Question 1

Does this package (Highpoint Rocket RAID 2720SGL) contain cables, or must that be purchased separately?

Accepted Answer

No, if you are planning on using SATA hard drives you will need something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115064

Question 2

need to know if this works with 3TB wd reds?

Accepted Answer

I'm currently running Seagate 3TB NAS drives and it works fine. These drives are specifically identified by Seagate as appropriate for RAID 5 high-demand NAS environments.

However, and this is potentially VERY important: I initially configured the controller to allow the drives to spin down in power save mode. The controller immediately began throwing errors and reporting the drives as faulty. I contacted HighPoint immediately. They responded with an absolutely absurd diatribe about how only a very few drives are actually supported with this controller - and, you guessed it, mine are not. HighPoint support wouldn't even offer a basic suggestion or any other help at all. Nada. Zip.

I finally changed the drive spin-down and the problem immediately went away. It's been months now and I haven't had a single error.

So, conclusions? I'm confident your WD Red drives will work fine, but DO NOT expect ANY support whatsoever from HighPoint if you have ANY problems. You are truly on your own. After almost thirty years of IT experience I can tell you that theirs was the WORST support response I've ever had. They communicated a clear message that they don't care about their customers once the purchase is complete. From my perspective, that's doubly disappointing since I really do believe that this is a decent product. If HighPoint support had simply offered a basic suggestion or two, or even asked about my configuration, my problems would have been resolved immediately and this response would probably read VERY differently.

Hope this helps.

Best of luck.

Question 3

Will this controller work with any type of drive, or does it need to be a certain type, and if so, which type?

Accepted Answer

The controller will essentially work with "any type of drive". However, be advised that Highpoint will not provide any support whatsoever if you're not using the drives they specify as compatible. You can visit their website for a list. I use Seagate drives specifically designated as NAS drives. Seagate specifies them as suitable for the environment I've built. However, I found out the hard way that Highpoint will not provide support because I'm using these drives (which are not on Highpoint's list). Fortunately, I was able to resolve the issue myself, but Highpoint wouldn't even respond to basic inquiries because of the drives I was using. Never in my life have I experienced such miserable and unresponsive technical support.

Now, having said all that, I can also tell you that the product works well. Even though Highpoint doesn't care what Seagate says (and vice versa) the combination has worked well for over a year now. I recently expanded my RAID 5 array and that went well once I figured out how through considerable google searching. This is NOT hardware RAID, so you need to be aware of that. It relies on your PC's processor.

I strongly urge you to buy high quality drives with your intended use in mind. Don't skimp on drives and expect the controller to compensate, it just won't work out well in the end. If there was another option at an equal or lower price point, I would also urge you to go in that direction for your RAID card based 100% on my dismal experience with Highpoint tech support. They went above and beyond the call to be miserable at what they do. You can find more info about that experience from my other post about this card.

Best of luck.

Question 4

I am looking to utilize this card as the RAID controller in a new server build. 
Case: RPC-4308
Drives: Western Digital RE WD4000FYYZ 4TB
Cable: Coboc SFF8087-MM-0.5M
Controller: RocketRAID 2720SGL

Is everything compatible?

Accepted Answer

The only part I am not sure of is your cable choice.  I did a very quick search on the part number and if I am looking at the correct cable it appears this is a single end/end.  Each of the ports on this card can support multiple drives,  and you need at least 3 to make anything over RAID 0/1.  If that is your plan, don't worry about the card, it is overkill.  If not, look for something like HighPoint Internal Mini-SAS to 4SATA(SFF8087 to SATA).  The rocketraid website also has a cable compatibility chart to see which cables will work.  But you really need an SAS to SATA breakout cable of some kind to make this all it can be.  I have had mine installed now a little over a year running a mix of drives in RAID6 12 TB total storage without a single issue.  (aside from a failed drive right from the get-go which I replaced and rebuilt the array no problem).

Question 5

Will this card be able to control drives plugged into sata ports on the mother board?

i.e. if i have 10 sata 3 ports on the mobo populated with drives will i be able to set them up in a raid 6 with this card?

Accepted Answer

No. This is a controller for drives connected directly to the card only. In fact it doesn't come with the required cables to connect anything. They must be purchased separately. I forget the designation of the cable, but if you look closely at the specs of the card, it should tell you the type of ports.

But in direct answer to your question, no it will not control your motherboard data ports.

Question 6

does this work on a physical 16x slot that runs in 4x mode i know the speed will be reduced but will all 8 drives function?

Accepted Answer

They should all function but just at a slower speed.

Question 7

Does this card support forced injection ROM on POST to allow primary OS boot from the attached media?

Accepted Answer

Yes I believe INT 13 is enabled by default to allow PC to boot from attached devices.

Question 8

Is this a 100% compatible drop-in no-mess replacement for a RocketRAID 2300-series card? I've got an array using a four-port 2300, and I'm looking for an upgrade path that's not going to mean a full backup / restore. I know the 2300 series is not compatible with many non-RocketRAID controllers, but I'm hoping to have more luck if I stick within Highpoint's products.

Accepted Answer

The Adaptec site states that each manufacturer has a proprietary formatted table that describes their arrays to their adapter and that there is little chance that you can bring an array from one adapter to another of different manufacturer without the backup/restore procedure.

Question 9

Port multiplier support through SATA....

Currently, the 4 port sata raid card based on Marvel 92xx chipset will support port multiplier with the 92xx driver installed, but it limits to 10 physical SATA devices, and will not spin down HDD when power saving mode kicks in. The Silicon Image SIL3124 based controller will support up to 20 SATA physical devices and spin down HDD on power saving, but mostly based on slow PCI and PCIe x1 cards.

This HighPoint 2720SGL RAID card claims to support up 128 SATA or SAS devices via SAS expansion card. Has any body verified that, and whether it can support 40 SATA devices via port multiplier through the 8 SATA connection? Will the HDD spin down when power saving mode kicks in?

Thanks in advance!

Accepted Answer

I'm answering my own question.....

The 2720SGL does support generic SATA II 1:5 port multiplier, 3 sets x 5 HDD each =15 works fine with latest driver from website. Individual HDD works fine with EJ240 SAS expansion card, but port multipliers does not work behind the EJ240. In all, with the available hardwares at hand, they all work within reasonable expectation, guess the PM behind the EJ240 is outside the envelope.

As for the power saving mode, yes, the HighPoint manager software can idle the drives if enabled. Others have said the spin down caused problems, but all my drives are in legacy mode and have not seen any issues.

Question 10

Does this controller support trim on SSD's if I were to put 2 or more SSD's in a RAID 0?

Accepted Answer

No.  Onc e the RAID array is created, TRIM is no longer an option within the OS (as the "logical" array is all the OS sees).

Workaround:  With system shut down, can temporarily remove each array member, one at a time, connect to a different system, do NOT initialize or try to mount but go directly to TRIM.  Once trimmed, disconnect and repeat with other array members, then reconnect drives to original controller.  If all goes well, the array should remain intact.  (Will definitely want to do a backup first, just in case.)

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