Some important notes about the Dell Perc H200, Windows 8.1 (Server 2012 R2) and cross-flashing to LSI firmware.
I was waiting for an affordable IBM M1015 to pop up on eBay so that I could add true SATA3 speeds to my aging X58A-UD3R rev 2.0, when I learned that the Dell Perc H200 contains the same LSI 9211-8i chipset, and can usually be found for less. Thank-you internet!
I’m using SATA drives, so a quick trip to Monoprice got me some SAS-SATA forward cables for what I’m told is a reasonable price at $15. A quick trip to eBay got me a Perc H200 for about $80.
The cross-flashing process was somewhat convoluted. The card contains both a firmware and an optional BIOS.
- First you wipe the existing firmware and BIOS.
- Then you load a current Dell HBA firmware.
- Then you cross-flash to the LSI IT firmware (P16 for FreeNAS 9.2 and P19 for FreeNAS 9.3+).
- If you want the drives attached to be bootable, you need to the flash the LSI BIOS–make sure you use the matching version for your firmware. Just be aware that loading the BIOS will increase your boot times.
It seems Microsoft borked compatibility with many LSI based adapters with update rollup 2919355. Here’s what I did to fix it:
During installation, load the driver for Win 7. It might fail, sometimes multiple times but eventually it will work. Then install to the drive you have connected to the Perc and wish to boot from.
My version of 2012 R2 already had the update applied, so after completing the installation I had one shot at it–after rebooting the drive became inaccessible!
Under Hardware, manually load the driver for win 8.1. Then run this MS hotfix. Reboot, and you should be OK.
As it stands I’ve only connected 1 drive to it but the read and write speeds are what you expect from native SATA3. Seems the old girl still has some life left in her!