Hey folks. Sorry if this has been asked before. I'm pretty sure it will work how I want it to but thought it couldn't hurt to get some of the pro's eyes on it. I currently have an LSI 9207-8e (IT Mode) connected to an 8 bay SAS enclosure from PCPitstop (no expander) using both ports on the HBA. I would like to replace that 2 port HBA with a 9200-16e (IT Mode) and run those same two miniSAS 8088 cables to that 8 bay enclosure but then run two miniSAS 8088 to 4 SATA 7 PIN to two sets of 4 sata drives inside my TrueNAS host case (I know it's cheesy but trying to save on buying another external SAS enclosure). Everything I'm reading looks like it should work but I thought it couldn't hurt posting here. I've outgrown the 12TBx8 disks in my external SAS enclosure and have 14TBx8 disks on the way. Thanks for taking the time to read this. It's much appreciated!
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- Thread starter mshorey01
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- Feb 6, 2014
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Hey @mshorey01
"Looping back" the external SAS SFF-8088 connector to internal SATA drives has worked for some other community users.
What you'll need to watch out for will be things like the overall cable length - SATA spec limits the cables to 3.3 feet (1m) - as well as potential tight bends of the cable, or sharp edges on your case itself that might cause damage to the shielding.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to track down an earlier generation -8i8e card that would come out of the box with the necessary combination of 2x internal and 2x external SAS ports, and the LSI 9400-8i8e is a rather pricey option in comparison to the 9200-16e and a set of cables.
I'd recommend finding the shortest possible cables, and doing a good set of burn-in tests on the "loopback cable" drives, and keeping an eye out for any checksum errors or logged "non-media errors" from SMART status.
As a "completely different option" a SAS expander such as an Intel RES2SV240 could be mounted without a PCIe slot (drawing power from a Molex) and then use some breakout or internal-to-external brackets - but that might wind up being inefficient from a costing perspective.
"Looping back" the external SAS SFF-8088 connector to internal SATA drives has worked for some other community users.
What you'll need to watch out for will be things like the overall cable length - SATA spec limits the cables to 3.3 feet (1m) - as well as potential tight bends of the cable, or sharp edges on your case itself that might cause damage to the shielding.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to track down an earlier generation -8i8e card that would come out of the box with the necessary combination of 2x internal and 2x external SAS ports, and the LSI 9400-8i8e is a rather pricey option in comparison to the 9200-16e and a set of cables.
I'd recommend finding the shortest possible cables, and doing a good set of burn-in tests on the "loopback cable" drives, and keeping an eye out for any checksum errors or logged "non-media errors" from SMART status.
As a "completely different option" a SAS expander such as an Intel RES2SV240 could be mounted without a PCIe slot (drawing power from a Molex) and then use some breakout or internal-to-external brackets - but that might wind up being inefficient from a costing perspective.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment! I was trying to hunt down some of the 8e+8i LSI cards but yes, as you said, they are quite pricey. I actually wasn't aware of the max cable length drawback of SATA until I started looking at this option, lol. But I did end up ordering a couple cheap SFF8088 to 4x SATA 1 meter cables off Amazon. Assuming I'm able to get a decent bend radius on them and was planning on wrapping them where they'll be passing back into the case via an unused pci case slot with some electrical tape I guess we'll see how it goes. Like you mentioned I'll be sure to keep an eye on SMART status and see if any strangeness crops up. I tend to do a short then conveyance then long test on all new drives so we'll see if they bark then. Again, thanks for reading and for giving your feedback, Honeybadger, it's most appreciated.
