# which eSATA card for a Dell server



## AndyUKG (Apr 22, 2010)

Hi,

  we are looking for affordable options for external storage on a Dell server, while avoiding USB solutions. Can anyone tell me what eSATA HBAs would work in a Dell server (Dell 1850)? And if this is going to be a good option (ie stable) under FreeBSD 8.0? I ask the last part as I have no experience with FreeBSD and eSATA so duno if its a mature enough technology or not...

thanks for any comments! Andy.


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## mav@ (Apr 22, 2010)

I haven't used that hardware, but as I can see, this model may include either PCIe or PCI-X riser card. So you should decide which bus are you going to use.

For PCI-X I would recommend some SiI3124-based card with siis(4) driver, especially if you are going to use SATA Port Multipliers in external enclosures. For PCIe there is a bit more options now supported by ahci(4) and siis(4) drivers: SiI3124/SiI3132, JMicrons, latest 6Gbps Marvells, ...

For better results with new ahci(4) and siis(4) drivers you should update to 8-STABLE. They are present in 8.0-RELEASE also, but in early state.


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## AndyUKG (Apr 22, 2010)

Thanks for that! Actually its quite a pain finding out which chipset a given card uses, dont know if you have any experiences good or bad with any particular brands? I guess if the chipset is supported it should be much of a muchness between brands....??
I found this that seems to fit the bill:

http://www.startech.com/item-download/PEXESATA2-2-Port-PCI-Express-eSATA-Controller-Card.aspx

cheers Andy.


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## mav@ (Apr 22, 2010)

This one is SiI3132, as mentioned on Technical Specifications page. It should work fine on 8-STABLE with siis(4) driver. With such simple cards vendor is usually not so important.


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