RAID capacity and verify

[Snowey9]

Z800 working fine with 4 x 1.5T disks in RAID 5

One disk failed, all probably 10 years old, can't buy 1.5T disks so bought 4 x 2G disks

To my surprise controller formatted them as 6T (5.45T) RAID 5

Workstation is permanently on.

All ok until power cut. System restarted in "verify" status

Since then every time we have a power problem the controller goes into verify mode and takes two days to recover.

I have always understood that Z800 RAID BIOS only allows max of 1.5T disks, hence my surprise at 6T array.

If I reformat the array to 4.5T is this going to solve the problem ?

If I do, what actual number should I enter in the configuration screen ?

thanks

[DGroves]

I think you are confusing the 2TB boot partition limit with the max array size (non booting)

the z800 can not use/boot from a partition/drive that is larger than 2TB, however the data non booting partitions can be just about any size that the OS supports

i also suspect that you have write caching enabled, and this is most likely the cause of the rebuild problem

the LSI 1068 ROC chip is not meant to be a true Raid-5 replacement chip for anything but light duty use as it lacks onboard cache, battery backup and is extremely slow in all tasks when in raid 5

get yourself a adaptec 6805 (or better yet a 70000 series card) and four or more SAS/SATA adapters and you will have a SAS/SATA 6GBps controller that will be faster overall, and rebuild quicker and not have any verify issues when rebooting/pwr cycling  ( you do have a UPS on the z800 right? if not get one)

last note, the adapters allow the adaptec card to connect with the z800 internal drive bay cables 

both adaptec cards can be found on ebay,... 6805 cards w/Z battery are about 30.00 and 71605 cards w/cach & battery are about 130.00

[Snowey9]

Thanks for the reply

The boot partition is on an SSD so no problem

The spec document specifically says 1.5T maximum and there has been considerable debate about this on this forum over the years.

Yes - you are correct - I had write caching enabled, now disabled.

I have investigated the possibility of using an array controller card in the past but could never figure out a way of connecting the very short cable ends coming from the drive cage to any card. How are you suggesting I could achieve this please, as I would love to be able to do it.

I have the data sheet on the 71605 cards, which is a 16 port SAS controller, how would I connect this to four individual SATA cables ? please

thanks

[DGroves]

when the z800 came out with the original LSI firmware it was limited in size later z800's had updated LSI firmware which removed this limit

i've tested the 6805/71605 cards in the z800/820 systems and prefer the 71605 as it's a more modern design and faster (when in a z820) and can do jbod and raid at the same time and is software switchable from a raid card to a HBA card via the cards bios the 6805 card while jbod capable is not as flexible

simple use 4 of these  (order spares!!) 

https://www.amazon.com/SATA-Cable-Male-Connections-Pin/dp/B002P6Y4HC

and the correct (FORWARD) cable for the raid card 6805 uses a forward type not reverse!!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASR-6805T-ADAPTEC-SGL-2272800-R-512MB-SAS-6Gb-s-SATA-SAS-8I-PORT-RAID-CONTR...

adaptec ASR-71605 this is the preferred card, true JBOD, and can do jbod and raid at the same time (great card for the z800/820)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Adaptec-ASR-71605-1GB-16Port-PCIe-Raid-w-Battery-4x-Cables-SFF-8643-to-SATA...

[Snowey9]

Thanks for the reply, but I am totally confused

The individual cables you quote are male to male, but as I would be extending an existing cable, surely I would need a male to female.

The 6805 card seems to have two multiport SAS connectors and cables, so how would I connect these to four SATA cables

The 71605 looks very nice but is very expensive, remember I live in the UK.

thanks

[DGroves]

not that hard,...... look at the 4 sas/sata cables from the drive bay that connect to the motherboard note it's a FEMALE one, the motherboards sata plugs are MALE

look at a SFF-xxxx SAS/SATA cable note that at the 4 cables sata/sas end again they end in a FEMALE one

(Look at a SAS/SATA drive, note the drive connectors are MALE)

either of two sata cables listed above will connect to the Hard drive male plug, but to connect the raid card  end to the z800  cables you require a male to male adapter

again,....to connect the raid cards four FEMALE ends to the z800 drive bay's four FEMALE plugs you need four male to male adapters

last time i checked uk users were still allowed to buy from a us reseller (you telling me that's not so?)

many us resellers do international shipping...........................

[Snowey9]

thanks for the explanation, I think I understand

The Adaptec ASR 71605:

Its not that they ship internationally, its the additional cost - $57 on top of the $100 price tag.

But would I still need the male to male cables ?

In the uk a used one on e-bay is £208 and on Amazon is £466, without cables.

The 6805 card seems to be more reasonably priced

If I were to buy the 6805 card then am I correct in thinking that this is the cable I would need

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-SFF-8087-Breakout/dp/B018YHS8BS/

But this appears to be female, so I still need the male to male cables ?

There seems to be more than one version of the 6805, which one(s) should I be looking for ?

Its now 23:15hrs over here so need to go to bed - hope we can continue this tomorrow

thanks

[DGroves]

I think it's time for you to start reading,....... adaptec took the time to document both cards extremely well

 same for HP they have a z800 service manual available for download

last, google is your friend,  try using it to research your questions and find documentation

last the cablematters you linked is the correct one for the 6805 series, and you will need two cable sets

the 71605 uses a mini sas sff- xxxx connector rather than the std sized sas connector the 6805 uses

there is a world of difference between the two adaptec cards in terms of speed and config options.... the 6805 is geared more towards mech drives rather than ssd's and as i said the 71605 will work in a newer system at much faster speeds as the 6805 will not be any faster than any late motherboard's (x99 or newer) nvme ssd drives m.2 port

however as you noted there is a price difference between the card models so it's up to you to decide if the 6805 will  fill your current needs using a z800 or if replacing the z800 with  newer hardware is more cost effective my opinion is yes it's worth while still to use a 6805 card in a z800 as the cost and feature upgrades along with the performance increase is well worth the price for the raid card and two cable sets and the 4 sata adapters

as a baseline, in my z800 with a 6805 and 4 cacheless kingston a400 128GB ssd's i get close to the same speeds as a HP ex900 nvme 512GB ssd booting with Duet/Refind usb key. in seq speed but the 4k speeds suck due to the ssd drives used

if i replace the kingston a400 ssd's with performance models like two 250GB samsung 850 evo's i would be much faster than the single HP EX900 nvme ssd

the z800 only has a pci-e 2.0 bus the z820 has 3.0,....... which is twice as fast and when i place the 4 kingston drives in a z820 with a 7160 raid card i get over  twice the speeds due to the pci-e 3.0 bus/raid card

[Snowey9 · Accepted solution]

I have now ordered a 6805t with cables, from China - with shipping its around $40

I have everything Compaq/HP ever wrote about the Z800 and now have all the official docs on the 6805

Thank you very much for your help and guidance.

I know just enough to understand how little I know, so end up asking questions that really don't need to be asked, but unlike some people, I am always willing to listen to and take advice from those who do know.

Thanks again

[DGroves]

no problem,....here's a quick tip that while covered in the adaptec docs for this card series you might miss

the 6805 card when prompted by windows during setup  for the driver using the F6 method may load the driver but show no valid drives to install to.....the solution is to reload the driver twice on the second driver search it will show the available drives

also,....NEVER attach/detach the cache module if the zero cap is charged you must remove the card from the system wait 36 hr or more before touching the cache module

i recommend you also look at the program "NTLite" as this allows integrating the drivers/ms updates and creating a custom OEM style install/restore disk