atm this page has the most useful info, more is coming

goal#

reuse enterprise drives in home pc.

initial setup#

  • windows 11 24h2
  • asrock x670e pg lightning , uefi 3.30
  • amd ryzen 7 8700g
  • wd black sn850x 8tb - no heatsink version
    • slot m2_1
    • slot m2_4
    • using heatsinks included with motherboard
  • decent 800w psu

hardware to add#

  • netapp x371 disks

let’s get going#

  1. find a device you want to connect.#

    in general this should be a sata or sas device. sata express and pcie devices can already be excluded.

  2. figure out what connection is needed#

    have a look at the type of connector your device has to figure out the exact type. details here

  3. select hba#

    this will be the most important choice you’ll make

    vendor#

    there are only 3 valid players left in the market: broadcom, microchip & atto.

    broadcom#

    • the dominant player when it comes to hba and raid cards
    • their older products are sold under the “lsi” or “avago” brand name
    • a lot of hbas and raid controllers from vendors like hpe, dell, ibm, lenovo, etc… are actually broadcom devices.

    microchip#

    • also known as microsemi, adaptec & pmc-sierra
    • less commonly seen as oem cards
    • smaller market share compared to broadcom but they’re trying to make a comeback

    atto#

    • no experience with their hbas, their sas to fibre channel bridges are fun.

    controller mode#

    • you want a hba controller, also known as “it mode” for older controllers.
    • you do not want a raid controller, even if it’s running in jbod or passthrough mode.
    • a “sas expander” can’t be used.

    the fine print#

    there might be some non obvious limitations for certain devices. they are mentioned in the manuals, which i recommend reading. at this stage in your journey they might not stand out, so here is the list of caveats i’ve run into till now.

    some controllers i have used#

    current advise: broadcom 9500 series
    on technical merit, even if it feels wrong

    • non-oem (so actual broadcom) highly suggested over oem versions
    • 2 connectors recommended (so 9500-16i, or 9500-8e/16e)
    • cheaper alternative: lsi 9300-8i or 9300-4i4e

    selection criteria to consider#

    • current needs and possible future needs
    • price
    • eol/eos timeframe
    • amount and type of connectors
    • power/heat

  4. get cables (todo)#

    • sff-8087/8088
    • sff-8643/8644
    • sff-8482
    • sata
    not yet, this is a placeholderthat's most of the basics covered, feel free to stay but if you want to play along you'll need a hba

  5. software needed#

    you will need a few tools to get everything set up. they are freely available but some are closed source, the links go to each tool’s overview. download locations are linked, as well as some install notes.

    arcconf#

    • adaptec’s interface tool for their controllers.

    sg3utils#

    • sg3 utils is an expansive collection of tools that covers almost every aspect of the sas feature set, required for sg_scan.exe and sg_format.exe

    smartmontools#

    • smartmontools can monitor and alert when disks start having errors

    storcli#

    • storcli is the software you’ll need to interface with broadcom cards (hba and raid), required for firmware management: controller, drives, expanders

  6. todo install hba, drivers-firmware-airflow#

  7. todo connect device#

  8. todo initialize, update fw, reformat#

    update disk firmware#

    reformat to usable sector size if needed#

    t10-pi/dif/dix#

    • todo disabling extra protection features

  9. profit#

Calendar January 2, 2026
Backward relevant but homeless audio cd ripping setup Forward