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Hardware, HBA, LSI, Storage - April 24, 2025

How to select a HBA card

Building a powerful and reliable homelab often hinges on one critical component: storage. Whether you're setting up a robust Network Attached Storage (NAS) solution using TrueNAS or unRAID, creating a virtualization powerhouse with Proxmox, or simply need to connect more drives than your motherboard allows, a Host Bus Adapter (HBA) card is frequently the answer.

But navigating the world of HBAs can seem daunting at first, with talk of SAS vs. SATA, IT mode vs. IR mode, different port types, and various chipsets. Getting it wrong can lead to compatibility headaches, performance bottlenecks, or limitations on your future expansion plans.

This guide is designed to cut through the confusion. We'll walk you through everything you need to know to confidently select the perfect HBA for your homelab needs. We'll cover the fundamental concepts, break down the key specifications to consider, highlight popular and reliable models favored by the homelab community, and touch on essential installation steps like firmware flashing and cable selection. By the end, you'll be equipped to choose an HBA that unlocks the full storage potential of your server.

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Hardware, LSI, Storage - July 22, 2022

Homelab guide to the LSI 9211-8i

While learning about servers or the homelab community, you might have heard mentions and recommendations of the LSI 9211-8i HAB card. The card has had a long history, and some information on it has become unclear. This article will aim to clarify some of those details so you can know what the card does and how you can use it in your setup. We will learn about the typical applications for these cards, which business is currently making these HBA cards, and how that affects some of the information about these cards, finally, how we can flash these cards with firmware to get new features or lock some features of the cards depending on your application.

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