Skip to content

P410i SSD Compatibility Reference

Parked 2026-06-04 (Session 7) for future storage rebuild work. Not actionable right now - currently gated on (a) RAID BBWC battery arrival, (b) chassis-open maintenance window, (c) 16-bay SFF backplane upgrade. Future-Kay or future-Claude should consult this when the storage rebuild starts.

Why this matters

Kay is planning to expand the DL380 G7 storage from the current 8-bay SFF config to 16-bay SFF, and populate the new bays with SSDs (replacing the 3x 146 GB SAS drives and complementing the existing 4x Crucial M4). This doc captures the P410i-side compatibility groundwork so the SSD purchase isn't a guess.

Hard constraints (P410i)

Aspect Spec / constraint
Interface SAS2 (6 Gb/s) + SATA II (3 Gb/s capped — SATA SSDs negotiate at SATA-II even if rated for 6 Gb/s)
Drive bays in DL380 G7 SFF chassis 2.5" SFF; currently 8 bays, plan to expand to 16
Caddy/sled HP "smart drive" carriers required. Refurb drives often ship with caddies; bare drives need separate sleds
Max drive size ~4 TB advertised; practical sweet spot 2 TB or smaller
Cache modes Write-back ONLY if BBWC battery is healthy. Without BBWC, controller drops to write-through and SSD performance is bad.
RAID modes Hardware RAID (preferred). HBA passthrough on P410i is a RAID-0-per-drive workaround, not great for ZFS.
Firmware version that matters ≥ 6.64 (from SPP 2017.10) is more tolerant of modern SSDs. Check current firmware via ssacli ctrl all show detail (Section 11 #15) BEFORE buying drives. Flash via SPP (Section 11 #19) if older.

8-bay → 16-bay expansion plan

To go from the current 8-bay SFF backplane to 16-bay, Kay needs THREE things:

  1. Second 8-bay SFF backplane for the G7 chassis. HP parts:
  2. 516966-B21 / 516966-001 (option kit / spare)

  3. Provides bays 9-16, mounts in the front of the chassis above/below the existing backplane

  4. SAS cable(s) to reach the new backplane. Specific routing depends on whether a SAS expander is used (see #3). The G7 has limited cable routes; bundle this with the maintenance window.

  5. Architectural choice point: P410i + SAS expander (Path A) OR HBA + ZFS (Path B). Two real options, not just one. The P410i alone exposes 8 lanes (two internal SFF-8484 ports, 4 lanes each), so it can directly drive only 8 drives.

### Path A: P410i + SAS expander (incremental, RECOMMENDED FOR NOW) - Keep existing P410i and hardware RAID - Add HP G7 SAS Expander Card (HP 468405-B21 or 487738-001): sits in a PCIe slot, multiplexes the P410i's 8 lanes across 16 drives. €20-50 used on eBay/Marktplaats. - Aggregate bandwidth = controller's 8 lanes × 6 Gb/s = ~48 Gb/s shared across 16 drives. Fine for SATA SSD + HDD mixes; saturates only with 16 SAS SSDs all going at once. - Boot story unchanged (PVE keeps living on the P410i logical volume) - Cost: €80-200 in parts (backplane + expander + cables + caddies)

### Path B: HBA + ZFS (architectural shift, future option) - Replace P410i function with a SAS HBA card; do RAID in software (ZFS, mdadm, or btrfs) - HBA candidates (all PCIe, fit G7): - HP H220 / LSI 9207-8i (8 lanes SAS-2, €40-80 used) - needs expander for 16 drives - LSI 9300-8i (8 lanes SAS-3, €60-120 used) - newer, faster - LSI 9201-16i (16 native lanes SAS-2, €80-150 used) - NO EXPANDER NEEDED for 16-bay - LSI 9305-16i (16 native lanes SAS-3, €150-280 used) - top-spec - Boot: needs reconfig. Either keep boot on P410i 512 GB volume / SD card + ZFS pool on HBA, or full rebuild. - Cache: no controller-side cache. ZFS uses host RAM (ARC) instead. No BBWC battery needed. - SMART: direct per-drive (better than P410i's controller-intermediated SMART) - Snapshots: ZFS-native (send/recv between hosts = clean backup primitive) - Cost: €100-250 if using 9201-16i (HBA + 2nd backplane + cables + caddies; no expander)

