Attaching SAS disk to a powerpc G4.

[powermi]

Hi, have something like 4 x 4 TB SAS disks, and thinking how to link them to a powermac G4. I don't know if there are any supported SAS HBA card for powerpc or how reliables are the SATA -> SAS adapters, maybe the is a USB docking for that?
Do anyone have experience with that situation?

cheers.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Hi, have something like 4 x 4 TB SAS disks, and thinking how to link them to a powermac G4. I don't know if there are any supported SAS HBA card for powerpc or how reliables are the SATA -> SAS adapters, maybe the is a USB docking for that?
Do anyone have experience with that situation?

cheers.

Can you give more information on your use case? I don't have any experience with SAS, but I do have experience with Power Mac G4s

 

[eyoungren]

I don't have any experience with SAS, but I do have experience with Power Mac G4s

SAS is a different type of SATA connector. Typically it's what you'd find in very high end servers, the kind that you'd find in data centers.

As far as I know there are no adapters that would bridge SAS to IDE. There may be something for SAS to normal SATA, but then you'd have to find something to go from SATA to IDE (or possibly just use a SATA PCI card).

Basically, if you're ever searching for SATA drives though, SAS is what you want to avoid.

 

[NikolaPPC]

SAS hard drives require dedicated chip and software support for it to work.
You can use an adapter from SAS to SATA (tried that on my G5 Quad) and then SATA to IDE, but the drive won't be recognised. SAS communicates a bit different from SATA even tho they are similar at the first glance (find more on Wikipedia for detailed information).
As far as i know, no G4 or G5 boards (not including Xserve) can natively support it without PCI/PCIe adapter.

Cheers, Nikola!

 

[RogerWilco6502]

SAS is a different type of SATA connector. Typically it's what you'd find in very high end servers, the kind that you'd find in data centers.

As far as I know there are no adapters that would bridge SAS to IDE. There may be something for SAS to normal SATA, but then you'd have to find something to go from SATA to IDE (or possibly just use a SATA PCI card).

Basically, if you're ever searching for SATA drives though, SAS is what you want to avoid.

Thanks for the info! I knew it stood for Serial Attached SCSI, but I wasn't sure what it was exactly. Very informative

Don't some XServe units use SAS?

 

[Amethyst1]

Don't some XServe units use SAS?

Intel Xserves can use SAS or SATA drives, yep. You can attach a SATA drive to a SAS controller but not vice versa.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Intel Xserves can use SAS or SATA drives, yep. You can attach a SATA drive to a SAS controller but not vice versa.

Ah, ok. Cool!

 

[ediflorianus]

My Dell Uses a SAS card DELL LSI SAS 5/iR Adapter controller
PCI\VEN_1000&DEV_0054&SUBSYS_1F091028
However ,sadly ,it is PCIexpress...
If you could find something like this compatible for mac , you could definitely use those drives.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

I personally opted a few years back for a SSHD 4 TB Seagate (hybrid sata drive with 8gb ssd on it)...
It seems they are out of production , and nowdays I probably could not afford it aniway .
So I*m glad I just bought it back then.

 

[powermi]

Thanks for the replies, I got the drives for free so that was the reason for using them.
I want a reliable solution as the are going to be backup drives, maybe ill gove a try for looking to SAS HBA cards on PCI format, compatible with mac.
Some info here: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/tips/LSI_SAS_PCI-Xin_G5tower.html
[automerge]1589177744[/automerge]

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Thanks for the replies, I got the drives for free so that was the reason for using them.
I want a reliable solution as the are going to be backup drives, maybe ill gove a try for looking to SAS HBA cards on PCI format, compatible with mac.
Some info here: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/tips/LSI_SAS_PCI-Xin_G5tower.html
[automerge]1589177744[/automerge]

Looking for a PCI SAS card is likely your best bet for sure. Either that or external SAS enclosures if you can find them (just make sure to get a USB card as well to plug them in to).

 

[Alexis Trinquet]

FWIW most SAS HBAs I've seen were PCIe, so unless you have a PMG5 quad-core you're most likely out of luck.

