SAS Controllers w/ EFI for Mac OS X / OSx86 Solutions

[deleted_account]

Background Information:

The Apple XServes (possibly the Mac Pro RAID Card as well) use the LSI SAS1068E controller chip (can be found on host adapter boards listed below). LSI provides an EFI driver in their downloads section. Another Host Bust Adapter with an EFI driver download is the LSI 3442E controller (However, there is no support for hardware RAID 5. Only limited to 0, 0+1, 1, and 1E.)

 

Goal:

I hope to help open up 15K RPM SAS HDD solutions and possibilities for the OSx86 community!

 

 

Here is a list of Compatible Host Bust Adapter that has an EFI driver:

______________________________________________________________________

 

LSI SAS1068E

The LSISAS1068E is an eight-port 3 Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) controller that is based on the Fusion-MPT architecture and provides an eight-lane PCI Express interface.

 

EFI Drivers:

http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_h.../index.html#EFI

 

 

Can be found in the following Supermicro Server Motherboards with Add-on cards:

 

 

Supermicro Add-on Card AOC-USAS-L8i

 

 

Product Site:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/accesso...OC-USAS-L8i.cfm

 

Buy Here:

http://www.nowdirect.com/exec/partInfo/par...SUPAOC-USAS-L8I

http://www.8anet.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=5388&step=4

http://www.pcsuperdeals.com/ProductView.as...83&Refer=11

http://www.storagegalaxy.com/showroom/32461.cfm

https://usm.channelonline.com/maglobal/stor.../?id=M004154148

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

Supermicro Add-on Card AOC-USASLP-L8i

 

 

Product Site:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/accesso...-USASLP-L8i.cfm

 

Buy Here:

http://www.pcsuperdeals.com/ProductView.as...78&Refer=11

https://usm.channelonline.com/maglobal/stor.../?id=M004305578

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

Supermicro Add-on Card AOC-USAS-L4i and AOC-USAS-L4iR

 

 

Product Site:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/accesso...-USAS-L4i_R.cfm

 

Buy Here:

http://www.provantage.com/supermicro-aoc-u...4i~7SUPM0XK.htm

http://www.nowdirect.com/exec/partInfo/par...SUPAOC-USAS-L4I

 

 

*I highlight these Supermicros' in particular because of its affordable prices...

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

LSI 3442E

Product Site:

http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_h...42er/index.html

 

EFI Drivers:

http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_h...mp;remote=1#EFI

 

Buy Here:

http://www.buy.com/prod/lsi-logic-lsisas34.../206808474.html

http://www.8anet.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=5592&step=4

http://www.provantage.com/lsi-logic-lsi00110~7LSIG040.htm

http://www.nowdirect.com/exec/partInfo/par...art=LSILSI00110

http://www.buy.com/prod/lsi-logic-lsisas34.../203171122.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/LSI-Logic-LSI00110-SAS...7QQcmdZViewItem

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

AMCC / 3Ware 9650SE

 

Product Site:

http://www.3ware.com/products/serial_ata2-9650.asp

 

Buy Here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....p;x=25&y=32

http://search.xtremepcgear.com/?query=+3Wa...p;bn_u=38309432

 

 

Reported Success here:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=66345

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

ATTO Tech ExpressSAS H308 Host Bus Adapter

 

 

 

Product Site:

http://www.attotech.com/expressSASh308.html

 

 

Buy Here:

http://www.provantage.com/atto-esas-h308-000~7ATTO04A.htm

http://www.keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?M=AT...3103&ref=GB

 

*I can attest that this works and it comes with drivers (provided in CD), it is Leopard compatible. I'm currently using it with a 300gb Seagate Cheetah 15K.5 SAS Hard Drive.

[deleted_account]

My ATTO Tech H308 ExpressSAS Host Bus Adapter (worked outta the box like it shoud):

 

 

 

mad photoshop skillz woot! just jingles

[vlad1966]

My ATTO Tech H308 ExpressSAS Host Bus Adapter (worked outta the box like it shoud):

 

mad photoshop skillz woot! just jingles

 

COOL! Looks like the H308 is bootable?

 

What kind of benchmarks are you getting?

 

Have you seen this interesting review:

 

http://www.barefeats.com/harper13.html

[Stellair]

More info/tests on those possible bootable OSX compatible SAS cards?

[deleted_account]

More info/tests on those possible bootable OSX compatible SAS cards?

 

You just select which drive to boot from in your BIOS, as long as the card is readable/identified in the BIOS, it should boot. I'm quite busy right now, but will put out a guide soon.

