Some manufacturers just use the same connector for both SAS and U.2 drives, because they're compatible and leaving a few pins disconnected on the SAS models is presumably cheaper than stocking two different parts. The label will tell you if the drive is SAS or NVMe, there are standardized logos for each.
Sanity check - adding enterprise SSD to consumer PC
- Thread starter gggr
- Start date
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First off, thanks for posting the label. I've been really curious how the SPD White Label 15.36 TB SAS drives were going to be marked.
I'm really curious as to the lineage of those drives - unfortunately no clue on the label.
sooooooo
Not saying this is your problem but... yeah, long pause...
It may be that forward break-out cable is for SATA drives only. Sadly I know there are such things. I have an 8643 to SATA forward breakout cable that ONLY works with SATA drives. Came bundled with a server board. Unfortunately its caused me some wasted time - cause I threw it in the box and then down the road needed to test some SAS drives and just pulled out the one on the top - that cable! Curiously, my SATA only breakout cable has silver foil and all my SAS breakout cables have blue. I don't think the color is a standard per se and I don't think its really an indicator since I only have one example. FWIW the plugs on my SATA breakout cable actually do have SATA molded into the plugs.
otherwise your problem could be the drive adapter, or the drive itself.
T/S
HBA - you know its in the right mode and works - SATA drives work when cabled up.
Power - you know power is working - SATA drives work when cabled up.
I'm assuing for the above two you did not use your SAS drive adapter.
suspect parts:
SAS Drive - don't know because I think you have one other suspect part in the mix - maybe two suspect parts?
Drive Adapter - did you try using that to interface with a SATA drive to see if it would work? Not much in it so I'd expect that adapter to work even with a SATA drive.
SFF-8654 8i to SATA 8 Port - did you cut'n'paste the description ? If yes then maybe its the issue???? IDK for sure but that's where I'd likely be headed.
I see on the bay a couple of cables described as SATA and lots described as SAS 4.0 (didn't see any 8654 to SAS marked as SAS 3.0).
I suspect SAS 4.0 cable would probably be backward compatible for SAS 3.0 but I have not read the spec so I'm not 100% sure.
How much of a PITA is it for you to get one labeled on the bay as SAS 4.0?
May need some research before you order to know a "SAS 4.0" cable id backward compatible or someone else with knowledge to chime in?
It can be confusing, SATA is both a physical connector format (though there's probably an SFF number for it) as well as drive spec / protocol.
I'm really curious as to the lineage of those drives - unfortunately no clue on the label.
sooooooo
Not saying this is your problem but... yeah, long pause...
It may be that forward break-out cable is for SATA drives only. Sadly I know there are such things. I have an 8643 to SATA forward breakout cable that ONLY works with SATA drives. Came bundled with a server board. Unfortunately its caused me some wasted time - cause I threw it in the box and then down the road needed to test some SAS drives and just pulled out the one on the top - that cable! Curiously, my SATA only breakout cable has silver foil and all my SAS breakout cables have blue. I don't think the color is a standard per se and I don't think its really an indicator since I only have one example. FWIW the plugs on my SATA breakout cable actually do have SATA molded into the plugs.
otherwise your problem could be the drive adapter, or the drive itself.
T/S
HBA - you know its in the right mode and works - SATA drives work when cabled up.
Power - you know power is working - SATA drives work when cabled up.
I'm assuing for the above two you did not use your SAS drive adapter.
suspect parts:
SAS Drive - don't know because I think you have one other suspect part in the mix - maybe two suspect parts?
Drive Adapter - did you try using that to interface with a SATA drive to see if it would work? Not much in it so I'd expect that adapter to work even with a SATA drive.
SFF-8654 8i to SATA 8 Port - did you cut'n'paste the description ? If yes then maybe its the issue???? IDK for sure but that's where I'd likely be headed.
I see on the bay a couple of cables described as SATA and lots described as SAS 4.0 (didn't see any 8654 to SAS marked as SAS 3.0).
I suspect SAS 4.0 cable would probably be backward compatible for SAS 3.0 but I have not read the spec so I'm not 100% sure.
How much of a PITA is it for you to get one labeled on the bay as SAS 4.0?
May need some research before you order to know a "SAS 4.0" cable id backward compatible or someone else with knowledge to chime in?
It can be confusing, SATA is both a physical connector format (though there's probably an SFF number for it) as well as drive spec / protocol.
Thanks heaps for taking the time to respond.
Good thought to use the adapter with a different drive.
Just tried that and it is working. That is: HBA->SFF-8654 8i to SATA->SATA to SAS Adapter->SATA HDD.