Though searching on Google for "PCI-X SAS" gave some hits, IIRC G4s had PCI-X (PCI but with a longer slot) ports, so that could work. Though PCI-X SAS HBAs seem to be rare as a hen's teeth.

EDIT: If you don't mind using those disks in a RAID array, I found a potential candidate, the Adaptec 4800SAS: https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/support/raid/sas_raid/sas-4800/

Though there is no OSX or OS 9/8 drivers... So that may be a no-go or just a straight up no-op.

EDIT 02: There's the LSI SAS3801X but it has only external SFF-8088 ports, so you would need the appropriate cabling and a SAS DAS (disk array shelf if my memory serves me right) or even a JBOD enclosure.

 

[ediflorianus]

In the end , sorry for replay , you can always go with a NAS that has SAS support...

 

[Alexis Trinquet]

AFAIK there's no known SAS card that can work in OS9/OSX and on PCI-X... You're better off cobbling together a small machine that will act as a server, and pass the drives to a iSCSI volume that'll get mounted by the Macs.

Otherwise, I can't see what to do with that.

 

[z970]

IIRC G4s had PCI-X (PCI but with a longer slot) ports

G4s only went up to 64-bit PCI. PCI-X, like USB 2.0, wasn't available until the G5.

Ridiculously, someone thought it a good idea to make 64-bit PCI slots and PCI-X slots of the same dimension, making it nigh impossible to tell which from the other unless you either had the subject machine's tech specs on hand, or the logic board manufacturer had the courtesy to label each slot.

Although 64-bit PCI was by far a more common inclusion than PCI-X, but that's besides the point.

 

[Alexis Trinquet]

G4s only went up to 64-bit PCI. PCI-X, like USB 2.0, wasn't available until the G5.

Ridiculously, someone thought it a good idea to make 64-bit PCI slots and PCI-X slots of the same dimension, making it nigh impossible to tell which from the other unless you either had the subject machine's tech specs on hand, or the logic board manufacturer had the courtesy to label each slot.

Although 64-bit PCI was by far a more common inclusion than PCI-X, but that's besides the point.

Well that's flat out confusing... In a way, I will never understand Apple's logic behind that PCI switcheroo.

Welp, I learned something today. At least.

 

[z970]

Welp, I learned something today.

That's why it's great to be here.

 

[armdn]

Here is my experience with SAS HBA on PowerPC Macs.

LSI SAS in Power Mac G5

It will work only for G5 Macs, as the LSI HBA Controller only supports 3.3v PCI-X. I specifically searched compatible HBA, and found that one some chip used as in Apple Xserve.

Anyway - it is not bootable at all, as there is no any AHCI drivers for SATA-II/SAS...

 

[Alexis Trinquet]

Here is my experience with SAS HBA on PowerPC Macs.

LSI SAS in Power Mac G5

It will work only for G5 Macs, as the LSI HBA Controller only supports 3.3v PCI-X. I specifically searched compatible HBA, and found that one some chip used as in Apple Xserve.

Anyway - it is not bootable at all, as there is no any AHCI drivers for SATA-II/SAS...

That confirmed my suspicion, seems like for a G4 you're going to have to setup a "bridge machine" with a SAS HBA in it and share the HDDs from the bridge machine through a iSCSI target.

Assuming of course, that a PPC-compatible iSCSI initiator (client) exists.

Edit: perhaps not just iSCSI but maybe something else like AFP or SMB/CIFS. Or any other LAN file sharing protocol that Apple supports out of the box.

 

[armdn]

Search SNS globalSAN iSCSI initiator for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (i assume this is Universal Binary).

 

[powermi]

Here is my experience with SAS HBA on PowerPC Macs.

LSI SAS in Power Mac G5

It will work only for G5 Macs, as the LSI HBA Controller only supports 3.3v PCI-X. I specifically searched compatible HBA, and found that one some chip used as in Apple Xserve.

Anyway - it is not bootable at all, as there is no any AHCI drivers for SATA-II/SAS...

Thanks!
so shoul work with a G4, now the thing is looking for a LSI1064 card.