[deleted_account]

Possible REQUEST? Add "SAS" to this "SATA/IDE" subforum, like this: "SAS/SATA/IDE Controllers"

 

Hope its worth a try...

[vlad1966]

I just bought the LSI Logic 3442E-R off eBay ($117 shipped ).

My Hack booted with no problem with the card in my other X16 (X1 electrical?) PCI-E slot.

It's recognized under the SAS section as:

 

Vendor: LSILogic

Product: SAS3442E

Revision: Firmware 1.24.1.0

Initiator Identifier: 112

 

Wondering if I should update that firmware? Any benefits to that?

 

I haven't had a chance to test it with any drives yet because I need to wait to get the SFF-8484 to SATA

cable (also bought of eBay for $17 shipped).

I plan on benchmarking it with a couple of WD7500AAKS hard drives that I have & depending on how

that goes, I may not go with SAS HDDs. Those suckers are expensive as hell! Even on eBay.

[deleted_account]

A few things to note:

 

1) Update firmware if it's necessary, check the log files and see if there are actually any performance benefits, contact Customer Service and ask if it's  a recommended upgrade

2) Sounds like it detected out of the box, but not sure if output works yet, if anything, there are the fusion drivers

3) Make sure you purchased the proper cables. For example my SAS drive requires an 8482 not an 8484 output cable, they are almost the same but are not backwards compatible, it is a common mistake, so make sure you have the right ones. What SAS drive are you using? Make sure that when you do use a SAS drive, you purchase an 8482 cable instead.

4) What is the speed of your card? x8 or x1? That's a big range, you might've purchased a slower speed card since the 3442E-R I see available on ebay are the older revisions.

5) Benchmark comparison are only valid if both drives come from the same source, this would validate the performance of each. (There are also variations, such as RAID and make sure the tests include a variety of ranges, for example, scratch, transferring files, loads, etc...) *Note the reason behind why you're using SAS, what it is used for the main purpose

 

Let me know if you have any more questions, thanks for keeping this thread alive, I look forward to seeing your positive results.

[vlad1966]

Thanks for all the info gramarye.

 

4) I didn't realize there are 2 different versions of the SAS3442E-R. How can I tell the diff between the 2? I thought there was only 1 version of the card & the speed depends on

what kind of PCI-E slot you stick it into.

 

According to the P35 chipset on my Abit IP35 Pro mobo (which has been bullet-proof BTW), the other X16 PCI-E slot runs at X4 speed.

Eventually I plan to build another Hack based on either an X38 or X48 chipset mobo - maybe even P45, so the PCI-E slot the LSI card

eventually winds up in will either be X8 or X16 speed.

 

I'm just hoping I see good benchmarks with 2 RAID0 SATA hard drives, since I don't really want to shell out the big bucks for SAS HDDs

at this point.

 

I'l update once my SAS/SATA cable arrives.

 

A few things to note:

 

1) Update firmware if it's necessary, check the log files and see if there are actually any performance benefits, contact Customer Service and ask if it's  a recommended upgrade

2) Sounds like it detected out of the box, but not sure if output works yet, if anything, there are the fusion drivers

3) Make sure you purchased the proper cables. For example my SAS drive requires an 8482 not an 8484 output cable, they are almost the same but are not backwards compatible, it is a common mistake, so make sure you have the right ones. What SAS drive are you using? Make sure that when you do use a SAS drive, you purchase an 8482 cable instead.

4) What is the speed of your card? x8 or x1? That's a big range, you might've purchased a slower speed card since the 3442E-R I see available on ebay are the older revisions.

5) Benchmark comparison are only valid if both drives come from the same source, this would validate the performance of each. (There are also variations, such as RAID and make sure the tests include a variety of ranges, for example, scratch, transferring files, loads, etc...) *Note the reason behind why you're using SAS, what it is used for the main purpose

 

Let me know if you have any more questions, thanks for keeping this thread alive, I look forward to seeing your positive results.

[deleted_account]

- There are actually a few, if not several revisions, you would know by the sticker on the back of the card or I guess if the seller had the information. I wouldn't worry too much, but I did remember reading about this particular card and that a later revision was mentioned. It was also noted that there are several revisions because of the fact that many OEMs used this particular card.

