with all these quantum dxi6500 jbod enclosures...

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thisnewaccount

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Oct 20, 2018
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i recently bought a used quantum dxi6500 (just a rebadged supermicro cse-826 jbod chassis?) via ebay to add some storage to this unraid server that has only 15 drives in it. i intend to connect the external drive array to the server via a dell h200e card also bought on ebay (will have to flash it to proper mode).

the storage enclosure does not come with caddies, though (this explains why the price was very, very good). so i need to procure a few.

now, the same type of enclosures is/was being used at work and quite of few of them are being life-cycled. i might be able to grab some caddies as the drives are being sent to be destroyed (while still attached to the caddies, can you imagine?), but am not betting my paycheque on it.

i'm having difficulties identifying the exact model of the missing caddies, as supermicro has quite a few variations. does anyone know which ones i should look for on ebay or elsewhere?

thanks in advance,
 

BLinux

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i believe what you need is Supermicro MCP-220-00075-0B. the chassis should have some sort of identifying sticker on it, not Quantum one. You might be able to use that to contact Supermicro support to ask this question. but, i'm pretty sure that's the right part for you.
 
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thisnewaccount

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fwiw, from what i've seen in the storage space where surplus gear is stored, these storage arrays do have quantum stickers on them.

this being said, i've been using the outside appearance of the caddies to identify them; the front of both 'gen4' (MCP-220-00043-0N) and 'gen5.5' (MCP-220-00075-0B) caddies do look alike from the pictures. that's why i was asking.

thanks.
 

Blinky 42

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This is what has been in SM chassis for the past several years https://store.supermicro.com/mcp-220-00075-0b.html
The previous version that also fits- is functionally the same and fits in the same slots but has metal along the sides of the drive instead of the black plastic. The metal version was standard for another 2-3 years before they introduced the plastic side version. I suspect either should work for you.
The MCP-220-00043-0N part # is for a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter if you want to put SSDs or 2.5" HDDs in one of the 3.5" slots.
 

thisnewaccount

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Oct 20, 2018
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So, it's confirmed that the required caddy is indeed a MCP-220-00043-0N, as pointed to by @BLinux & @blinky42. Managed to get back to the surplus equipment storage room, pulled a caddy out and took photos -- see attached, as i can't see a way to embed images in this message.

i've since found a lot of 10 units on ebay.ca for roughly 100 cad shipped, still hunting for two more. a bit annoying that just two units would cost me around 40cad, though.

anyway, thanks for the pointers. much appreciated.
 

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BLinux

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wow.. that's interesting... the part 01-SC81302-XX00C004 listing says:

"Please note these are manual tray, no spring to auto pop handle and does not have the status LED. "

I've seen those trays with that front design (wider holes), but I didn't realize they had handles without springs and that there's no LED? when you look at the pictures, it indeed doesnt have the optical guides on the side.

learn something new every day...
 

thisnewaccount

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@Blinky 42 : thank you.

...huh, but i only need two?!?
so one has reasonable shipping (total comes to an estimated 88.70cad), but the other one, ouch. you have to love ebay.

looking at the photos, it does seem that supermicro has kept the basic design similar enough over the years that those would fit. i'll have to look at the caddies from the CSE-M35TQB units i have in my 2nd server to see if they could fit, too. those could become another options later on.

had i known, i would have bought that lot of 24 instead, it would have been less expensive and i would have had spares!

still tempted despite the price (i must admit it's a very good one, but i already spent ~100cad), but there are no blinkenlights... (yes, #choosingbeggars, or something)
 
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kapone

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Blinking lights are critical...trust me. You don't care about them when things are working...but when they don't... ;)
 
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Blinky 42

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/me is of course a fan of Blinky Lights ... can't have enough ;)

Those were just the first 2 lots that were < $6/ea when I looked this morning waiting on hold for Ip Provider to fix their networks this AM. Probably others out there to choose from. You do want to be able to see the LEDs that are on the backplane when it comes time to swap a drive, and the reassuring blinking when it is chugging away doing fun things.
 
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thisnewaccount

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so, received all the bits for that drive array (quantum / supermicro chassis, drive caddies, sff-8088 cables), cross-flashed a dell h200e i recently purchased off ebay into it mode, hooked everything up to my backup-redundancy-2nd server and have been busy filling the drives:

(see 1st attached file)

btw, i was worried that h200e might not be happy to sit in a pcie x4 slot (i.e.: physically a 16x slot, electrically just a 4x), but it's working just fine. yes, it could be faster with the full 8x it would prefer, nonetheless i can still make use of that external drive array.

but i digress. before purchasing the unit to replace a pair of sans digital tr4m+bnc, i did manage to go to the surplus space at work and power on one of those units that have been life-cycled, to see how noisy they could be. it wasn't that bad.

BUT

here in my living room (it's there until i can finish building this new diy server rack in the basement), this thing is LOUD.

the biggest culprits are the main fans:

(see 2nd attached file)

searched high and low for units to replace them (read: less noisy), but can't find 80mm fans that could do the trick. not sure it is wise to go from ~70+ cfm per fan down to ~30-35cfm or even less. so the question is: did anyone else have to perform fan replacement in comparable units, so that they could use them in their homes, and if so, what did you use to replace those screaming banshees?

thanks,
 

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nthu9280

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Also search for @sfbayzfs posts on his findings here too. I want to say it was to go with 0.35A version of the SAN ACE fan 9GA0812P2M0031 or SMCI part # FAN-00125L4. There is another one that is used in the SC743 / 745 quiet chassis - FAN-104L4 but that is 0.13A and may not have enough static pressure to push the air thru a 2U chassis.

1.1A fans in your chassis are noisy even at standard or optimum IPMI setting.
 

thisnewaccount

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Oct 20, 2018
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@BLinux & @nthu9280: thanks for the replies. from what i'm reading in the threads you have pointed to, it looks as if alternative 80mm fans are not as generic as they could be, am i reading this right? it's as if you cannot swap fans between different plastic carrier/shrouds. i would be very leery of butchering the carriers to make them fit in my current '826 chassis. if i could keep the existing ones, but just swapping the fans inside them, that would be the preferred solution. i'll keep digging.

on another note, and sorry if this is a stupid question (i should know better, being an punch-card & decwriter 2 era geezer), but i have connected my external drive array to my server using two cables, using both connectors on the h200e. am i wrong to assume i'm using all 8, huh, "drive lanes" provided by the two '8088 cables? or will the backplane in my drive array ignore one of the two cables, just using one?
 

sfbayzfs

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I really need to update my postings, lots of that stuff is gone, and I have newer stuff to sell/trade, but I definitely do have a number of extras of the FAN-00125L4 rear exhaust 0.35A fans which I have swapped into carriers from higher wattage fans in 826, 846, and 847 chassis' (847 carriers need to be modded). These are the fans I use most often since they cut the noise enough, and move enough air for my situation. I also have extra new old stock Panaflo 0.18A fans, which are quieter, and are about as low as you can safely go. They are 3-pin with long cables, I just plug them into the motherboard or backplane directly, although one friend modded the connector to retain hotswap capability. Friends and I have tried 0.9A Noctua NF-A8-PWM fans, but they are just not powerful enough, even at full speed. If you have a high power CPU though, you would want an active cooler with the Panaflo fans. The Panaflos actually work really well in an 836 chassis since you have them in the midplane and as exhaust, but do be sure to use an air shroud in an 836 or 846 chassis.
 
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