Dell SC440 - Suggestion for a non-raid controller to use ZFS

[doomikus]

Hello all -

I am going to use an old SC440 to setup FreeNAS 8.3.x with:

Dell SC440
6 GB RAM
4x 1 TB Hitachi drives (received for free)

The SC440 only supports 2x drives via the motherboard even though there are 4x SATA ports on the board. I bought 2x 5.25 HDD bays for the machine as well as an IDE to CF adapter along with a 4 GB CF card. I don't plan on updating beyond this since I believe I'll just build another box at that time. The SC440 is limited, but I believe should work well enough for a couple years.

Since I plan on using ZFS instead of HW RAID, what controller would you guys suggest? Since I can use two of the onboard SATA ports, I believe I'll only need a 2 port card, but am not opposed to picking up a cheaper 4 port card if reliability is higher.

Thanks!

 

[cyberjock]

Not sure about your budget, but the IBM1015s are "the" controller people are getting for FreeNAS. Reflash them to IT mode and they are a great deal. It is an 8 port controller, and is typically $85-100 if you look around. This may be out of your price range though, but definitely gives good expansion. If money isn't tight I'd go with that just because its confirmed to work VERY well.

The best list out there is at http://blog.zorinaq.com/?e=10

 

[doomikus]

I forgot to thank you for the response so . . . Thank you! I'll look into the 1015 although I think I have a 3ware 9650SE-4LPML laying around at work. I'll look into the compatibility.