I just got my Dell R710 up and running with unRaid (getting the H200I into IT mode caused a bit of headaches). Everything is humming along nicely now, and currently building the parity.

 

However I want to add a SSD cache disk, but I'm not entirely sure what is best practice here? I'd like not to use one of the 3.5" hotswap bays for this, so the unused DVD bay might be an option here? Anyone with experience in regards to this - or maybe someone with even better suggestions?

 

I'm rather new in regards to searching on this forum, so maybe I've missed the answer - my apologies if that is the case.

 

Thanks in advance. 

Anywhere you can put it so it doesn't move around and stays cool enough. I have heard of people using double-sided tape or velcro.

11 minutes ago, trurl said:

Anywhere you can put it so it doesn't move around and stays cool enough. I have heard of people using double-sided tape or velcro.

The DVD tray it is then! Would you have suggestions connection-wise? This is my first server, so I do indeed have silly questions.

 

Thanks for helping out!

36 minutes ago, Underberg said:

The DVD tray it is then! Would you have suggestions connection-wise? This is my first server, so I do indeed have silly questions.

 

Thanks for helping out!

I can't speak to performance as I just set this up and have not tested but yes I installed an 2.5 conversion tray (Like $10 part) in my R710 and it works fine it's been awhile since I played with it but I think I remember that the sata ports are 3Gb and yes there are 2 one for the DVD and one un-populated for which I have not tested yet but surmise that you could put 2 SSD's in a raid cache you will need to go into the server settings and confirm the sata ports are configured but besides that its all good. Oh and there is no power source native for the additional port so you will need to be creative here

Edited May 19, 20197 yr by mrbilky

Would anyone have any experience with something like this as a cache disk?

 

https://www.ivobeerens.nl/2015/12/14/4131/

25 minutes ago, mrbilky said:

I can't speak to performance as I just set this up and have not tested but yes I installed an 2.5 conversion tray (Like $10 part) in my R710 and it works fine it's been awhile since I played with it but I think I remember that the sata ports are 3Gb and yes there are 2 one for the DVD and one un-populated for which I have not tested yet but surmise that you could put 2 SSD's in a raid cache you will need to go into the server settings and confirm the sata ports are configured but besides that its all good. Oh and there is no power source native for the additional port so you will need to be creative here

Would SATA 2 speeds still be okay for cache use you'd think? I've found a fair bit of 2.5" caddies for the DVD slot, at quite low prices on eBay - could very much be an option!

14 minutes ago, Underberg said:

Would SATA 2 speeds still be okay for cache use you'd think? I've found a fair bit of 2.5" caddies for the DVD slot, at quite low prices on eBay - could very much be an option!

Here I just ran speed test here are the results top is my homeNAS cache built on an I7 6700 the bottom is my R710 cache both are on onboard sata ports:

 

 

Edited May 19, 20197 yr by mrbilky

Appreciate it! That looks fine for my use 👍

Here's another idea on SSD in R710 that I use that is internal, doesn't cost more than SATA SSD, faster than SATA SSD, and doesn't require modifying or taking up a drive slot.  Note: SATA SSD currently limited to theoretical ~600MB/s transfer rate.  The NVMe SSD can use any available PCIe slot.  I use the Riser1 middle PCIe slot.  Has excellent air flow.

 

Intel SSD 660p Series (1.0TB M.2 80mm PCIe 3.0 x 4 3D2 QLC) 2 2281" (SSDPEKNW010T8X1 )  (NVMe SSD, Not SATA SSD)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GCL6BR4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Read & Write performance about 1.3GB/s (as reported by PreClear).

Theoretical limit for this SSD should be about 4GB/s. It's limited here due to R710 PCIe 2.0.

Temp of SSD peaked at 67'C during bulk data transfer (~256GB), then quickly settled back to ~32'C.

 

PCI-e 3.0 x4 Host Adapter for M.2 NVMe PCI-e SSD (Only Suit for NVMe)

(Amazon vendor swapped product to this one now: M.2 Adapter,Support NVME (M Key) and SATA (B Key) 2in1 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 Host Controller Expansion Card Adapter)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BNTRWXW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also bought similar card on eBay. Search "4x M.2 to PCIe Adapter, NVME M2 SSD".

 

I also use pricier:

Samsung MZVPV256HDGL-00000 MZ-VPV2560 SM951 256GB NVMe SSD (256GB)

Read & Write performance about 1.9GB/s (as reported by PreClear).

 

Edited August 2, 20196 yr by Commodore

I realize im a little late to this discussion but i went with this route Sonnet Technologies Tempo 6Gb/s SATA PCIe 2.0 Drive Card. I ran a 36inch/92cm Slimline SATA to SATA Adapter to the Optical drive to SSD caddy from the back port, and installed 2 Samsung 860 EVO 500GB for caching. Seems to work really well and I didnt have to splice anything to get power to the sata drives. I also used this to move all my data over from my windows machines so i didnt bottle neck my lan as in I ran a sata cable/power out the back of the case like a caveman to hook up the 3.5 inch drives to transfer files.

On 9/20/2019 at 10:18 PM, throesch said:

I realize im a little late to this discussion but i went with this route Sonnet Technologies Tempo 6Gb/s SATA PCIe 2.0 Drive Card. I ran a 36inch/92cm Slimline SATA to SATA Adapter to the Optical drive to SSD caddy from the back port, and installed 2 Samsung 860 EVO 500GB for caching. Seems to work really well and I didnt have to splice anything to get power to the sata drives. I also used this to move all my data over from my windows machines so i didnt bottle neck my lan as in I ran a sata cable/power out the back of the case like a caveman to hook up the 3.5 inch drives to transfer files.

Can you take pics of this setup. I am new to r710 and would like a visual to grasp the install layout