Hi everyone!

 

I've recently begun playing around with unraid. My goal is to eventually use it as an automated back-up machine (think OneDrive, Google Photos replacement), an automated media downloader/server, and a VM host machine.

 

For this, I'm repurposing my old laptop: I'll remove it from its case, remove screen, etc and install it on a board.

 

The plan is to use a SATA to M.2 adapter (I'm eyeing this one with a JMB5xx chip) and connect several 3,5 and 2,5" disks to it.

 

I do have a couple of questions though!

1. Is this feasable?

2. How would you power the HDDs? I'd very much prefer to connect all disks pluged into the JMB5xx board to a single PSU or other device you'd recommend, for convenience and power savings.

 

At any rate, let me know your thoughts on this subject! Thank you beforehand

15 minutes ago, fmmsf said:

The plan is to use a SATA to M.2 adapter

That's a PCIe to SATA controller, notebook must support NVMe in that slot, if it's SATA only it won't work.

3 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

That's a PCIe to SATA controller, notebook must support NVMe in that slot, if it's SATA only it won't work.

 

Acording to MSI's website, it's a NVMe PCIe Gen3 / SATA port... Would that work?

 

Also, thanks so much for writing the Recommended controllers for Unraid thread, JorgeB: it's been of great help choosing the right adapter

29 minutes ago, fmmsf said:

(I'm eyeing this one

Sorry, that one is JMB575, not 585 like I misread, 575 uses a SATA port multiplier, not recommend for Unraid, look for a similar looking adapter but based on a JMB585.

 

3 minutes ago, fmmsf said:

Acording to MSI's website, it's a NVMe PCIe Gen3 / SATA port... Would that work?

It should.

 

31 minutes ago, fmmsf said:

How would you power the HDDs? I'd very much prefer to connect all disks pluged into the JMB5xx board to a single PSU or other device you'd recommend, for convenience and power savings.

you can get any ATX PSU, a PSU like a Pico or similar would have better power consumption.

29 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

Sorry, that one is JMB575, not 585 like I misread, 575 uses a SATA port multiplier, not recommend for Unraid, look for a similar looking adapter but based on a JMB585.

 

Got it, thanks! I've located this one that works, acording to reviews. What's the tech behind this chip? I mean, if the JMB575 is a "simple" sata multiplier, what's the JMB585?

 

29 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

It should.

 

Also, the laptop has an Intel wifi card. Is there a way to find out the characteristics of the port the cart is connected to?

 

29 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

you can get any ATX PSU, a PSU like a Pico or similar would have better power consumption.

 

I'm still early in the research of these PSUs, but if I understand correctly, I'd have to connect the Pico to the laptop's MB, right?

 

Thank you so much for taking the time!

56 minutes ago, fmmsf said:

 

For this, I'm repurposing my old laptop: I'll remove it from its case, remove screen, etc and install it on a board.

 

 

Is there a reason to use the laptop?

 

I'd look to trade or sell rather than break up the laptop as it seems a reasonable model and has a discrete GPU.

Much easier to use standard hardware, psu, case etc.

 

For power efficiency you can get something like this ASROCK J5040 ITX which has 4 native SATA ports, could take a few more in a PCI-E card and Intel Quick Sync in case you decide you want a media server or plenty of inexpensive used hardware.

28 minutes ago, fmmsf said:

I mean, if the JMB575 is a "simple" sata multiplier, what's the JMB585?

JMB585 is a 5 port SATA controller, the other one turns one SATA port into five, if the SATA port supports port multiplier, and like mentioned they are not recommended.

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Decto said:

 

Is there a reason to use the laptop?

 

I'd look to trade or sell rather than break up the laptop as it seems a reasonable model and has a discrete GPU.

 

Mostly because it's what I have laying around.. though it is a good machine and has prob more than enough horse power for my projects, it is in a bad cosmetic state (broken case, wrecked charger cable, non working keyboard) and I won't be able to get much for it.

 

3 hours ago, Decto said:

Much easier to use standard hardware, psu, case etc.

 

For power efficiency you can get something like this ASROCK J5040 ITX which has 4 native SATA ports, could take a few more in a PCI-E card and Intel Quick Sync in case you decide you want a media server or plenty of inexpensive used hardware.

 

I might consider it down the line actually 🤔

2 hours ago, JorgeB said:

JMB585 is a 5 port SATA controller, the other one turns one SATA port into five, if the SATA port supports port multiplier, and like mentioned they are not recommended.

 

So the jmb585 doesn't split the original SATA port's bandwidth 5 ways like a SATA multiplier?

Correct, it's an x2 PCIe 3.0 controller, IIRC about5 350MB/s for each device with all being used simultaneously. 

On 2/17/2023 at 9:26 AM, JorgeB said:

Correct, it's an x2 PCIe 3.0 controller, IIRC about5 350MB/s for each device with all being used simultaneously. 

Thanks JorgeB!

 

Sorry for the late reply.

 

In regards to the PicoPSU how would you go about powering the HDDs with it? I did some googling but have been unable to find an answer...

On second thought Pico PSU might not really be a good idea, since you'd need a lot of splitters and are not going to be using the ATX connector, just get a low power efficient ATX PSU.