Question 1

Does this HBA expose drive SMART data directly to Linux, i.e. can utilities like gnome-disk-utility and smartutils pull the drive data directly?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It comes with the Initiator-Target (IR) firmware and provides direct access to the drives. It can also be flashed with the Integrated RAID (IR) firmware, where it would not provide direct access.

Question 2

I mistakingly bought an SAS hdd and it won't work on my machine.  Will this controller make it work?

Accepted Answer

yes, it should.
don't forget the proper cable

Question 3

What is the maximum size hard drive that may be used? Thank you.

Accepted Answer

this will take any size you can throw at it, the specs don't mention it because size is not a limitation if it conforms to SATAII or SATAIII.  Should support 4TB and higher.

Question 4

Does this support Raid 1 and Raid 10, also what connection cable is needed for the raid card to sata drives?

Accepted Answer

As-is, this is not a RAID card. Without changing the firmware this is solely for adding additional drives.

Question 5

Hey guys and girls. I was wondering if I would need this card to plug in and use a SAS Drive like HP StorageWorks EH957SB 3TB Internal 6Gb/s Dual Port SAS Interface LTO Ultrium 5 3000 SmartBuy Tape Drive. Or can i use this with a SATA port like my EVGA X99 FTW (150-HE-E997-KR) LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard?

Accepted Answer

You can't use that drive with a SATA controller, but you will need 2 controllers to really take advantage of the dual-port function.  That being said, you don't need to.

The dual-port functionality is intended for allowing redundant controllers access to the same set or sets of drives, in case one controller fails.

This card will work with your motherboard, but is also overkill for that tape drive.  You may find that you can get better use of your slots by getting a lower capacity HBA card, because your tape drive will only use 1 of the 8 ports of this card.

Question 6

Is there cache memory present in this card?

Accepted Answer

There is no onboard cache with this HBA. I use mine strictly as a non-RAID HBA in a FreeNAS installing at home supporting currently 12 drives.

I do however, use an SSD in the drive array as a SLOG/ZIL drive which, in terms of ZFS arrays, behaves identically as a cache drive. I saw no real world performance increases using the caching behavior in a home based freeNAS installation.

Question 7

Will this work with a Dell Precision 3620 PC equipped with Windows 10 Pro, a 0MWYPT Motherboard and several 10TB SAS HDDs? The Motherboard has a spare PCI Express X16 Gen 3 Slot.

Accepted Answer

Yes, the LSI LSI00301 (9207-8i) PCI-Express 3.0 x8 SATA / SAS Host Controller Card is compatible with Windows operating systems, including Windows 10, and supports SAS HDDs. It can be installed in a PCI Express slot, which is compatible with your Dell Precision 3620's spare PCI Express X16 Gen 3 slot.

Question 8

Out of box, will it work with Asus Pro WS680-ACE motherboard, Intel Core i7-13700K processor, and Windows 11 Pro? To connect 8x 3.5" HDDs as JBOD (no RAID for now, maybe later)

Accepted Answer

The LSI LSI00301 (9207-8i) PCI-Express 3.0 x8 Host Controller Card supports Microsoft Windows and up to 256 Non-RAID devices, which means it should be compatible with Windows 11 Pro and can connect 8x 3.5" HDDs as JBOD. However, specific motherboard compatibility (Asus Pro WS680-ACE) is not mentioned, so it's advisable to check the motherboard's PCIe slot specifications and compatibility with the card.

Question 9

Out of box, will it work with Asus Pro Ws680-ACE motherboard, Intel Core i7-13700K, Windows 11 Pro? To connect 8 3.5" HDDs as JBOD (no RAID at this point, maybe later in the future)

Accepted Answer

The product supports Microsoft Windows and can connect up to 256 non-RAID devices through its internal connectors. Specifically, it has 8 internal 6Gb/s SAS+SATA ports and supports SSDs, HDDs and tape drives. Therefore, it should work with your setup including the Asus Pro Ws680-ACE motherboard, Intel Core i7-13700K, and Windows 11 Pro to connect 8 3.5" HDDs as JBOD.

Question 10

Is anyone managing to running this card on a Windows 10? I've seen some say it is not listed on device manager with Win10.. with no new Windows updates since Win8.1 in 2015.

Accepted Answer

I’m running this card on Win10 on an entry level Lenovo ThinkServer. No problems.

Questions & Answers