Hello all,

 

So just before the new year, my Sharkoon T9 case is running out of 5.25" slots.
They are filled with 3TB disks and 4 in 3x5.25 docks from IcyDock.

I was thinking, it is possible to fabricate another case/tower that I can fill with to expand my unRAID.

It is a pity to just drop the 3TB disks and replace them...
So getting rid of them are no option.

 

Do you guys can help me with this question?

Many thanks and have a great new years eve!

You could replace the 4 in 3 enclosures with 5 in 3 ones.  

Depending on the age and health of those drives, it might be prudent to do preventative maintenance and replace the 3TB with 8TB, 10TB, or 12TB drives.

 

Be sure to run smart tests on the drives first before looking into options of adding even more drives.

Thanks both for the information.

How do I run SMART tests on the drives, and how to read a SMART test?

 

Greetings!

Guys, I've ran on my disks a SMART extended self-test and have the txt files ready.
But I now have spend some hours reading SMART guides etc. but still find it hard to simply declare a disk as faulty or getting faulty.

 

Is it an option to upload it here or send it to someone to interpreter?

I have too less knowledge to say something about the results...

 

Greetings, Rik

Diagnostics includes SMART for all connected disks, so just post the diagnostics.

 

Do you have SMART warnings for any of your disks on the Dashboard?

I do not have SMART warnings for any disk.

But because @BRiT said so...

And before I begin to change to 8TB disks...

 

Hereby you've got my diagnostics.

tower-diagnostics-20200108-0858.zip

I have kind of been wondering about his original question too. I currently have a define R5 stuffed to the gills with drives. Right now I am swapping for larger capacity drives. But it got me wondering, if I fill these is there a way to fill another tower and add them to my original unraid server? I mean, I guess I could just drill holes for the sata cables and run a separate PSU, but that doesn't seem very elegant.

I've been messing with this for a while and have had a few ideas and experiments. (there are, of course, commercially available solutions, but where's the fun in that?)

 

The main challenge is getting controller and power to the external system.

 

One of the first attempts I had was utilising an external chassis not for additional drives but for PCI/PCIe expansion as I was running out of slots.

 

One of the best investments I've made for my system is a  Startech Expansion System  which converts a single x1 PCIe into 2x PCIe slots and 2x PCI slots.  I have a blog post here that discusses externalising this to a secondary chassis (having cannibalised the internals of the unit and mounted it in an external case);

https://mediaserver8.blogspot.com/2014/09/thinking-outside-box.html

 

I no longer use the unit in this way as I've updated my main system chassis and now have the room to internalise this expansion again,  but the principle is a sound one. You can see how a like this, or similar, could be used to get the controller relocated to the external system,. (Magma make PCI/PCIe expansion systems as well, but they are expensive)

 

I have another post here that outlines how this externalised solution was leveraged to include hard drives via either a PCIe adapter in the expansion unit or a simple SATA backplate to which I can run cables from the main system. (forgive the spaghetti cabling, this was proof of concept stuff!)

 

The above is all old, but offers insights into some thinking and directions. My current X9 case has lots of space for expanding drives, but if I ever run out, I could re-deploy do something similar. Though I'd likely do it via a SAS expander for my LSI controller.

 

The other challenge is power.  You could run one or more cables from you PSU to the external chassis, but an altogether better solution would be to include a dedicated PSU. You could link this to your main system using a power supply sync module. This will allow your secondary PSU to power up when you sieth on your main system.

 

With these solutions, you're going to have at least two if not more cables connecting your two systems. The much more expansive commercial solutions are, of course, much tidier. Connect up a thunderbolt cable and you're done. However, with SIY, you can spend all the saved cash on drives!

 

Also, if you look at stackable cases, you can make everything very neat by running the cables internally.

 

Just some food for thought!

 

Thank you @meep, your page is very interesting.

I am thinking about external placement of the other disks, and set them in a caddy on top of the tower.

And then lead the SATA cable from outside to inside via the PCIe expansion slots.

 

I only do not know where to buy external cases for 3,5" HDD's.
And I am not looking for the external HDD cases (those Chinese things that makes your 3,5" HDD an external drive... Too slow via USB).

20 hours ago, rikdegraaff said:

 

I only do not know where to buy external cases for 3,5" HDD's.
 

Something I use are these 5.25"chassis designed for CD/DVD Duplicators. Like this one: https://amzn.to/2PH6SDf

 

You could pack that with 3x 5in3 drive cages and have 15 drives in there! Or go for a smaller chassis or old PC case if you need fewer drives.

 

 

That is indeed a nice solution as second case.

My first case (main) can also hold up to 9x 5,25" so I can still go to 15 drives without an second external enclosure.

 

Thanks @meep

 

Sorry for the necropost, or how this is called as this is a thread from 2020.

But I am really running out of space now with a lot of disks.

I want to go to a second tower with 9 or more internal 3,5 inch hdd bays.

I know I can mount/screw all the 11-20 disks in my second tower, but how do I connect them, so that I can use both tower's disks on 1 unraid motherboard / system?

So how do I connect all those disks to my main unraid tower?

 

I have a second big tower, and then what do I need more?

Else than the disks and a second psu in the second tower, of course.

 

Sorry, maybe, for asking this "again", but I still am not finished with this matter of expanding.

