SAS Expander Options (no mobo needed)

[michaeld]

Hello all,

I'm researching Molex-powered SAS Expanders that don't require a mobo/PCI-E slot and figured I could save a lot of time by asking here.

WHAT I WANT TO DO: Add a JBOD disk shelf/DAS to an existing server. Looking at taking 8 lanes/2 ports off the existing Adaptec 72405 RAID controller and attaching to an expander in another JBOD chassis.

WHAT TYPE OF DRIVES/HOW MANY: SATA spinners, 16 minimum.

USAGE CASE: Lots of online storage for Chia plots

HOW WOULD I USE/POWER IT: No mobo. Using the Supermicro JBPWR2 JBOD power board and powering the expander via Molex connector.

I've looked at the RES3FV288 and it's exactly what I need. It's also $300 (best price I could find by calling around). Is there another Molex-powered expander that might meet my needs that I could find on FleaBay for less?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dave Corder]

A PCIe mining riser board works just fine to power SAS expanders, at least in my experience (mainly with the older HP expanders).

 

[ari2asem]

Chenbro - Index

Chenbro is a leading company in design and manufacturing of Rackmount server and storage chassis for hyperscale datacenter, enterprise, IOT, education, and surveillance applications.

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Amazon.com: Intel RAID Expander Card (RES2SV240) : Electronics

Buy Intel RAID Expander Card (RES2SV240): RAID Controllers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

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Adaptec - Adaptec SAS Expander 82885T

all of these expanders you can power with 4 pin molex connector

 

[michaeld]

That Adaptec 82885T is exactly what I need. Thanks, @ari2asem

 

[michaeld]

Looking at the user manual for the Adaptec card, it looks like any 2 ports can be used as an input (connected to a RAID controller? Am I correct? I'd like to use I/H as the inputs to connect to the RAID card in the server. http://download.adaptec.com/pdfs/user_guides/adaptec_sas_expander_iug_6_2016.pdf

 

[i386]

Sas is a switched protocol, you can use any port for connecting other devices like expanders, ssds or hdds.

 

[michaeld]

Dell HBA330

Sas is a switched protocol, you can use any port for connecting other devices like expanders, ssds or hdds.

I'm still learning SAS/expanders. For the Intel RES3FV288, Intel specifies ports to be used as inputs, so that's why I asked about inputs/outputs. This is from the user manual:



I have ordered the Adaptec 9361-8i 82885T and plan on using the external ports as inputs.

 

[gregsachs]

I'm still learning SAS/expanders. For the Intel RES3FV288, Intel specifies ports to be used as inputs, so that's why I asked about inputs/outputs. This is from the user manual:

View attachment 18719

I have ordered the Adaptec 9361-8i 82885T and plan on using the external ports as inputs.

The specification of connections is so that drive bays are mapped correctly in a chassis. It doesn't really matter how you connect the,