### Decision logic

  • Pick Path A if: BBWC battery is already in transit (sunk cost), you want minimal change, hardware RAID is acceptable, you're not yet fluent in ZFS.
  • Pick Path B if: you're doing a clean storage rebuild anyway, you want ZFS-native snapshots and send/recv as a backup primitive, you've done curriculum B.5 (containers) + B.7 (backup/DR/ZFS), and you're OK rebuilding the boot story.

DECIDED 2026-06-04: Path B1 Hybrid. Kay chose Path B (HBA + ZFS) over Path A. Then on closer look at the boot-rebuild risk on DL380 G7 (fresh install on G7 is a known red spot), refined to the Hybrid sub-variant: - Keep P410i as boot controller. PVE 8.1.5 stays on the P410i 512 GB volume. No reinstall, no boot migration in this round. - Add LSI 9305-16i HBA in IT mode (Broadcom SAS3008 chip, 16 native SAS-3 lanes, no expander). Hosts a new ZFS data pool on new SSDs. - BBWC battery in transit STAYS RELEVANT — caches P410i boot writes. - VM 189 untouched — disk passthroughs from P410i continue working. - P410i sale deferred to a future "clean Path B" cleanup once boot is migrated off it (probably via dd/rsync clone, NOT fresh install).

Decision notes: - LSI 9305-16i chosen over 9201-16i because it ships in IT mode (no flashing risk), is SAS-3 (future-proof, though DL380 G7's PCIe Gen 2 caps aggregate at ~40 Gb/s), and has better Linux mpt3sas support. - Cables: HBA uses SFF-8643 (mini-SAS HD) connectors, NOT the older SFF-8087. Need 2× SFF-8643 → SFF-8087 fan-out cables (or SFF-8643 → SFF-8643 if the 2nd backplane has HD connectors). NOT included with the HBA. - Pre-buy checklist for the HBA listing: full-height bracket, firmware ≥16.00.10.00, IT mode confirmed (not IR), heatsink intact, seller reputation ≥99%.

SSD compatibility lists

Works well (in order of confidence)

Drive Why it works Sizes available Used price (€) Where to source
HP-branded SSDs (genuine refurb) HP firmware → recognized 100%, no "Unsupported drive" warnings, caddy usually included 200, 400, 800 GB SAS/SATA €30-120 each eBay UK/DE, ServerSchmiede, MyServerParts
Intel DC S3500 / S3510 / S3520 (SATA enterprise) Datacenter pulls; full power-loss protection; very stable on P410i; widely documented compat 240, 480, 800, 1600, 1920 GB €25-100 eBay, Marktplaats, ServerShop.nl
Intel DC S3610 / S3710 (write-heavy variants) Higher endurance; same firmware family compat 200-1600 GB €40-120 Same
Samsung 850 EVO / 860 EVO Consumer-grade but known to work 250 GB - 2 TB €40-130 new, €30-80 used Bol.com, Amazon NL, Marktplaats
Crucial MX500 Works in most reports 500 GB - 2 TB €50-150 new Bol.com, Amazon NL
Crucial M4 (already in bays 5-8) Currently working; check wear via smartctl once ssacli maps paths (Section 11 #15/#16) 256, 512 GB already in array n/a

AVOID

Avoid Reason
QLC drives (Crucial P1, Samsung 860/870 QVO, Kingston NV2/NV3) Slow under sustained writes; RAID rebuilds time out; SLC cache fills and crashes
NVMe drives (Samsung 980/990, WD SN850, etc.) P410i is SAS/SATA only - no NVMe interface
SAS3 (12 Gb/s) drives Mostly work (negotiate to SAS2), but some firmware quirks; not worth the SAS3 price premium
Kingston A400 / DC400 Hit-or-miss SMART; frequent "predict failure" false alarms on P410i
Anything reported "Unsupported drive" on HPE forums iLO whinges constantly; write-back cache may refuse to engage

