SAS to SATA connection clarification. What is SGPIO?

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katit

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Mar 18, 2015
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I have S2600CP board with 4x SATA3Gb ports and 2x SATA6Gb ports
I have P4000M case with 16 hot swap bays on 4x backplanes. Each backplane have SAS connector.
I have 2x SATA->SAS cables, they both have 4 SATA connectors + SGPIO
But on board I have only 1 SGPIO connector. Is that optional?

So, question is. If I want to maximize usage of front panel - how should I connect SATA to SAS?
I want to run system disk, some smaller SSD with Win server 2012 and I think it's not critical if it's on SATA3?

From what I understand:
1. First cable goes from 4x SATA3 ports to backplane 1. I can put disk anywhere (up to 4) and will get 3G
2. Second cable goes from 2x SATA6 ports to backplane 2. It means 2 SATA ends will be handing. Is that OK? Will I get 6g on backplane 2?
3. Do I understand all that correctly? Do I need to plug in SGPIO cable and if I do from which cable?
4. When I install OS and SDD is in backplane 1, will windows be OK with it? Won't it confuse BIOS? How are they going to be numbered?

Thank you!
 

BlueFox

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SGPIO is going to be used to control things like the LEDs on the drive trays. The SGPIO on the motherboard isn't the same. Some RAID cards will have it (when not using SFF ports), but generally you only see it on the backplane side when individual connectors are used instead of multilane ones.

You'll get the rated speeds of your motherboard's ports on the respective backplane connections. You won't have a use for SGPIO. Windows doesn't know you're using a backplane and doesn't care because it's essentially acting like an extended cable. As for the numbering, it will be however you connect things to your motherboard. Cables are normally numbered, so that will be obvious at least.
 

katit

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Bluefox, thanks!

What about connecting and cables? Was I correct that I will use one cable for one backplane and another for another backplane?
And is it OK that I will connect all 4 of SATA2 on breakout cable and only 2 on SATA3 breakout cable?

If I DO connect cable this SGPIO thing that's 5th connector on breakout cable to MB, will it hurt anything?

And to throw to the mix... I have I2C cable that connects to motherboard and backplane. What does it do?
 
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BlueFox

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Connecting the cables like that isn't an issue. Like I mentioned, the backplanes you have are going to effectively act as a longer cable.

There is no point for you to connect the SGPIO cable to your motherboard. I'd just forget about it for now.

I2C can also be used to manage things to a point, but once again won't do anything for you. You should just plug in the SATA cables and forget about the rest.
 

BlueFox

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Just make sure you get reverse breakout cables as they're directional and forward ones won't work for you in that configuration.
 

katit

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Just make sure you get reverse breakout cables as they're directional and forward ones won't work for you in that configuration.
I got one cable with case and I got same cable with fan shroud. I assume they ARE reverse? SPGIO is togethere with SATA connectors..
 

BlueFox

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SGPIO won't indicate what kind of cable it is, but presumably the cable you received with the case is the correct one. You'll find out when you test them if they aren't labeled as forward or reverse.