I do own two original LimeTech unRAID machines (15 drives each). I would like to add two more drives to both of them giving 17 drives for each machine.

 

I saw this 4-drive external enclosure that offers 4 individual eSATA ports. My idea is to use two slots of this enclosure for each unRAID machine. Will this work?

 

http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sata_enclosures/scsat4e.asp

 

To attach these additional drives I would buy two of this card. Does this sound reasonable?

 

http://amzn.com/B00AZ9T2SW

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I can't say categorically that it will work because I haven't tested it but since the drive enclosure has a separate eSATA connector for each hard disk (others I've seen use a single eSATA connector and a port multiplier) I don't see why it shouldn't. The card you've chosen has two SATA and two eSATA ports and the controller chip is the Marvell 88SE9235, which I believe is supported - the hardware compatibility list is somewhat outdated so it would be worth searching the forums for problems anyone has encountered with that particular device. Bear in mind that it needs a PCIe x2 or bigger slot. If that's a problem and you only have a x1 slot free there's an alternative card in the IO Crest (aka SYBA) family, the SI-PEX40065, which also has two SATA and two eSATA ports but uses the 88SE9215 chip. Since you presumably plan to use only the eSATA ports (I assume your reason for this exercise is that you have no further space for internal expansion) then the reduced bandwidth between motherboard and card shouldn't be an issue.

 

If you go ahead, please report back your success or otherwise.