The full eBay title for the cable is "12Gbps Slim Line SAS4.0 SFF-8654 8i to SATA 8 Port Computer Server Adapter Cable". The bag the cable came in has a similar description, it is a "CableDeconn" brand.
So probably not the adapter or the cable, meaning it is probably the SSD?
I can try and find a SFF-8654 8i to SAS cable but they are a little scarce.
Appreciate any other suggestions!
Good thought to use the adapter with a different drive.
Just tried that and it is working. That is: HBA->SFF-8654 8i to SATA->SATA to SAS Adapter->SATA HDD.
The full eBay title for the cable is "12Gbps Slim Line SAS4.0 SFF-8654 8i to SATA 8 Port Computer Server Adapter Cable". The bag the cable came in has a similar description, it is a "CableDeconn" brand.
So probably not the adapter or the cable, meaning it is probably the SSD?
I can try and find a SFF-8654 8i to SAS cable but they are a little scarce.
Appreciate any other suggestions!
text for the cable reads like it should be the correct item.
sounds like the hardware chain may be okay except for maybe the drive.
"The Joys of debugging used hardware!"
PWDIS
Another thought is PWDIS - but I thought that was a feature exclusive to SATA disks (and I could be wrong on that thought)
Here's how to work around that (thought there are plenty of how-to's online):
Non-destructive methods:
If you have a molex to SATA female power adapter cable and a spare molex connector on your PSU (or one you can use for testing by unplugging a non-essential device) then use that molex adapter cable to feed power to your SAS adapter thing-a-ma-jig. The molex adapter does not provide 3.3v and thereby disable the PWDIS function. Your local computer store might have them too - in the USD new at a store probably $5 USD.
If you have kapton tape, steady hands and possibly a mangifying glass you can try taping off pin 3 on the SSD's power connector. This is fiddly and simply installing your SAS adapter thingy could move the kaptop tape etc.
There are destructive methods. my advice: try and test PWDIS in a non destructive fashion.
Other paths that you've probably thought of but I'll ask just in case?
Is there a BIOS enabled on this card? Or does the BIOS simply list the HBA on the screen during boot?
ie. Does something like press Ctrl-<whateverKey> to enter setup appear during the boot process?
If yes does the SAS SSD show up in the HBA's BIOS utility? If this is UEFI then probably no BIOS setup in the card.
Have you tested all 8 of the ports on your 8654 cable with the SAS SSD?
If not I'd power down between each test attempt.
Do you have a known good SAS disk? One that you could temporarily install with your HBA->cable->adapter->Test SAS disk to make sure the whole chain really is working? If not then ask in the WTB/WTS to see if someone local to you has a drive you can borrow?
Or do you know someone locally with a SAS capable server that would test the drive for you?
alternatively if there is a low cost SAS-3 disk you can get off the bay locally (fast ship) to test that might be a route - low cost is key because you're basically buying a disk you may not use again.
Your garage nas? does it have a SAS HBA? SAS backplane? Spare bay and connection to SAS HBA? Can you test the SSD in there?
If you would have to pull a drive from the NAS to test then you'd probably NOT want to boot into whatever OS it is running otherwise the array may get flagged with a failure...
I realize your ultimate installation is the hardware chain you've purchased - but just offering suggestions to rule out whether the drive is really DOA or not.
There's a small sticker on the bottom of the drive that seems to say "HGST PN" but I can't read the rest, possibly that would lead you to information about the drive, but this thing looks so sketchy that it could just be a recycled aluminum case and the internals are unrelated. Good news is the tamper sticker is already gone so you could open it up and see what's inside.
oh I'm thinking that might be a netapp 15.36 - Edit I've got one in the basement. I'll check.
Edit - nope. PM1633a's / X670
Edit - nope. PM1633a's / X670
Last edited:
If it's netapp, maybe it has a 520b block size? I don't know how windows reacts when it sees devices with non-standard block sizes, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't show up in device manager.
I have a feeling its been reformatted to 512b or native 4096 since they're advertised for "normal servers" by SPD and probably some stripped down code de-badging its lineage.
the label on OP's drive says for poweredge.
ad on the bay says ~40k hours & 384TB written so we know its past the 32k hour bug and probably that is fixed in whatever code its running anyway.
At work so cannot test anything yet but can confirm that the HBA did show up in the BIOS, and registered when the SATA HDD was connected but not the SAS SSD.
I'm suspecting / hoping it is PWDIS related, it looks like this can effect SAS disks. I should have a molex->sata adapter and be able to test this.
I'm suspecting / hoping it is PWDIS related, it looks like this can effect SAS disks. I should have a molex->sata adapter and be able to test this.
