Recent content by techtoys

  1. T

    Supermicro X10SLQ and mini PCIe to 2 port SATA card problem

    I use an external USB drive(s) as the boot drive. These are SATA SSDs which are external using a 2.5" case with a SATA to USB converter. I used to use 2 of these mirrored but you can use one and just back up your config in case of failure. By using an external drive for the OS and boot I save...
  2. T

    Anyone have a problem with BitDeals Tech?

    I dealt with them years ago and had a good experience but I could not manage to buy from them in Aug 2022. I filed a support ticket and got some emails but I never got a quote for drives. In the end I went with another bigger outfit in town. I have personally met Michael and he is a decent...
  3. T

    Supermicro X10SLQ and mini PCIe to 2 port SATA card problem

    I have done drive cage for tower. There are some cases with front loading drives and backplanes. These tend to be a bit more expensive. I got lucky and got the supermicro 4 bay mini-tower for $80 new. There are others which are sold for DIY NAS. I also have a Silverstone DS380 and I added a cage...
  4. T

    Supermicro X10SLQ and mini PCIe to 2 port SATA card problem

    I assume you will run raidZ2 on the 5 drives. If one fails its not that simple for a person to replace the drive. An internal drive is beyond most normal people but if you have a tray with drives that are easy to swap a regular person may be able to do it. Here is the hard part. You have 5...
  5. T

    Supermicro X10SLQ and mini PCIe to 2 port SATA card problem

    240G is overkill and you can get small drives for under $20 on ebay. But 240 is fine if you want to use it. Go with USB as its simpler to change if one fails. That being said ... you are more likely to have a failure if someone yanks out the usb cable. It is possible to do it via USB...
  6. T

    Supermicro X10SLQ and mini PCIe to 2 port SATA card problem

    I am not sure how big the SSD is just for a mirrored boot. If its a reasonable size then use the SSD for a pool. You can use a small SSD even externally via USB for boot. I have a Truenas Scale system booting from external USB using a SATA SSD. I used to do this on Truenas Core using 2 SATA...
  7. T

    Supermicro X11SSL Boot to Bios and finicky RAM

    I could not boot into the BIOS on this board. It would switch off after PEI Intel reference code execution followed by 0x18=mrcColdBootRequired The board requires ECC DDR4 UDIMM 2400 (max). I was plugging in 1 or 2 sticks of 16GB ECC DDR4 UDIMM 2666. I then tried 1 stick of 16GB DDR4 3200...
  8. T

    Supermicro 3.5 HDD screws

    they have gone up 50 cents in 18 months.
  9. T

    EXPIRED HGST 8TB SAS - $50

    Here in the Bay Area the base rate is now 0.35 non-peak in the off-season. 0.38 in the summer with a penalty from 5 to 8 pm
  10. T

    Supermicro CSE-847 All 7x 80mm Fans Needed?

    I'm hoping to install the motherboard in the case today.
  11. T

    Supermicro CSE-847 All 7x 80mm Fans Needed?

    I agree. the fans are mostly to keep the drives cool. I will be leaving them on.
  12. T

    Supermicro CSE-847 All 7x 80mm Fans Needed?

    I have no idea but I just ordered an 847 yesterday and I am hoping to pick it up on Friday ... fingers crossed. The case will sit on a rack in my garage but I was not expecting a jet engine. This is my first 4U SM case. Ironically, I need to spend time moving parts from a 3U case to a 4U LP...
  13. T

    6 - 14TB enterprise drives <$11/gb.

    I have done business with these guys before. They are near my house and I picked up the drives and avoided shipping. I have posted on this before. They are legit. I am a happy customer. The drives I got from them years ago are still working.
  14. T

    Natex S5520HC BIOS recovery restores NICs

    wow! I am impressed that people are still running these. I have 2 but they are switched off. I ended up cannibalizing the DRAM for newer systems. From memory ... these were 32nm Westmere which I think was a spin of the Nehalem architecture. all from memory. I could be wrong.