Adding more sata ports?


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Today I have this motherboard with a BGA cpu:

 

https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/32574624109.html

 

It's a J1900 and has 13 sata ports.

 

So I got from a friend a kind of new/old pc that is a i3 2120 with RX 550 gpu, so I could transcode content with Emby. 

But the motherboard doesn't have many sata ports, right now I'm using 10. 

 

I know those PCI-E to Sata adapters work, I'm wondering do I have to install any drivers to unraid for those to work?

How many sata ports per PCI-E can you safely use?

 

And when the PCI-E slots are over, what do you do?

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3 minutes ago, TheFreemancer said:

I'm wondering do I have to install any drivers to unraid for those to work?

No, as long as it's a supported controller, look for an LSI HBA, any LSI with a SAS2008/2308/3008/3408 chipset in IT mode, e.g., 9201-8i, 9211-8i, 9207-8i, 9300-8i, 9400-8i, etc and clones, like the Dell H200/H310 and IBM M1015, these latter ones need to be crossflashed.

 

4 minutes ago, TheFreemancer said:

How many sata ports per PCI-E can you safely use?

Depends on the PCIe link width and speed, but generally for HDDs 8 to 16 is fine.

 

6 minutes ago, TheFreemancer said:

And when the PCI-E slots are over, what do you do?

You can use a SAS expander.

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1 hour ago, johnnie.black said:

No, as long as it's a supported controller, look for an LSI HBA, any LSI with a SAS2008/2308/3008/3408 chipset in IT mode, e.g., 9201-8i, 9211-8i, 9207-8i, 9300-8i, 9400-8i, etc and clones, like the Dell H200/H310 and IBM M1015, these latter ones need to be crossflashed.

Wow those cards are more expensive than my entire pc (except the hds), LOL.

 

One of this:

https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1242684193-placa-controladora-pcie-x4-6-portas-sata-3-6gbps-asmedia-v-_JM?quantity=1#position=5&type=item&tracking_id=f6a60fa4-6c4a-400e-bd37-3d22c91a339e

 

or one of this:

https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1133534691-placa-controladora-pci-e-sata-3-marvell-9215-4-portas-6gbps-_JM?quantity=1#position=2&type=item&tracking_id=f6a60fa4-6c4a-400e-bd37-3d22c91a339e

 

Will not work?

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Look on E-bay.   Search term    LSI  

 

IF you want to assure that you get one (plug and play)  in the IT Mode (which Unraid requires) use the term      LSI IT-mode

 

On E-bay you are buying the vendor not the product.  Buy from someone who has a established reputation and provides some sort of warranty.   LSI is now owned by Broadcom and they are still making a limited product line of actual boards.  However, they are still selling the chip sets.  These chip sets are being used to manufacture counterfeit LSI branded boards in China.  Quality is suspect to say the least.  Some of the counterfeit shops may be using first-line components for the remaining parts and others may be using inferior components.  The Used Dell and IBM parts are what they are purported to be--- removed from servers from retired server farms.

Edited by Frank1940
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Sadly importing from Brazil is impossible, if the product costs $100 and shipping is $25, you will pay $125 of extra taxes making a $100 product cost $225. 

 

We are behind an iron curtain falsely advertised as to help the poor and used to sustain corruption.

Besides that it will take 3 months to arrive if it's not stolen on the customs by the federal cops as it happened couple of times with me. 

 

Said that I'll try to look for something old used here. 

Thank you. 

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Both listed will work, they might need to be crossflashed to LSI IT mode if not yet done, instructions for the Fujitsu are just a few posts below:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/57815-fujitsu-d2607-8i-crossflash-to-lsi-9211-8i/

 

14 minutes ago, TheFreemancer said:

grab a sas to 4 sata plugs cables and flash it to IT mode?

Cable needs to be SFF-8087 SAS to SATA forward breakout cable, reverse breakout looks the same but won't work in this case.

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