Hello all.
Huge thanks to the posters here for guiding me through this.
Powered the drive via a molex to SATA adapter and it appears to be working!
So if anyone is curious below is the info on the drive I can pull from various windows HW programs. For whatever reason the drive does not show up in CrystalDiskInfo.
If anyone wants me to do any other tests or checks for their own curiosity just let me know and I'll see what I can do.
I'm also aware of the danger of poor quality molex->SATA adapters. As best I can tell this one is one of the good ones, but I will probably look at getting a more robust set up for the long term.
Speccy v1.32.803
HWiNFO v8.30-5800
Note this reports drive letter H, which is incorrect and should be L. No idea why but would guess something funky due to the HBA not being properly supported.
Huge thanks to the posters here for guiding me through this.
Powered the drive via a molex to SATA adapter and it appears to be working!
So if anyone is curious below is the info on the drive I can pull from various windows HW programs. For whatever reason the drive does not show up in CrystalDiskInfo.
If anyone wants me to do any other tests or checks for their own curiosity just let me know and I'll see what I can do.
I'm also aware of the danger of poor quality molex->SATA adapters. As best I can tell this one is one of the good ones, but I will probably look at getting a more robust set up for the long term.
Code:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 9.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2025 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World: https://crystalmark.info/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes
[Read]
SEQ 1MiB (Q= 8, T= 1): 1129.992 MB/s [ 1077.6 IOPS] < 7416.06 us>
SEQ 1MiB (Q= 1, T= 1): 904.859 MB/s [ 862.9 IOPS] < 1158.04 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 32, T= 1): 556.291 MB/s [ 135813.2 IOPS] < 211.00 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 1, T= 1): 11.955 MB/s [ 2918.7 IOPS] < 342.23 us>
[Write]
SEQ 1MiB (Q= 8, T= 1): 1060.769 MB/s [ 1011.6 IOPS] < 7885.87 us>
SEQ 1MiB (Q= 1, T= 1): 827.933 MB/s [ 789.6 IOPS] < 1265.30 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 32, T= 1): 524.191 MB/s [ 127976.3 IOPS] < 69.56 us>
RND 4KiB (Q= 1, T= 1): 20.630 MB/s [ 5036.6 IOPS] < 197.94 us>
Profile: Default
Test: 1 GiB (x3) [L: 0% (1/14306GiB)]
Mode: [Admin]
Time: Measure 5 sec / Interval 5 sec
Date: 2025/08/20 8:21:38
OS: Windows 10 Pro 22H2 [10.0 Build 19045] (x64)
Code:
HITACHI W0STR155 EMC15T3 SCSI Disk Device (SSD)
Manufacturer Hitachi
Product Family Unknown
Series Prefix Standard
Model Capacity For This Specific Drive 5 0GB
Interface SAS(Serial Attached SCSI)
Capacity 14306 GB
Real size 15,360,950,534,144 bytes
RAID Type None
S.M.A.R.T
S.M.A.R.T not supported
Partition 0
Partition ID Disk #0, Partition #0
Disk Letter L:
File System NTFS
Volume Serial Number B4DAF411
Size 14305 GB
Used Space 599 MB (0%)
Free Space 14305 GB (100%)
Code:
General Information
Drive Model: HITACHI W0STR155 EMC15T3
Drive Firmware Revision: S95A
Device Type: Disk drive
Drive Letter(s): H:HOLY @#$@#$@#$ Batman! I did not expect to see PWDIS on an SSD.
Did not expect that at all. I was just clutching at straws with that suggestion since the symptoms fit if the drive was not DOA.
Good to know this. I ordered two today to add to my little pool of 15.36 drives and also test to see what was going on.
<QUOTE>
HITACHI W0STR155 EMC15T3
</QUOTE>
EMC!
Did not expect that at all. I was just clutching at straws with that suggestion since the symptoms fit if the drive was not DOA.
Good to know this. I ordered two today to add to my little pool of 15.36 drives and also test to see what was going on.
<QUOTE>
HITACHI W0STR155 EMC15T3
</QUOTE>
EMC!
Holy Water Panther. That little cut in drive chassis says this is Intel. Or was an Intel.
Not sure what this means - googling suggest EMC = electromagnetic compatibility, and/or this is a dell product line?
EMC - also purchased vmware way back when.
Even more way back when - I used to drive by the corp HQ in Hopkinton, mass about every week on the way to visit a friend in MIlford. Their HQ was in a nice wooded area - they liked flags, lots of flags.
Also embroiled in lots of litigation esp with DEC.