for me) like a Camera Monitor which was for $200 that I didn;t pay any customs on, but then some bulkier stuff which I paid almost 100% extra.

I think with occaisional PCIe cards you should be ok most of the time
i want to get some custom key caps for my keyboard , some artisan.. will try my luck. first let this come :D
 
Where do you guys buy truenas compatible hba's for decent price ? so freeking expensive in India compared to ebay
 
Where do you guys buy truenas compatible hba's for decent price ? so freeking expensive in India compared to ebay
TBH , most of the electronic related items pretty damn costly. Only things which are slightly lower than the costly items are the commonly used items.
 
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