SOLVED Options for not having enough SATA ports?

[objecttothis]

I'm running TrueNAS Core 12.0-U7 on a GIGABYTE GA-6LISL which has 5 SATA Ports. I'm using three SATA ports for my ZFS array storage pool and two ports for the mirrored 16GB 2.5" SSDs which is my boot pool. My problem is that I have this installed in a SUPERMICRO CSE-721TQ-250B Black Mini-Tower Server Case which has four bays for 3.5" drives and I'd like to expand my ZFS pool.

The motherboard has a Gen 3.0 x 16 PCIe slot on it and I have USB headers.

What are my options for freeing up one SATA port?
1- USB boot drives, but these are bad news because of failures.
2- PCIe SATA card for the two mirrored boot drives, but I'm seeing posts saying that they are all bad news and to go HBA
3- Run a single SSD Boot drive. I'm seeing posts saying that it won't corrupt my ZFS pool if I lose that drive (good), but it's unclear to me what the recovery process would be if I lose the boot drive and exactly what I need to backup (just the current configuration and exactly what version I am on?)
4- USB-to-SATA adapter. I just saw one post about this saying that the interface didn't matter, just that it wasn't USB thumb drives due to reliability.
5- HBA PCIe Adapter... All the one I was seeing on eBay did not have internal SATA connectors and were north of $150 which is more than I'd like to spend. I was looking at the wrong cards. Much cheaper option.

Thoughts on what would be the best option?

 

[objecttothis]

Could I get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/SAS9211-8I-8PORT-Int-Sata-Pcie/dp/B002RL8I7M/?tag=spoilerfoiler-20 and https://www.amazon.com/Internal-OIK...sas+to+sata+cable+1ft,electronics,692&sr=1-19 for a cable?

 

[EnKo]

I recommend you to follow the installation recommendations, using USB for boot drives. What is your problem with this? Since years I am using two Corsair Voyager GTX running my system without any problem. I belive it is the better strategy to solve the USB issue instead.

In theory to restore your boot system you just need all the backups you should make every time before you update your system (settings and encryption key, in case you use encryption).

 

[objecttothis]

I recommend you to follow the installation recommendations, using USB for boot drives. What is your problem with this? Since years I am using two Corsair Voyager GTX running my system without any problem. I belive it is the better strategy to solve the USB issue instead.

In theory to restore your boot system you just need all the backups you should make every time before you update your system (settings and encryption key, in case you use encryption).

I've had USB boot drives fail on me before and you won't find too many people here recommending the use of USB flash drives for your boot drives. Often frequent failures are cited as the reason. The Corsair drives you are recommending are definitely on the higher end, so may be more reliable however they are also $58 a pop whereas using my existing SSD boot drives means not needing to replace the drives. Given that I'll spend some money on extra hardware either way, but not $116 for a solution that many people here including TrueNAS themselves would say to avoid.

 

[jgreco]

I recommend you to follow the installation recommendations, using USB for boot drives.

That hasn't been recommended for years. Thumb drives, SD/microSD cards, etc., lack wear leveling and tend to burn out quickly.

 

[jgreco]

I'm seeing posts saying that they are all bad news

They are not ALL bad news, but please do refer to

Multiply your problems with SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers

In the last year or two, we've had a resurgence of users asking about SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers. Please, do NOT use port multipliers, and use cheap SATA controllers only after extensive research. SATA controllers and SATA...

www.truenas.com

If I were buying something like a legit AsMedia 1062 from a legit vendor, I think I'd expect it to work properly. Problem is, that costs as much new as buying a crossflashed HBA on eBay.

 

[objecttothis]

That's helpful... I found this one on eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/2522704270...sh=item3abc7d3ba8:g:Q9MAAOSw5dNWqvza&LH_BIN=1 but it's more expensive than the HBA cards.

They are not ALL bad news, but please do refer to

Multiply your problems with SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers

In the last year or two, we've had a resurgence of users asking about SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers. Please, do NOT use port multipliers, and use cheap SATA controllers only after extensive research. SATA controllers and SATA...

www.truenas.com

If I were buying something like a legit AsMedia 1062 from a legit vendor, I think I'd expect it to work properly. Problem is, that costs as much new as buying a crossflashed HBA on eBay.

 

[EnKo]

That hasn't been recommended for years

Good to know, in this case I have too less ports as well. On the other hand my system run about 4 years wit the (little bit) cheaper Corsair Voyager GT, before I replaced them (not because they failed). And @objecttothis, if you are looking for a cheap solution, you should think about this as an option. Maybe two expensive USB sticks are cheaper than an other solution.

 

[objecttothis]

Good to know, in this case I have too less ports as well. On the other hand my system run about 4 years wit the (little bit) cheaper Corsair Voyager GT, before I replaced them (not because they failed). And @objecttothis, if you are looking for a cheap solution, you should think about this as an option. Maybe two expensive USB sticks are cheaper than an other solution.

I just picked up an open box IT Mode flashed LSI 9211-8I HBA PCIe x8 card for $46 on eBay and the SFF-8087 cable for $8. I think that will not only be more reliable than what you are suggesting, but also a lot cheaper.