Samsung SSD PM1643 3.8TB SAS 12Gb/s MZ-ILT3T8A 2.5" @ $289.98

[itronin]

One more question, I’m new to SAS drives

Could I use this combo with these drives?

yes.

I have the non-locking variant. they will work. Use molex power connectors straight out of your PSU.
Please don't use SATA to molex adapters to power this. Some of the cheap ones can catch fire. It is not an urban myth.

MB994SK-1B_ToughArmor Series_REMOVABLE 2.5" SSD / HDD ENCLOSURES_ICY DOCK manufacturer Removable enclosure, Screwless hard drive enclosure, SAS SATA Mobile Rack, DVR Surveillance Recording, Video Audio Editing, SATA portable hard drive enclosure

ICY DOCK product page overview description for SATA/SAS/NVMe rugged mobile rack enclosures.

www.icydock.com

Cable Matters Internal Mini SAS to SATA Cable (SFF-8087 to SATA Forward Breakout) 1.6 Feet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018YHS8BS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_39RTFWP9SHT0S14YT6B7

IBM 81Y4494 H1110 SAS-2 6Gbps HBA LSI 9211-4i P20 IT Mode ZFS FreeNAS B-STOCK | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for IBM 81Y4494 H1110 SAS-2 6Gbps HBA LSI 9211-4i P20 IT Mode ZFS FreeNAS B-STOCK at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

yes. SFF-8087 to SATA forward breakout. With that specific cable the little locky tabs on the sata connectors can be a bit tricky to get your fingers onto them when the icy dock is installed in a confined space and you need to unplug the cable.

 

[itronin]

Figuring out with ICY-DOCK products are actually SAS can be obnoxious. SATA drives can be used with SAS controllers and enclosures. SAS drives can ONLY work with SAS enclosures and controllers.

So, I'm going with "No" since your specifying a SAS to 4x SATA breakout cable.

I'm going to say yes. see this system I built - using a bulk pack of cable creation 1.6ft SFF-8087 to SATA forward breakout cables.

If the cable is properly pinned then it will work, the SATA connector does not care whether the protocol is SAS or SATA. For example a SM BPN-SAS-836TQ backplane does not care and it uses SATA connectors for the hookup to the motherboard or HBA.

Caveat Emptor: There are some really cheap SFF-8087 to SATA forward breakout cables that only work with SATA drives. I actually have a couple of the @#$@#$@#$. I have not had a problem with the Cable Creation or Cable Matters forward breakout cables.

Nice thing about AMZ. If they don't work then squack and send 'em back.

 

[Fritz]

I have an old caddyless enclosure that I was surprised to find did work with SAS drives. Hooked up a Dell H310 and it works perfectly. So I wouldn't no without knowing for sure.

 

[LodeRunner]

I'm going to say yes. see this system I built - using a bulk pack of cable creation 1.6ft SFF-8087 to SATA forward breakout cables.

If the cable is properly pinned then it will work, the SATA connector does not care whether the protocol is SAS or SATA. For example a SM BPN-SAS-836TQ backplane does not care and it uses SATA connectors for the hookup to the motherboard or HBA.

Caveat Emptor: There are some really cheap SFF-8087 to SATA forward breakout cables that only work with SATA drives. I actually have a couple of the @#$@#$@#$. I have not had a problem with the Cable Creation or Cable Matters forward breakout cables.

Nice thing about AMZ. If they don't work then squack and send 'em back.

Nice. Last time I looked at ID, at least on Amazon, there were a lot of mis-labeled units where the interface inside was clearly SATA, but were labeled as SAS.

 

[Weapon]

Nice. Last time I looked at ID, at least on Amazon, there were a lot of mis-labeled units where the interface inside was clearly SATA, but were labeled as SAS.

how could you tell?

 

[LodeRunner]

Pictures of the inside, SAS connectors are a single piece, I've seen some, maybe they don't make them like this anymore, where you could see the distinct SATA power and power ports.

Here's an example of a SATA backplane as I've described, you can see the vertical spacer that would stop you from plugging a SAS drive in:

Spoiler

 

[itronin]

Yep. there are truly SATA only backplane connectors out there. And I don't doubt you've run into them.
I've also seen SATA only SFF-8087 to forward breakout cables. that's a @#$@#$ nightmare unless its labeled "SATA ONLY".

ID does indeed sell SATA only H/S products. I've seen them labeled as such.

I can only go off what @Weapon posted. Here's the ID description from their linked web page :

"The ICY DOCK ToughArmor MB994SK-1B takes 4 x 2.5" SAS/SATA HDD/SSD from 5mm to 15mm height, and supports Hot Swap for quick and easy drive replacements."

Like I said I have the NON locking version of that cage. well quite a few actually as per my post.
In fact over the last hour I just tested 8 HBA's for someone using 2 cages and some cable creation SATA forward breakout cables. all 8 HGST SAS SSD's showed up every time.

Edit - Also, nothing wrong with calling ICY Dock too - explain what you are after see what they say!.