 

- The performance bandwidth is often measured by the card bus speed, the memory, and of course the host (the card) and the target (the drive). The performance speed is not fully dependent on the PCIe slot. For example, my ATTO expressSAS is an x8 PCIe card. That means I should use it on an x8 slot, which is what is recommended. I put it in my PCIe 2.0 (x16) slot of my x38 motherboard, it doesn't mean it performs at x16 speed, it will still perform at the speed the card was designed to be used at. PCIe x4 and x8 speeds are commonly used for these purposes (i don't think they make cards beyond that speed). It is stated that it is more than enough bandwidth for this purpose. (like how audio cards don't need to be PCIe x1, they're fine and perform better at PCI.) You may occasionally find PCIe x1 SATA cards with 2 ports, though they are bottlenecked at that speed (slower than PCI-X). From a graphics perspective, since my graphics card is an 8800GT, it certainly takes advantage of the PCIe 2.0 (though I bet you there isn't much) since it is a PCIe 2.0 rated card and it's specialized for the PCIe 2.0 slot on my motherboard which is what it is rated for as well. If I put a 8800GTX in that slot, it does not mean it utilizes PCIe 2.0, it does however use the x16 which is what it is.

 

Furthermore, I believe the SAS3442E-R, is rated at x4 speed, which is recommended to run on an x4 PCIe slot, at least. Meaning, nothing below that, but at least that. I think that's pretty much it, you will get the 3 Gb/s per port advertised. Though it may work with a PCIe x2 slot, it probably is not recommended. Whatever speed the card is what the speed is bottlenecked to. Hope this clears things up a bit.

 

Remember, SAS adapters are backward compatible, which means you can connect to SAS drives as well as SATA drives, but not the opposite.

 

 

Some charts/test you might consider checking out for your WD7500AAKS: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/hard-di...attern,674.html

[lordmozilla]

The SAS controller on the Tyan i5400XT with SAS (S5936WA2NRF) works in kalway OS X 10.5.1

It's an LSI 1068E SAS Controller. It's obvious it would since the Mac pro use that, but I thought i'd mention it.

 

Is there any advantage to having SATA drives plugged in to my SAS controller on my board?

[vlad1966]

OK, finally got my SFF-8484 to SATA cable today so I could test out the LSI 3442E-R (hint: if you want something fast, don't order it from Hong Kong).

I connected my 2 WD7500AAKS HDDs to the card & rebooted.

I went into the LSI controller's BIOS and set up the 2 WD drives into a RAID 0 striped config. Cool, I thought.

I put the LeoForAllv3 DVD into my DVD drive & rebooted with the intention of re-installing OS X to the RAID 0 array I just made.

I went into Disk Utility to format the array & it wasn't there. DAMN!

Only my Maxtor 230GB SATA drive showed up that I use for junk like downloaded stuff.

 

Ironically - I tried booting a Vista Ultimate 64-bit DVD & it had no problem seeing the array.

 

Seems like nothing w/a Hackintosh is easy.

[deleted_account]

Seems like nothing w/a Hackintosh is easy.

 

word.

 

 

 

 

Let me know if you have any questions trying to get Disk Utility to see your SAS drives. Also, I'm sure the shipping cost from Hong Kong compensated for the wait time

[ximu]

After doing some research, I put my device ID into AppleLSIFusionMPT. Leo is enable to see my controller which is LSI SAS1068 but the array.

I tried to plug two brand new drives in the controller without making them into array, it was able to see these drives. BUT once I make them in to an array (raid 0) OSX won't be able to see it in Hardware Properties. It was able to see the drives during boot because I saw the message. I was not be able to output the message. dmesg won't show it.

Is there anyway to make it see my array?

[vlad1966]

Same exact problem I'm having - BTW: I'm using SATA HDDs instead of SAS.

 

If I create a RAID 0 array, Disk Utility doesn't see the drives. If I use them as JBOD, it sees them, but they are shown

as removeable with the orange icons.

 

After doing some research, I put my device ID into AppleLSIFusionMPT. Leo is enable to see my controller which is LSI SAS1068 but the array.

I tried to plug two brand new drives in the controller without making them into array, it was able to see these drives. BUT once I make them in to an array (raid 0) OSX won't be able to see it in Hardware Properties. It was able to see the drives during boot because I saw the message. I was not be able to output the message. dmesg won't show it.

Is there anyway to make it see my array?

[ximu]

Anyone know how to use the EFI Drivers? LSI has my controller's EFI Drivers on their website.

It seems two of us are having the same issue. I'm pretty convincible that LSI SAS1068 not much difference from LSI SAS1068E (E=External Interface). If LSI SAS1068E works, mine (LSI SAS1068) should work too. It just need some tweaks around the corner which I'm not capable of do so.

