Lemon tree LSI 9300-8i IT Mode SAS HBA Controller Card

The Lemon tree HBA card is built around the SAS3008 controller and is described as compatible with the LSI 9300-8i, a pairing that storage enthusiasts will recognize immediately. What sets it apart from a general-purpose RAID controller is its firmware: it arrives in HBA IT Mode, a non-RAID configuration that hands each connected drive directly to the operating system. That makes it a natural fit for software-defined storage. The listing calls out ZFS, FreeNAS/TrueNAS, unRAID, Proxmox, and ESXi home-lab and NAS builds specifically, where letting the filesystem manage the disks matters more than hardware RAID.

Connectivity comes through two internal SFF-8643 ports, enough to direct-attach up to eight drives, with room to grow by adding a compatible SAS expander. The card seats in a PCIe 3.0 x8 slot and supports 12Gb/s SAS or 6Gb/s SATA transfer rates. Two SFF-8643 to SFF-8482 cables ship in the box, ready for SAS drives. One practical detail deserves attention before purchase: those bundled cables are not compatible with SATA drives. Connecting SATA disks calls for SFF-8643 to 4x SATA breakout cables, which are sold separately or offered as a matched HBA and cable kit.