Dude, if you count all the drives in the system, you might realise I've already used all the connectors on the breakout cable
I was referring to the cable, not the port count used up or not. But I'm counting 3 (1 in the 2nd optical bay, 2 in the PCIe slot chamber). What's the 4th connector attached to? One of the HDD bays?
What am I missing (keep in mind, I'm bouncing back and forth W/
DoFoT9 ATM in another one over RAID...)?
Wooo Hold ya horses there a moment cowboy
I didn't say there's an optical drive in the second bay, I said it's another 1TB drive. It's actually the standalone System drive with Leopard 10.5.6 on - ProTools 8 LE ain't Snowy compatible yet..
STUPID DIGI!
Still easy enough to move. As it's a 2.5", it might be moved elsewhere internally. You were certainly creative enough witht the pair in the PCIe slot area.
Is there enough room perhaps to zip tie it to the bottom of one of the HDD locations (maybe a bit of PCB sandwiched between the drives to avoid shorts between case/board or board/board)?
I can't tell how much space is actually available between the bottom of one of those drives and the circuits on the CalDigit. It might even be easier with the Areca once you get it all in hand and the data transferred.
The HD in the second optical bay is a Seagate, so are the two sitting in the expansion bays. Everything else are Western Digital.
The Seagate couldn't be used on the Areca. They won't work with
AS drives (consumer models), but as it's attached to the logic board, it won't matter.
Which WD's in hand? RE3's?
(SO many posts, it's hard to recall exactly what everyone has).
What? I just spent a ton of money on the interface, now I need to spend more money for an expender card? Do I really need them?
No, you don't need them. Not unless you're wanting to use it with more than 28 drives (24 internal + 4 external). The SFF-8088 port on the back is nice.
But if you do need to go with a higher drive count, it's possible. It just adds to the cost of the enclosures. It's sort of like a PM chip, but quite a bit more complicated. They don't install in the system, but in the enclosure itself. It's cost effective for large drive counts, as it cuts down on the cards.
Hmm.. Yeah, that's the next thing I was gonna ask you. How hard would it be to build an suitable expander, one with built-in PSU, active cooling and Mini-SAS backplane. Are all the parts readily available?
It's doable, but the parts aren't as easy to find as you might hope. You need a "dumb box" (usually includes the PSU). The other odds and ends are available at pc-pitstop (adapter brackets, cables). The expander board is going to be the harder part to locate.
Direct contact with manufacturers (i.e. check Alibaba.com) may be an option. I just don't know what the minimum orders would be like for the various companies (i.e. $1k? or closer to $10k?).
See this is the problem i'm face with here.
If I go with enterprise level 2.5" drives, even though I can build a bigger, more complicated array, each of the actual drive capacity will be much smaller!! But i've seen some really nice housing for them, compact enough to build a 20 drive array within the Optical drive space... though I'd need to workout the cooling system and the wiring will be a problem, even if i choose slim cables. Then there's the issue with the PSU.
DIY expansion bay might be the way forward here.. What you think? Suggestions?
Building a "dumb box" is easy.
1. Choose your case (computer case will work if you wish) & backplanes to get the drive quantity you need (good backplanes will have fans in them, and alarm temp settings too). You can add a fan or two in the case if you wish. Just note, the smaller fans (i.e. 40 - 80mm units are typically noisy as hell). If you need quiet, go for the largest possible, and be prepared to swap them for quieter models (i.e. avoid 25 & 40mm units like the plague IMO; especially the 40's). 80 or 120mm (there are a rare few) can be easily swapped, and not too terrible in terms of cost. (Most enclosures are noisy, no matter if it's a rackmount or pedestal unit).
I'm presuming you need a quiet environment to preserve your sanity at the very least.
2. Select a standard PSU (~200W / 4 drives, using staggered spin-up; it helps reduce the load <startup draw>, and why the stock units are low). Please note, if you want a redundant PSU, those are expensive. They have their place, but the MP's not a redundant system, so it doesn't make as much sense to do it. You could quit within the 500 - 600W range though (say a 16+ drive enclosure), as the staggered spin up occurs in groups of 4 drives.
Just jump the black and green wires to make a computer PSU to function. Nice and simple.
3. You need the appropriate SATA cables (go as short as possible) + SATA-> SFF-8088 (or SFF-8470 MultiLane if you preffer). The SFF-8088's have latches (no screws to deal with like the ML connectors, and work well). They're also capable of higher bandwidths as well. They are more expensive though.
ML->SATA bracket You can attach it to a PCI bracket or some tooling to a computer case.
SFF-8088 ->SATA bracket Same installation as the above unit.
Either will work with SAS or SATA drives. Again, keep the wiring to a minimum length, as the spec for passive signals for SATA is 1.0m, and the external SFF-8088 -> SFF-8088 cable is 1.0m. It's critical, as you could end up with drop outs. SAS can go to 8.0m due to it's much higher signal voltages.
They're simple, but they do work (less to go wrong too, such as I2C or SPI monitor boards).
4. Assemble the "Pile-O-Parts".
5. Test it heavily to verify stability prior to trusting your important data to it.
I've no idea what you can get things for locally, but it's quite possible to do it. Just run the numbers to see if it's justifiable compared to what you can get pre-made.
There are inexpensive units out there (perhaps butt-ugly, but work). I've no idea if appearance rates on your priorities. But "pretty" will cost you more for the case/enclosure, no matter which way you go. It's harder to hide it with SATA too, given the cable length restrictions.
BTW, are you after pedestal, or rackmount enclosures?
