Smart Array controller recommendation for ML110 G5 / Server 2012

[Dave David]

Hi,

I currently have an ML110 G5 running SBS 2003. It's primarily used as a file server. I've recently obtained a copy of Server 2012 R2 which I want to install as part of an upgrade.

I believe that Server 2012 doesn't have drivers for the RAID controller on the ML110 G5 motherboard, so I'm thinking of getting a Smart Array card.

Any recommendations? I want something that can be obtained cheaply on the second-user market. I don't need anything high-performance, just something that will be reliable and work well with the hardware and OS. I need to connect it to 4 x SATA drives in two RAID 1 arrays.

Reason for the upgrade (other than SBS2003 being obsolete) is that I'm out of drive space and need to get some new drives, which will be advanced format. I'm thinking of 4TB WD Red. Are there any issues with running 4K native on such old hardware?

I saw something suggesting the SA E200 has a max drive size of 2TB so that would appear to be no good.

Thanks!

Dave

[Jimmy Vance]

The supported RAID controller for that system was the HP Smart Array E200/128 BBWC Controller 411508-B21. The ML110 G5 was retired June 2010.