[SOLVED] I'm seeking verification on JBOD solutions for personal computers ?

[bleeeeeh]

I want to attach a bunch of SATA drives to my PC. I plan to do this using a Supermicro 9207-8i HBA card set to IT mode. Now the main question is, will I be able to attach these drives directly to the PCIe slot in the motherboard and will the drives show up as usual in File Explorer as separate drives?
Links to any verified posts will also be very helpful. I am very confused about regarding the topic of direct connection of drives. I couldn't find any relevant articles, I mean a few say it is possible, but just wanted to get a few more sources.

 

[COLGeek]

Once the controller card is installed, along with its drivers, any drives attached will look like any other storage drive associated with your system.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Simple answer is, yes!

 

[bleeeeeh]

Thanks for confirming it!
I plan to use it in a TrueNAS scale server. I will be attaching the SSD for the OS directly to the motherboard. The rest of the drives I plan to route through the HBA.
Its a SuperMicro 9207-8i, and I have not tested it yet but the seller had it listed in as "IT-Mode". So will TrueNAS be able to detect the drives if I just chuck it in the pcie slot on the motherboard? Or will I need to install drivers for it and if yes then how do I go about doing it?

 

[popatim]

As said, yes. Its just an LSI card.

But IT mode is not JBOD which is a version of raid that just groups a bunch of disks into a pool under one drive letter.

IT mode is all drives running individually and each with their own drive letter,

 

[bleeeeeh]

Sorry if I am just dumb, but i thought JBOD had nothing related to RAID.
Anyways what I wanted to confirm was that -->
I plan to run the boot SSD from a SATA port on the mobo, so no problem there.
So then can I route the rest of the drives through the HBA and the drives just show up individually like you said. And after this I can just configure them into a ZFS pool and begin transferring data? Is there any need for any drivers and such or will the drives just show up as soon as i turn on the system?

 

[USAFRet]

Sorry if I am just dumb, but i thought JBOD had nothing related to RAID.
Anyways what I wanted to confirm was that -->
I plan to run the boot SSD from a SATA port on the mobo, so no problem there.
So then can I route the rest of the drives through the HBA and the drives just show up individually like you said. And after this I can just configure them into a ZFS pool and begin transferring data? Is there any need for any drivers and such or will the drives just show up as soon as i turn on the system?

Its not really RAID, but it IS RAID related.

What is the actual desire for this JBOD config?
What specific drives?

And importantly, what is your actual backup routine for the data?

 

[bleeeeeh]

Its not really RAID, but it IS RAID related.

What is the actual desire for this JBOD config?
What specific drives?

And importantly, what is your actual backup routine for the data?

So basically I plan on running Jellyfin on this using an old PC i have lying around.

For drives I plan on adding 4x500gb drives that i also have lying around in a RAIDz2 config. I will add another 4x1tb drives down the line in the same pool.
I do not particularly care for JBODing this system, I just want to know if my drives will show up separately if i just attach the drives to the HBA (set in IT mode)??

 

[USAFRet]

So basically I plan on running Jellyfin on this using an old PC i have lying around.

For drives I plan on adding 4x500gb drives that i also have lying around in a RAIDz2 config. I will add another 4x1tb drives down the line in the same pool.
I do not particularly care for JBODing this system, I just want to know if my drives will show up separately if i just attach the drives to the HBA (set in IT mode)??

By definition, JBOD will be seen as a single volume.

But, a single, new, 10-12-14TB drive would encompass ALL of that space.
How old are these 500GB drives?

 

[bleeeeeh]

By definition, JBOD will be seen as a single volume.

But, a single, new, 10-12-14TB drive would encompass ALL of that space.
How old are these 500GB drives?

The drives are about 3-4 years old, but have been (in effect), been used for a few months at best.

Being a broke college kid, I cannot really hope to afford the 16tb drives. So that is why the 500gb drives.
I do not want them to show up as a single volume right off the bat. I might change their configs at the time of assembly. That is why i chose the card in IT mode. The only thing i want to know now is that will the drives just show up if i plug them in? Or will i have to install any separate drivers for it?

 

[hotaru.hino]

The drives are about 3-4 years old, but have been (in effect), been used for a few months at best.

Being a broke college kid, I cannot really hope to afford the 16tb drives. So that is why the 500gb drives.
I do not want them to show up as a single volume right off the bat. I might change their configs at the time of assembly. That is why i chose the card in IT mode. The only thing i want to know now is that will the drives just show up if i plug them in? Or will i have to install any separate drivers for it?

It depends on the controller if it has any hard switched configurations. I had an external dual-bay USB enclosure that had a hard switch if you wanted the drives to show up as individual drives, a RAID, or JBOD.

I'm going to assume that the controller card doesn't have any hard switches and relies on software somewhere to configure it. Otherwise the most likely default it's going to go with is each drive will show up individually.

Also no, you don't need drivers for storage drives. You may/will need one for the controller.

 

[USAFRet]

It depends on the controller if it has any hard switched configurations. I had an external dual-bay USB enclosure that had a hard switch if you wanted the drives to show up as individual drives, a RAID, or JBOD.

I have a 4 bay MediaSonic that is like that.

 

[bleeeeeh]

Also no, you don't need drivers for storage drives. You may/will need one for the controller.

Yes this! What's the deal with the controller thing? Like I will run it on IT mode, so what does the controller has to do with it? And as you said, there are no hardware switches.

This is the exact product: https://www.ebay.com/itm/375341558490

I apologize if i sound stupid about any of this.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Yes this! What's the deal with the controller thing? Like I will run it on IT mode, so what does the controller has to do with it? And as you said, there are no hardware switches.

This is the exact product: https://www.ebay.com/itm/375341558490

I apologize if i sound stupid about any of this.

The controller is what presents to the rest of the computer the drives. However, the OS still needs to know how to talk to it via drivers. If the OS doesn't have a default set of drivers, then you'll have to install some to use the card.

 

[bleeeeeh]

The controller is what presents to the rest of the computer the drives. However, the OS still needs to know how to talk to it via drivers. If the OS doesn't have a default set of drivers, then you'll have to install some to use the card.

so the OS here is TrueNAS Scale I suppose? If yes then does it support the card mentioned above or does it need drivers?