PCIe x1 RAID controller

[tarmog]

I want to add two 4TB hard drives to my computer in RAID 1 configuration, But I have only one SATA socket free and two PCIe x1 sockets.

 

Does anyone have any experience with those cheap RAID controllers? Could there be any unpleasant surprises? I dont need super fast speeds, it is just used as a backup storage for files. Windows is installed on a separate drive.

 

Another question is, how the mirroring is done in those? Do I need to set it up on OS level or could I directly boot into RAID controller and set it up there? I presume the later option would be more reliable.

 

I see this one has documentation only for Win XP and 7. I have Win10 pro.

https://www.inline-info.com/en/products/io-cards-cardreader/pcie/5932/inline-interface-card-sata-3gb/s-2-channel-raid-0-and-1-pcie

 

https://www.inline-info.com/en/products/io-cards-cardreader/pcie/9804/inline-sata-6gb/s-controller-with-4-sata-ports-pci-express-2.0

 

[tarmog]

Also there is no mention of maximum HDD size, usually RAID controllers list their limits.

[mariushm]

Based on the driver available for downloads, the cards most likely use the Marvell 91xx chipset (2 sata ports, pci-e x1) or Marvell 92xx chipset (4 sata ports, pci-e x1 or pci-e x2)

xx = various versions of same chip.

Datasheet for 91xx : https://www.marvell.com/documents/bcamsvrrrxbvlhbrxzhj/

Datasheet for 92xx : https://www.marvell.com/storage/system-solutions/assets/Marvell-88SE92xx-002-product-brief.pdf

 

These are both pci-e 2.0, pci-e x1, which means the connection to the PC is maximum 500 MB/s

The chipsets are modern enough that they should support 8 TB+ drives just fine.

 

If you don't need the raid functionality, maybe look at pci-e x4 HBA adapter cards ... you can CUT the connector to fit into the pci-e x1 slot and they'll run at pci-e x1 speeds.

Alternatively, get a low profile HBA card and use a pci-e x1 to pci-e x4 or pci-e x16 raiser cable.

 

The pci-e connector is designed to be modular this way so if you cut the edge pins on the card, or you use a x1 to x4/x8/x16 adapter, it will work just as well.

 

example : https://www.unixplus.com/collections/raid-controllers/products/refurbished-lsi-sas-9211-8i-8-port-6gb-s-pci-e-internal-hba-raid?variant=6452620754971

breakout cables from the SAS connector to 4xSATA (2 for the card, 8 sata ports in total) would be less than 10$ each.

 

example from ebay, with normal and low profile brackets :

<30$ : https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-SAS-9210-8i-8-port-6Gb-s-PCIe-HBA-RAID-SATA-Controller-card-M1015-9211-8I/122294994036

<30$ : https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-SAS-9210-8i-8-port-6Gb-s-PCIe-x8-HBA-RAID-SATA-Controller-card-M1015-9211-8I/142676059703

 

a x1 to x16 basic model: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Flexible-PCI-E-PCI-Express-cable-X1-TO-X16-Riser-Card-Extender/162820955963

 

3.5$ pci-e x1 to x16 riser cable (has extra power cable, not needed except for video cards) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-E-Express-16X-8X-4X-1X-Riser-Card-Extender-Extension-Ribbon-Flexible-Cable/162759716252

 

another example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-Express-Riser-Card-x1-to-x16-Adapter-Power-Supply-for-Graphics-Card/173732354260

 

[tarmog]

wow thanks for great reply. the LSI controllers look promising, and even cheaper on ebay than Inline controllers . So am I correct that the 6GB/s rating for PCIe x1 is totally irrelevant because it allows only 500MB/s?

 

Another thing I started thinking is that wether my PCIe x1 ports are part of the same port as the x16 port is? Could it happen that if I connect there anything, my PCIE port for graphics card is going to turn ino x8 lines? Here is the motherboard I use:

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/H81M-P33-V2/Specification

and chipset

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/75016/intel-h81-chipset.html

But I cant figure out how to make sure if they are independent.

[mariushm]

Each SATA port is  6 gbps (gigabits per second), not GB/s - in real world, each SATA port gives you a maximum of approximately 560 MB/s.

Therefore the limitation of the pci-e x1 slot (500MB/s if it's pci-e version 2.0) is not really that much of a big deal, especially if you use mechanical drives.

 

The x16 slot comes from the CPU.  The pci-e x1 slots come from the chipset,