Cheapest SAS/SATA disk enclosure
- Thread starter lkthomas
- Start date
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Information we will need to help you:
- How many disks do you need?
- Will you be using >2TB disks?
- What type of connectors do you need? SFF-8088, SFF-8644?
- Dual port or single port SAS expander?
- Single or dual expander?
16+ disk
yes I will be using 4TB+ disks
Does connector make any differences?
Dual port meaning two SAS output port?!
Is there have dual expander? is it meaning backplane will connect to two different expander card?
No, dual port means that the hdd/ssd has additional pins. These pins are connected to a second port which can be connected to another hba/raid controller for high avalibility.
Single port sas and sata drives use the pins at the bottom, dual port drives also use the pins at the top.
But at the front, it will be the same? So I have to check backplane to see if it's dual port?No, dual port means that the hdd/ssd has additional pins. These pins are connected to a second port which can be connected to another hba/raid controller for high avalibility.
Single port sas and sata drives use the pins at the bottom, dual port drives also use the pins at the top.
If you are looking for the cheapest, you are using SATA dives NOT SAS drives right?
Dual port allows you to get redundant paths to SAS drives for redundancy and performance. This is what a cheap but still dual SAS expander system looks like via ebay.de:
Supermicro Storage JBOD / Dual 6GBs SAS Expander Dual 720Watt 80Plus Gold
You can see it has redundant expanders, power supplies and everything so you can plug in SAS drives and two servers to the system and access the drives from both systems.
The connector type only matters because it costs a lot to swap between them.
Edit - morning of threads crossing.
I see, I think I will stay with SATA instead of SAS. The enclosure that you showed is too expensive.
Yea that was my fault. I was reading the other build advice thread in German!
What about this 4U Supermicro 45 Bay SAS SATA JBOD Storage Expander LSI 9200-8e SC847E16-RJBOD1 too many drives I know. It does come with a SAS card too so it is the cheapest one I have seen.
This is a smaller/ cheaper one that you could put a motherboard in if you wanted
SuperMicro 3U CSE 836E16-R1200B 16x 3.5' 6GB SAS Expander SATA X9 MB or JBOD
This is silly cheap 4U Supermicro Superchassis SC846E1-R900B 24 Bay SAS SATA Chassis JBOD Server but uses the older expander
SC846E1-R900B 24 Bay SAS SATA Chassis JBOD <- price look decent, but no expander card inside?
I did some math on my requirement, it's hardly saturate backplane even at 3Gbps old SAS generation, I think I will probably doing fine.
Why not Dell MD1000 then? Is it tricky to deal with non-dell hard drive?
The expander is not a card in those, it is on the backplane that the drives plug into.
The MD1000 I saw this DELL POWEREDGE 2900 2950 MD1000 SAS SATA U HARD DRIVE CADDY TRAY INTERPOSER and if you have to use interposers for SATA drives in them I'd skip the chassis.
I know it's an old thread, but MD1000s are still around, and many homelabbers take advantage of the low prices.
The main reason you don't want those interposers is the price, the second reason is that they simply aren't neccessary, if you don't need link redundancy to the host (which is the case for most homelabbers).
So, if you pull one of the I/O-modules, the MD1000 will support any SATA disk with or without interposer. Split mode should do the same trick, but I haven't tested that one, yet.
Dell left that info out of the documentation, thus there's quite a bit of confusion on the net about those interposers. I only discovered this today, after reading some old threads on the net about MD1000 and SATA disks, one of which explained that the primary use of the interposers is to fake dual-port functionality.
I was scratching my head, because my two MD1000s didn't recognize SATA disks without interposers at all, despite some reports that they should, if you don't mix trays with and without interposers.
So on a whim I pulled one of the I/O-modules and boom the two disks I had in there without interposers showed up just fine (along the 13 SATA disks in trays with interposers).
Trays without interposers are about 6-10€ each, where I live. Trays with interposers are very hard to find, and if you find them, they are at least 30-40€, often more. Even if I order the interposers separately from China they'll easily double or triple the price of the assembled tray.
trying WAY too hard! Get some Antec Three Hundred chassis and then add 2 or 3 Coolermaster 4-in-3 units (has fan and side plates are rubber suspended) or something similar that can also be screwed down (if you want) , and add a ChenBro/Intel SAS expander. Granted not earth-quake safe but works beautifully in a SMB/home scenario. You will need a beefy power supply or maybe install 2 supplies. Delayed spin-up jumpered on your drives is a very good idea.
Personally I find Netapp DS4243 units to be plenty cheap and more "proper".
Personally I find Netapp DS4243 units to be plenty cheap and more "proper".
Huh, what would the Antec + 2 or 3 Coolermaster units cost? Hint: it's way more than a single MD1000 (150€) and would only provide room for 6-9 disks. Plus I can't mix SAS and SATA disks in there (just recently ran into cheap 2TB SAS disks).
My first backup stage is an old Zalman HS1000 with 3x3 SATA bays, but that too is only 9 drives and no more room to expand.
Whereas I can simply daisy chain another MD1000 to the two I already have, and I could add another 3 MD1000 per external port of my HP p812. That would make 12 MD1000 in total = 180 disks.