IMO
Rosewill makes a 3.5"/2.5" 4 bay SAS/SATA cage and its plastic, poorly designed interior cable connection/routing and typically 1 of your 4 bays will not work because of a cable that interferes with the drive seating. GARBAGE.
Athenatech makes 4 bay and 8 bay SAS cages. I've had nothing but trouble with them. GARBAGE.
iStar makes 4 bay SAS/SATA cages. Worked fine. pricey.
Startech makes 4 bay SAS/SATA cages. Worked fine. pricey.
ID makes a lot of 4 bay SAS/SATA and SATA only cages. Worked fine. pricey at list, but often can be found on sale around October-Dec.

If you are only hooking up 1 4xcage its a nice easy way with cable management etc in a mini/mid or tower these are nice. Watch your cooling if you are running HOT drives.

Going the route of the breakout and individual drive power is kinda PITA cable management but can be more flexible 2.5"? 3.5" connectors don't care.

Ultimately if you are a bit inexperienced then it is always bit of a gamble.
Did I match the right connectors?
Are my cables long enough?
Do I have the correct power from my ABC qunitex multi-variable PSU?
Are those power cables long enough?

If you are unsure buy from a reseller with a return policy that works for you!

Decision paralysis can eat you alive. this is SUPPOSED to be a fun hobby. You'll make mistakes. Plan for them and have a plan for when you do... good vendor/reseller selection when starting out is IMO a wise decision even if initially some products cost a bit more. Once you get a feel, know how it works go crazy on ebay or with small volume but good deal sellers etc.

 

[Fritz]

Here's a shot of my caddiless enclosure.

 

[Weapon]

Also redid using "--six" flag for good measure. Probably not necessary.

"sg_format -v --format --size=512 --six /dev/sdv"

I did only this and seemed to work

Using my IBM 81Y4494 in a PCIe 2.0 x4

Strangely, CrystalDiskInfo does not recognize the drive

 

[DouglasteR]

Dang, missed this one.

I have a RAID of 6 of these babies running 24/7 for years without a single problem (other that problem of sudden death when they reach x hours, but managed to avoid doing the firmware update).

Amazing drives, very picky about power cables, use quality ones directly from the powersupply.

 

[Weapon]

Dang, missed this one.

I have a RAID of 6 of these babies running 24/7 for years without a single problem (other that problem of sudden death when they reach x hours, but managed to avoid doing the firmware update).

Amazing drives, very picky about power cables, use quality ones directly from the powersupply.

Details on firmware update?

 

[DouglasteR]

Details on firmware update?

HPE fixes another SAS SSD death bug: This time, drives will conk out after 40,000 hours of operation

Get your patch in place to avoid future data loss

www.theregister.com

 

[Weapon]

HPE fixes another SAS SSD death bug: This time, drives will conk out after 40,000 hours of operation

Get your patch in place to avoid future data loss

www.theregister.com

Whats the update procedure for these drives specifically if not using them in a HP server?

 

[DouglasteR]

Whats the update procedure for these drives specifically if not using them in a HP server?

Just use a HBA (not in raid mode, but depending on the adapter you can do it even in IR mode) and boot with a generic boot disk/usb and run .exe, simple as.

 

[bbqdt]

Dang, missed this one.

I have a RAID of 6 of these babies running 24/7 for years without a single problem (other that problem of sudden death when they reach x hours, but managed to avoid doing the firmware update).

Amazing drives, very picky about power cables, use quality ones directly from the powersupply.

I'm pretty sure the sudden death thing does not affect these drives? Could be wrong.

 

[compuwizz]

My Dell H330 card in a FC630 and FD332 chassis can see that there are physical drives plugged in but won't pass them through even in HBA mode. I'll try reformatting them in a different system.

 

[cookiesowns]

My Dell H330 card in a FC630 and FD332 chassis can see that there are physical drives plugged in but won't pass them through even in HBA mode. I'll try reformatting them in a different system.

Yeah the raid cards are picky, are they in HBA mode?

I was able to do it in a T640 with the HBA330 without any issues.

 

[compuwizz]

I tried putting the H330 mini card in HBA mode and it still marked the drives as Blocked by the card. I ended up taking an old HP LSI card, getting a SAS breakout cable and putting that into a desktop machine to convert the drives to 512 byte. The H330 sees them now.

Interestingly, the HBA doesn't see a drive as encryption capable but another one is. Would it be worth flashing these to stock Samsung drives after converting to 512 byte?

 

[MountainDew]

I finally got around to formatting my drives that were purchased from the ebay seller provided in OP's post. No issue at all. The seller provided info on the drives:

• drive 1 power on time: estimated at just over two days with 11.16TB of lifetime writes
• drive 2 power on time: estimated at just over two days with 7.44TB of lifetime writes

 

[Weapon]

These are rated for 2000 MB/s but 12 Gbps is gonna limit that to 1000 right? How could you connect these in a way that would unlock the full speed of the drive?