[deleted_account]

I've helped someone with reported sucessess using the (internal) LSI 1068 (the one you guys have). They had to workaround it but I'm not sure if the problems you guys are having are similar. For example, shown as orange removable vs. silver default, it has to do with your motherboards AHCI settings, likely, so that problem is not absolutely dependent on your controller. I encourage everyone to ask questions on this thread, so others can learn/gain from it, a lot of my help has been contribued via PMs. Anyway, I'm working out a guide soon, for troubleshooting, but looks like you guys have success identifying the drives, which is great leap.

 

The fusion drivers should work fine, make sure you're using the right kext, i dont' see any problem with that, it's more of either a hardware or software end of not getting RAIDs to work how you want them to.

[ximu]

I can see the array if it's not build by the hardware controller.

The fusion drivers should work fine...

You mean "AppleLSIFusionMPT"? If so, I'll try to play around with the AHCI settings in the BIOS. I'll report if anything changes.

[ximu]

I toyed with the BIOS' and Controller's settings but nothing can be helped.

Same state: Hardware Raid is not dectected.

I got bored so I went and look into AppleLSIFusionMPT.kext again. I found out that it is bundled with two kexts, IOPCIFamily.kext and IOSCSIParallelFamily.kext.

Code from IOPCIFamily:

<dict>

<key>IOPCI2PCIBridge-Name</key>

<dict>

<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>

<string>com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily</string>

<key>IOClass</key>

<string>IOPCI2PCIBridge</string>

<key>IONameMatch</key>

<string>pci-bridge</string>

<key>IOProviderClass</key>

<string>IOPCIDevice</string>

</dict>

<key>IOPCI2PCIBridge-PCI</key>

<dict>

<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>

<string>com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily</string>

<key>IOClass</key>

<string>IOPCI2PCIBridge</string>

<key>IOPCIMatch</key>

<string>0x00261011</string>

<key>IOProviderClass</key>

<string>IOPCIDevice</string>

</dict>

<key>IOPCI2PCIBridge-i386</key>

<dict>

<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>

<string>com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily</string>

<key>IOClass</key>

<string>IOPCI2PCIBridge</string>

<key>IOPCIClassMatch</key>

<string>0x06040000&0xffff0000</string>

<key>IOProviderClass</key>

<string>IOPCIDevice</string>

</dict>

</dict>

I don't know if the number above has something to do w/ my controller or not. Just in case you want to know what I have.

 

For IOSCSIParallelFamily.kext, I found it linked to IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily.kext which I look into it and nothing really interest me except the Plugins.

IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily.kext>SCSITaskUserClient.kext>SCSITaskLib.plugin:

<dict>

<key>63326D72-08A2-11D5-865F-0030657D052A</key>

<string>SCSITaskLibFactory</string>

</dict>

<key>CFPlugInTypes</key>

<dict>

<key>7D66678E-08A2-11D5-A1B8-0030657D052A</key>

<array>

<string>63326D72-08A2-11D5-865F-0030657D052A</string>

</array>

<key>97ABCF2C-23CC-11D5-A0E8-003065704866</key>

<array>

<string>63326D72-08A2-11D5-865F-0030657D052A</string>

</array>

</dict>

As I read somewhere, part of numbers above is a BUS ID. Enlight me if what I'm posting is useful, otherwise, disregard.

 

I can't wait until you release a guide because this is a puzzle for me.

[vladthebad]

no,

 

LSI 1068 is PCI-X chip

LSI 1068e is PCIe chip

 

has nothing to do with internal vs external, thats determined by the card and ports given.

[vlad1966]

I would love to get my LSI controller working the way I want it to (Bootable RAID) with my Hack.

Would the EFI upgrade that LSI offers on their website work with our Hacks, since our Hacks use a software

EFI to emulate hardware EFI?

 

I'd try this, but I'm affraid I'd mess up my controller...

[vlad1966]

gramarye, any news on that guide?

 

*** Also, do you think the ATTO EXPRESSSAS R348 (RAID version) will work with Hacks?

[iMaik]

Any news on this? I have a Precision 690 with the LSI 1068. I currently have kalyway 10.5.2 booting fro a PATA drive, but I'd like to at least be able to see the other drive attached to the SATA controller.

[podarok]

need more information about lsi 1068 support under hackintosh, mostly for RAID0 RAID1 support

It is very powerfull solution.

[nama2g]

anyone using the "Supermicro Add-on Card AOC-USAS-L8i" card? seem to support raid but has anyone successfully used it to setup hardware raid for mac. its only $130 average and seems to support 8 devices. am interested in installing sata 300 drives and have them setup as raid. anyone with knowhow please advise!!!