I'm having trouble getting my Dell H310 HBA (which is an LSI 9211-8i) to recognize my Seagate 6TB SAS hard drives (model: ST6000NM0034). I've connected them using Mini SAS SFF-8087 cables to 4x SAS SFF-8482, but they aren't detected in the HBA's BIOS or in Linux. I've also tested the HBA with another computer, but the same problem occurs. I'm wondering if this could be due to my cables not being the right type, or if there's something I need to do with the HBA, like taping certain pins. I'm looking for advice on whether I should consider getting new cables or if there's another solution to this problem.
1 Answer
First, check the SAS version compatibility between your HBA and the drives. Your Seagate drives are 12Gb/s, but the H310 HBA only supports 6Gb/s. This shouldn't prevent detection, but you might not be able to utilize the drives at their full speed. Sometimes, drives designed for higher speeds can still be recognized by lower-speed controllers, but compatibility issues can vary. Just to be safe, you could also inspect the cables to confirm they're the right type; if they're forwards breakout cables, they should work for your setup.
So, you're saying the drives might be limited by the HBA speed? As in, the drives should work, but just at a lower performance?