Capacity sizing for Kay's use case

Per home-cloud-tracker.md D.1/D.2 and project-tracker.md Path A:

  • Family photos/calendar/files (Nextcloud) → fast SSD-backed storage
  • VM disks (GitLab, Authelia, Traefik, etc.) → fast SSD-backed storage
  • Possibly PBS local backup target → spinning rust is often better
  • Media files (Jellyfin) → spinning rust (waste of SSDs on sequential reads)

Recommended 16-bay buildout target: - 4-8 × 1.92 TB SATA enterprise SSDs (Intel S3520 or HP-branded equivalent) in RAID 6 or RAID 10 → ~6-15 TB usable - Remaining bays for additional capacity tier (spinning disks via P410i, OR more SSDs if budget allows) - Reserve at least 2 bays empty for spare/rebuild headroom

Initial smaller buildout (while saving for the full 16-bay): - 4 × 1.92 TB SATA enterprise SSDs (Intel S3520-class) → ~3.6 TB usable in RAID 6 → ~€200-400 total via Marktplaats / eBay datacenter pulls

Baseline inventory captured 2026-06-04 (Session 7)

Full report: D:\PVE\p410i-baseline-20260604-222809.txt. Captured via smartctl -d cciss,N /dev/sda (ssacli wasn't sideloadable: HPE MCP repo returned 404 for bookworm and bullseye - HPE wound down their Debian support around bookworm). smartctl probe gives drive identity + SMART for SATA/SSD slots; SAS slots only return temperature with the basic flags (full SAS SMART needs smartctl -x).

Key findings

Slot 0 (PVE boot drive): SPCC 512 GB SSD, serial AA000000000000001174, healthy - 2,219 power-on hours (~3 months), Wear_Leveling 0, no reallocated sectors, ~99k LBAs written. This is the actual PVE root volume (not the SAS RAID as previously assumed).

Slots 1-3 (SAS HDDs): each 450 GB - NOT 146 GB as previously documented in CLAUDE.md / earlier notes. Three 450 GB SAS HDDs. Currently their function in the array is unclear from this probe; possibly in a P410i RAID logical volume that's used for VM 189 passthrough or similar. Need ssacli OR pfSense storage page OR cat /proc/scsi/sg/devices to confirm logical layout.

Slots 4-7 (Crucial M4 512 GB SSDs): 9-10 year power-on hours, three of four are 79-86% worn (near end of life), one (slot 4) is barely used at 2% wear despite same age. Critical implications:

Slot Wear (Wear_Leveling_Count VALUE) Erase cycles Verdict
4 098 (98 normalized - healthy) 71 Salvageable - barely used despite age
5 014 (86% worn) 2,594 Near EOL - retire ASAP
6 017 (83% worn) 2,496 Near EOL - retire ASAP
7 021 (79% worn) 2,375 Near EOL - retire ASAP

Impact on Path B1 purchase plan

  • Plan for FOUR new SSDs minimum for the ZFS data pool, not "3 to replace SAS and reuse the M4 quartet". Three of the M4s will retire before they're useful.
  • Slot 4's M4 could be a cold spare or non-critical role only - it's still ancient hardware.
  • The SAS HDDs at 450 GB each are larger than expected (CLAUDE.md said 146 GB). Decide later whether to keep them in the array or retire alongside the M4s.

What's still missing (needs ssacli or equivalent)

  • P410i firmware version (lspci shows "Smart Array G6 controllers rev 01" but not the firmware build number)
  • BBWC cache module presence + size confirmation
  • BBWC battery status (replaced part is in transit)
  • Logical drive / array layout (which physical drives are members of which RAID volumes)
  • Spare drive assignments

Future workaround for ssacli on Debian 12 bookworm: try the HPE SPP ISO contents (when obtained per Section 11 #19), it includes ssacli for various OS targets. Or sideload from a non-HPE community .deb mirror.

