What are my options for a cheap sata ssd for slog use?

[NugentS]

If its any help - I use an Asus HyperX Card in a SuperMicro with 4 * PCIe NVMe drives in it. It works, although it takes a bit of trial and error to find out which PCIe slot the SuperMicro BIOS is referring to when configuring a slot. Its non-intuitive

 

[NugentS]

Most people use an HBA adapter like a Ebay UK Link into a JBOD Shelf of some kind {Another Ebay Link}

@imsocold I have never seen a card like that and have no idea what you would plug it into. The card I used was a yet another ebay uk link that I have 2* 1TB NVMe and 2 * 512TB NVME in

 

[ChrisRJ]

@imsocold , if you go through this thread you will probably realize that the information you provided initially lacked quite a few points that you mentioned later. This was probably not intentional. But it certainly affected the advice given, and not in a positive way.

What I would recommend is that you create a comprehensive and well-structured write-up. I promise that this process will greatly improve your own understanding of your needs. This is not specific to you or the topic at hand. But you will experience that all of a sudden things that seeme crystal clear are not so clear anymore.

And of course sharing this here, will most likely trigger more feedback for you.

Good luck!

 

[imsocold]

@imsocold , if you go through this thread you will probably realize that the information you provided initially lacked quite a few points that you mentioned later. This was probably not intentional. But it certainly affected the advice given, and not in a positive way.

What I would recommend is that you create a comprehensive and well-structured write-up. I promise that this process will greatly improve your own understanding of your needs. This is not specific to you or the topic at hand. But you will experience that all of a sudden things that seeme crystal clear are not so clear anymore.

And of course sharing this here, will most likely trigger more feedback for you.

Good luck!

Thanks again for the help. I have the solution that meets my current setup and cost and time constraints. I don't think I would have been able to think this out without the feedback. It may seem like a waste of time, but certain things would not occur to me without external scrutiny.

 

[imsocold]

If its any help - I use an Asus HyperX Card in a SuperMicro with 4 * PCIe NVMe drives in it. It works, although it takes a bit of trial and error to find out which PCIe slot the SuperMicro BIOS is referring to when configuring a slot. Its non-intuitive

You should connect it to something like this : https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=719&area=en

The only thing is that those mini-was connectors are connecting to sas controllers on the other side of the cable.
But that isn't the only way it could be implemented.

You could theoretically have the sas controller in that same enclosure in addition to 3 other 4x PCIe slots.

 

[jgreco]

Sorry for the spam. I don’t see how to edit posts so I am typing as I’m working this out.

New users aren't able to edit their posts, because there's been a bunch of spammers who go back and edit their posts to add URL's, etc. You will gain the ability to edit posts at some point, I don't know what exact point, as I think it takes both account age and number of posts into account. Don't be shocked if a moderator takes several posts in rapid succession and merges them in an attempt to increase readability, in the meantime.

 

[NugentS]

You should connect it to something like this : https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=719&area=en

The only thing is that those mini-was connectors are connecting to sas controllers on the other side of the cable.
But that isn't the only way it could be implemented.

You could theoretically have the sas controller in that same enclosure in addition to 3 other 4x PCIe slots.

Hang on.
The External PCI Express x8 (with Gen 1/2/3 Redriver) Cable Adapter Card | EPCIE8XRDCA01A you mentioned is splitting the PCIe slots. Its not a SAS Card.
The https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=719&area=en is a SAS JBOD. You would need a SAS card to drive it (and they are 2.5" slots which is a shame, so SSD or tiny high speed drives only may apply)
Or am I missing something

 

[imsocold]

If you read my post carefully, you will see that I am aware of that.

Which is why I said something like the Silverstone solution.


Essentially you can bifurcate pcie, externalize it via a set of cables and on the other side of the cable produce the equivalent pcie slot.
My Google fu isn't strong enough to find what that would look like exactly.

Though it seems to be that the cables are similar.

So theoretically you could bifurcate a x16 port into 4,4,4,4 though the cable itself seems to be limitation only allowing enough physical space for two physical cables so you can split an x16 port into 8,8 and then on the other side plug in whatever the hell you want.

Incidentally it seems as thunderbolt 3 solves this problem.
So I could just put a thunderbolt 3 card in and then connect to external enclosure which basically just caused me to rethink all of this.

Meaning I need to upgrade my existing storage, rather than a purchase of motherboard, case, and ram.
I could have purchased a thunderbolt 3 card, an 8bay thunderbolt 3 with an extra Pcie slot.

New users aren't able to edit their posts, because there's been a bunch of spammers who go back and edit their posts to add URL's, etc. You will gain the ability to edit posts at some point, I don't know what exact point, as I think it takes both account age and number of posts into account. Don't be shocked if a moderator takes several posts in rapid succession and merges them in an attempt to increase readability, in the meantime.

That explains it, once I get the ability to edit, I'll clean up the mess I have made of this thread.

If my motherboard supports thunderbolt 3 and I can find the right enclosure, I may send back all the stuff I purchased and migrate to this solution.
hell, I have a stack of old drives I can repurpose using this thunderbolt solution.

Well that was a hell of a rabbit hole. The answer is no thunderbolt isn't supported on my motherboard, and apparently thunderbolt support on motherboards is a unicorn feature. That kinds sucks.

 

[Ericloewe]

That explains it, once I get the ability to edit, I'll clean up the mess I have made of this thread.

Don't bother, we have a merge feature that works well. Just let us know once you're done so we can fix it.

 

[NugentS]

And don't forget that whatever fancy new cards you use may need TrueNAS support and if they require drivers thats unlikely. Scale may do better with fancy new hardware.