Need guidance on a new RAID controller

Brent2022 · May 23, 2022

Hi experts.

I currently have a 3ware 9750-8i RAID controller card running RAID 5 with 4TB drives. I need to increase my storage, but this controller isn't reliably detecting a 16 TB Ironwolf Pro nor is it detecting 8TB Ironwolf NAS drives. Based on a few pages I've been looking at, 4TB is the largest drive this controller will use. So i need some guidance from the experts here that have more knowledge about RAID cards than me. Here's what I need:

1. Must be supported by Windows 10. Note, Windows is installed on a separate drive, so the RAID 5 drives is only being used for mass storage of files.

2. Must support larger drives. By larger I mean 8TB and up, maybe even 16TB. I'm fine if it doesn't support regular desktop drives, but supporting the NAS level drives is ideal. Would not be a fan if i needed to buy enterprise level drives.

3. My server is a bit older, I have PCIe v2 slots and the SFF-8087 connectors. I understand a PCIe v3 will work in a v2 slot with degraded performance, that's fine. And it appears there are SFF-8643 to SFF-8087 cables, so that could work.

4. Lastly, I want to continue to use RAID 5.

I've been trying to find a controller, there are a few threads in the LTT Forums, but the cards are no longer available. Other Google searches are suggesting a HP240, and pages suggest a LSI 9211-8i Flashed to IT mode, among other suggestions. I think the LSI MegaRAID SAS 9361-8i will meet my needs, but I would love a solution that is a bit cheaper.

Anybody have a recommendation for me?