SF-8088 max cable length

[frubsen]

Hello all,

 

I'm expanding my Unraid server by adding a DAS.  I have a LSI 9201-16e card in my server and I have 16 extra drives in a separate Rosewill case.

 

I ordered the 1meter version of this cable https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013G4EZ1G/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

however the cable is barely long enough and doesn't give me much play in how I can situate the cases next to each other.

 

Am I ok to go to the 2meter version?  The cable is going direct from the back of the LSI card right to the drives themselves.

 

Thanks

[Squid]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Attached_SCSI#:~:text=Because of its higher signaling,whereas SATA is half duplex.

[Squid]

But, looking at your link though you're actually going to be connecting SATA drives which means that you're limited to it's max length of 1M but can probably stretch it more.

[Frank1940]

1 hour ago, frubsen said:

I have 16 extra drives in a separate Rosewill case.

What I would be looking at doing is combining the two cases to make one case.  Off the top of my head, I would first consider putting the second case with its front at the back of the first case.  Toss away the both  right case sides (as viewed from the front) to shorten the length of the cables.  With a high wattage modular power supply, you might even be able to power everything with one supply.

[JorgeB]

If you really need longer than a meter best option it to use a SAS expander, cable from the HBA to the expander can be up to 10m, then 1m from the expander to the drives (for SATA drives).

[frubsen]

Thanks for all the responses...I'll probably stick with the cables I have and figure out how to make it work...

 

Just curious as to why they would sell 2M cables it it's technically outside of the SATA spec.

[Squid]

Caveat Emptor.  Because it's up to the buyer to verify that the cable will work.  Plus, that cabling you are using isn't even "spec" to begin with (an external cable on one end that plugs internally on the other end), but rather a hack to save money on various adapters being needed (I am also using 3 of them)

 

Really no different than buying a 100' HDMI cable that isn't active.  Good luck getting it to work on 4K....  Or a USB3 extension that's 10'+ feet long (max cable length USB3 is 9'10")  YMMV

[frubsen]

Fair enough...essentially buyer beware

 

Thanks all