The DL180G6 running those MD1000s did run me about 150€ (Dual Xeon, 32GB RAM, P812 1GB FBWC), good luck finding equal components for that price that fit into the Antec. ;-)
My first backup stage is an old Zalman HS1000 with 3x3 SATA bays, but that too is only 9 drives and no more room to expand.
Whereas I can simply daisy chain another MD1000 to the two I already have, and I could add another 3 MD1000 per external port of my HP p812. That would make 12 MD1000 in total = 180 disks.
The DL180G6 running those MD1000s did run me about 150€ (Dual Xeon, 32GB RAM, P812 1GB FBWC), good luck finding equal components for that price that fit into the Antec. ;-)
Right and the MD1000 requires trays and interposers (SATA) at not insignificant cost even if you do manage to get your hands on the basic chassis and controllers for a cheap price. The Antec 300 or similar design will hold 10 drives easy across the front. Add in 3 of the 4-in-3 for 22 total. In 4U and no special parts needed. You can build it as fancy or ghetto as you like. And switch to SAS6 just by changing the expander.
Sure, if you're lucky and manage to score a MD1000/MD3000 for a song with all of the requisite parts then great. But good luck with that. It's not common.
But to answer the OP more accurately, my favorite is a Supermicro 93x/836 or a Xyratex RS-160x
Sure, if you're lucky and manage to score a MD1000/MD3000 for a song with all of the requisite parts then great. But good luck with that. It's not common.
But to answer the OP more accurately, my favorite is a Supermicro 93x/836 or a Xyratex RS-160x
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Interposers are NOT required. Trays, yes. MD1000 withouth trays run about 100€. Trays runs about 80€, and you can get lucky like me and score a MD1000 with trays for 150€. ;-)
And BTW, all of those prices are also already including the EMMs and PSUs!
And no, it's not very uncommon, even in the EU.
AFAIK Coolermaster doesn't have any drive cages with backplanes, so that's a definite no-go (no, you really don't want to individually cable 10+ drives in one case. Data may be doable, but power cabling those drives individually is either highly risky or very expensive, think another 20€ per drive cage just for quality power cables).
Raidsonic MB455SPF-B or similar run about 100€ each, 15 drives = 300€.
Antec Three Hundred: 90€ (without PSU)
750W ATX PSU adds another 100€.
Want to add another 15 drives? There go another 500€ just for the case stuff, without the Mainboard, CPU, RAM and HBA to drive them (unless you want to spoil reliability further by jerry-rigging the second case to the first one with long SAS-SATA breakouts...yeah, you really don't).
Don't get me wrong: your proposal definitely is a feasible solution if reliability and expandability are not important.
As I said, I do in fact run a similar solution as yours with the HS1000. That's 24TB of first stage backups.
Second stage is 60TB in two MD1000s and if I need more I'll just add another MD1000 (or more) without having to rethink the whole concept or pay high premiums on higher density drives.
Both solutions do have their pros and cons, and I wouldn't dismiss any of them as "trying way too hard".
And BTW, all of those prices are also already including the EMMs and PSUs!
And no, it's not very uncommon, even in the EU.
AFAIK Coolermaster doesn't have any drive cages with backplanes, so that's a definite no-go (no, you really don't want to individually cable 10+ drives in one case. Data may be doable, but power cabling those drives individually is either highly risky or very expensive, think another 20€ per drive cage just for quality power cables).
Raidsonic MB455SPF-B or similar run about 100€ each, 15 drives = 300€.
Antec Three Hundred: 90€ (without PSU)
750W ATX PSU adds another 100€.
Want to add another 15 drives? There go another 500€ just for the case stuff, without the Mainboard, CPU, RAM and HBA to drive them (unless you want to spoil reliability further by jerry-rigging the second case to the first one with long SAS-SATA breakouts...yeah, you really don't).
Don't get me wrong: your proposal definitely is a feasible solution if reliability and expandability are not important.
As I said, I do in fact run a similar solution as yours with the HS1000. That's 24TB of first stage backups.
Second stage is 60TB in two MD1000s and if I need more I'll just add another MD1000 (or more) without having to rethink the whole concept or pay high premiums on higher density drives.
Both solutions do have their pros and cons, and I wouldn't dismiss any of them as "trying way too hard".
Well, you were the one proposing Coolermaster drive cages, now suddenly it's Silverstone. Again without backplane, so not at all suitable for a reliable build (seriously, no backplane is a no-go).
Icydocks IB/MB don't have crap ventilation, by the way. Just crappy stock fans, easily replaceable. No need to do that on MD1000s, though...their fans are built to last. ;-)
Icydocks IB/MB don't have crap ventilation, by the way. Just crappy stock fans, easily replaceable. No need to do that on MD1000s, though...their fans are built to last. ;-)
the CM unit was ODM and they aren't selling it anymore. I was providing similar alternatives. Some backplanes from Supermicro vent pretty well. Others not so much. The typical backplane in a 4-in-3 unit has lousy air-flow design. That's why I don't use them, also because of cost. Cheap != neat and tidy except in lucky situations.