BBWC anatomy (what you're actually waiting for)

The "RAID battery" is shorthand for the BBWC = Battery-Backed Write Cache, which is actually two separate components on the P410i:

  1. Cache module (DRAM daughterboard, plugs onto the controller):
  2. HP 462968-B21 (kit) or bare part 013268-001
  3. 256 MB or 512 MB DRAM

  4. Some P410i installs ship WITHOUT this - confirm with ssacli ctrl all show detail | grep -E "Cache Board|Total Cache Size" on first chassis-open. If not present, source one ~€20-40 used.

  5. Battery pack (the part Kay has in transit):

  6. HP 462976-001 or 460499-001
  7. NiMH pack, charged from the controller
  8. Connects to the cache module via 3-wire/4-wire cable
  9. Holds the cache DRAM electrically alive for ~96 hours during AC outage so dirty cache data survives until power returns or the controller flushes it

Without a healthy battery, the P410i auto-disables write-back caching and falls back to write-through. SSD writes drop to ~10× slower (5,000 IOPS vs 50,000 IOPS for typical small-write workloads). That's why the battery is mandatory before populating new SSDs.

Caddies / ancillaries

  • HP G7 2.5" SFF Smart Drive Caddies: HP 651687-001 (newer) or 378343-002 (older); both work. €5-15 each on Marktplaats/eBay. Often included with refurb drives - always confirm in listing photos.

Shopping path (when ready)

  1. Wait for chassis-open window (gated on RAID BBWC battery arrival).
  2. First chassis-open: BBWC swap + CMOS swap + riser install + PSU dust + SPP flash (if ISO obtained safely). Then run ssacli ctrl all show config detail to inventory the existing array AND confirm P410i firmware version.
  3. In parallel: shop for 16-bay backplane + SAS expander on Marktplaats/eBay. Targets:
  4. HP 516966-B21 (2nd 8-bay backplane)
  5. HP 468405-B21 or 487738-001 (SAS expander)
  6. Shop for SSDs based on inventory + firmware findings. Marktplaats searches:
  7. Intel DC S3520 1.92
  8. Intel DC S3500 1.6
  9. HP 691865 (200 GB HP enterprise SSD with caddy)
  10. HP 803263-001 (HP 240 GB MLC SSD with caddy)
  11. Second chassis-open: install backplane + expander + new SSDs. Configure new RAID array. Migrate workloads.

What to capture during the FIRST maintenance window

Before buying any drives, the ssacli inventory MUST happen so we know:

  • Current P410i firmware version (drives compatibility window)
  • Current array configuration (RAID level, drives, capacity)
  • Crucial M4 SMART data: wear level %, pending sectors, reallocated sectors, power-on hours, firmware version (specifically: is it on firmware 0309 or the pre-bug-fix older version?)
  • BBWC status post-replacement (battery capacity, write-cache engaged)
  • Any error/warning logs the controller has accumulated

Commands to run (Section 11 #15 / #16):

# install ssacli first (sideload from HPE MCP repo or community mirror)
ssacli ctrl all show config detail
ssacli ctrl slot=0 show detail        # P410i is typically slot 0 (onboard)
ssacli ctrl slot=0 array all show detail
ssacli ctrl slot=0 ld all show detail
ssacli ctrl slot=0 pd all show detail

# Crucial M4 SMART per drive (once ssacli maps SATA paths)
smartctl -a /dev/sda    # repeat for each device path

Capture all output to a file. That output guides the SSD purchase.

  • CLAUDE.md Section 5 (Proxmox-to-SD-card migration - relates because the new SSD array will be the new fast storage tier)
  • CLAUDE.md Section 8a/8d (foundation milestone: buy SSDs + free 512 GB P410i RAID volume)
  • CLAUDE.md Section 11 #3 (SSD purchase - was the placeholder this doc expands)
  • CLAUDE.md Section 11 #15 (ssacli investigation - prerequisite)
  • CLAUDE.md Section 11 #16 (Crucial M4 SMART check - prerequisite)
  • homelab-tracker.md Phase 5.5 (comprehensive storage review - this doc is one input to that review)
  • D:\PVE\planned-storage-review-prompt.md (the broader storage architecture review prompt; this SSD doc is the hardware-shopping input to that work)