I have knowledge about building 1 case, but I don't have the knowledge to expand it beyond 1 case/tower.

 

Thanks in advance, again,

Rik

Edited August 25, 20232 yr by rikdegraaff

8 minutes ago, rikdegraaff said:

So how do I connect all those disks to my main unraid tower?

Take a look through this thread.

 

50 minutes ago, JonathanM said:

Take a look through this thread.

 

 

Thanks @JonathanM, I am now reading through that thread.

 

So I am looking for a card that gives me at least 10 connections to SATA.

Is something like a Dell PERC H200 giving me that?

Or what PCIe expansion card can I use to get another 10 SATA HDD's connected with my motherboard?

 

Edit: Something like this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/195577453931

Edited August 25, 20232 yr by rikdegraaff
See Edit

Keep reading. Pretty much any LSI 4e or 8e installed in the primary case with the motherboard will have the appropriate port to connect to the expander that connects to many more drives in the second case.

Will keep reading, but still one question, though.

What is a LSI 4e or 8e? Large Scale Integrated?

And 4e? 8e?

 

Sorry I am not that deep into IT... 😬

3 minutes ago, rikdegraaff said:

What is a LSI 4e or 8e? Large Scale Integrated?

And 4e? 8e?

Take a look at the first post in this thread, the 8 port section.

 

Thanks that cleared my mind a lot.

So for, let's say 20 drives (2 parity and 18 data) I need three 8 port cards?

Are there even payable motherboards with 3 PCIe x16 slots?

Or can I use some in a x4 or x8 slot, as the mobos with those numbers of slots are waaaaaay easier to purchase and more choice.

 

Thanks again!

 

Edit: So then I am looking at a card as this one "LSI SAS 9207-8i"?

That's an eight port with PCIe 3.0 x8.

Edited August 25, 20232 yr by rikdegraaff
See Edit

12 minutes ago, rikdegraaff said:

So for, let's say 20 drives (2 parity and 18 data) I need three 8 port cards?

No, you could use a single 4i/4e card in the motherboard with the expander you linked on ebay in the second case to connect all the drives installed there.

Ah, okay.

I think I get it now.

So I already have a Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 for the main Tower that I am using (the one that is full now).

Then I buy 1 4e card that I use as a "hub" for the expander on eBay.
After that I put the 4e card in my main tower mobo.

Then I have 4 extra SAS slots in my main tower.

 

And how do I connect the 4e card and expander together?

If that succeeds then I can use the expander for the 10 or more disks/sata 7pin connections, I am going to put in my second tower?

 

Am I thinking right?

Thanks again, I am so grateful that the unRAID software has such a nice community 😉

 

Edit: The card I mentioned above is the cheapest here in the Netherlands, so I think it is going to be a 8i card...

Edited August 25, 20232 yr by rikdegraaff
See Edit and some corrections.

13 minutes ago, rikdegraaff said:

And how do I connect the 4i card and expander together?

This specific post has the parts.

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/74460-external-sas-storage-101-query-not-guide/?do=findComment&comment=686265

 

The 4e (not i) port on the card connected to the motherboard goes to the adapter bit to convert from external cable to internal connected to the expander. You could use the 4i port on a 4e/4i card in the main box to connect 4 drives in the main tower. BTW, I think that AOC card is one that gives some people issues, I think it uses a marvell chipset.

 

@JorgeB, could you please give this thread a quick once over and make sure I've not sent rik astray?

 

I don't have first hand experience setting this up, I'm just going by what Jorge posted several years ago.

3 minutes ago, JonathanM said:

This specific post has the parts.

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/74460-external-sas-storage-101-query-not-guide/?do=findComment&comment=686265

 

The 4e (not i) port on the card connected to the motherboard goes to the adapter bit to convert from external cable to internal connected to the expander. You could use the 4i port on a 4e/4i card in the main box to connect 4 drives in the main tower. BTW, I think that AOC card is one that gives some people issues, I think it uses a marvell chipset.

 

@JorgeB, could you please give this thread a quick once over and make sure I've not sent rik astray?

 

I don't have first hand experience setting this up, I'm just going by what Jorge posted several years ago.

 

Okay thanks!

I'll wait until JorgeB has time to check this out.
At the moment I cannot physically access the tower because we're having home renovation going on here, so I cannot go further until that is over.

 

I understand the parts in the post you just mentioned.

But one thing, do I need another motherboard and parts in that second tower?

Because I thought that every card was going to have a place on my first motherboard...

 

And to come back on that AOC card, I had some minor issues with it but those were quickly solved...

Still no headaches and running strong for about 8 years, that card. 😆

4 hours ago, JonathanM said:

could you please give this thread a quick once over and make sure I've not sent rik astray?

That's still a good option, when used with an expander.

10 hours ago, rikdegraaff said:

But one thing, do I need another motherboard and parts in that second tower?

Because I thought that every card was going to have a place on my first motherboard...

Only the expander and drives go in the second tower. The LSI controller goes in the main tower.

11 hours ago, rikdegraaff said:

I think it is going to be a 8i card...

That will require either running cables meant for internal case use from one case to the other, or buying a pair of the cable converters. If properly protected it would be ok to do the internal style cables, but it will mean partially disassembling one or both of the towers to get to the internal connections if you want to move things around. The e connections are exposed to the outside of the case in a slot, so much easier to unplug and move if needed.