I've been using unRAID for a few days now and I"m very happy with it once the setup/configuration was figured out.  I'm upgrading to the PRO license today so I can begin adding the rest of my 11 drives I have sitting around.  My question is how do I add more SATA ports to add more drives?  My motherboard has 6 SATA ports on it.  I need about 7 more SATA ports for all my drives.  Could someone suggests or tell me the best way to add SATA ports or what I should do to continue HDD expansion on my server?

 

Thanks a bunch.  This community has been a massive help with getting this setup for me with the various issues I have had!!

I believe a common approach is to add a SuperMicro SASLP or SAS2LP card to get 8 additional ports.  These cards do require you to have a motherboard that supports PCI Express for add-on cards.  I personally have 2 SASLP cards which together with my motherboard ports allows me to connect up to 24 drives.

I believe a common approach is to add a SuperMicro SASLP or SAS2LP card to get 8 additional ports.  These cards do require you to have a motherboard that supports PCI Express for add-on cards.  I personally have 2 SASLP cards which together with my motherboard ports allows me to connect up to 24 drives.

 

OK, I just took a look at those.  They are more expensive, But if they work good then I guess there's no complaint.  My motherboard has 3 PCI-E slots on it so these should be fine.  What is the real difference between these took cards you speak of?  The only thing I could see is it looks like the SASLP is 3.0GB/s and the other is 6.0GB/s.  Are these cards plug and play in regards to just inserting them into the motherboard and they will work?  This whole not installing drivers and such as you do with Windows is all very new to me and confusing as to how everything works.

 

 

Some PCI-E slots are meant to be used for graphx cards only.. Do some googling to make sure you are ok !

The two SuperMicro cards have the relevant drivers built into the standard unRAID release which is one reason for recommending them. 

 

I believe the SAS2LP is the more recent card and as you say it can handle drives at up to 6MBS as long as the PCI Express interface on the motherboard can handle the throughput.  However I expect you pay more for them that the SASLP.

My motherboard has 3 PCI-E slots on it so these should be fine.

 

Are the slots you have available at least PCIe x4?    The SASLP is an x4 card; the SAS2LP is an x8 card.  Either will work fine in an x16 slot; but they would have significant bandwidth restrictions in an x1 slot.