Help choosing hardware for adding 3.5" drives to server

Mystical Kimchi · March 2, 2020

I have an HP DL380 G7 server running FreeBSD 12-STABLE. Because the included RAID card wouldn't let ZFS handle the drives directly, I bought an IBM M1015 and reflashed it to IT mode according to this guide: https://www.ixsystems.com/community/threads/confused-about-that-lsi-card-join-the-crowd.11901/

I currently have two 1TB SAS drives in a ZFS mirror, and I have 6 empty 2.5" drive bays. But the fact is that 2.5" drives are generally more expensive and have a lower capacity than 3.5" drives. I'm in the process of ripping my DVD collection so I can access it via my Emby server, so I'm going to be plowing through that 1TB of storage soon. I want to add more storage in the near future. So I think the most cost-effective route is going to be to get an external drive array of some kind that supports 3.5" drives and add 3.5" drives in mirrored pairs as I need additional storage.

I've tried reading and learning about SAS expanders and whatnot, but I'm still fuzzy on that. My current IBM card (flashed with an LSI firmware) has internal connectors. So first of all, is there a way I can make use of my current card and use it to provide external connectors for an external drive array, or must I buy a second card with external connectors? If I can use my existing card, what hardware adapter can I use, or what do I otherwise need to so?

As far as an external drive array is concerned, what hardware do you recommend that is a good quality and reasonable priced? Something I can buy on eBay is fine with me. As far as the drives themselves are concerned, I'll probably be shopping for cost-effective SATA drives. 6 or even 8 TB 3.5" drives are pretty reasonably priced right now. I wanted SAS drives for the OS/boot, but I think SATA should be fine for mass storage. It'll just be for home use, not a high-traffic website or database.

Windows7ge · March 2, 2020

I have a guide on how you can build your own Disk Enclosure for very cheap:

It's good for mass data storage. Not very fast though.

Jarsky · March 2, 2020

As far as internals, I believe the LFF chassis are different to the SFF chassis so you can't just convert it making external your only choice.

What you're after is a Diskshelf, which the ones out there typically use IOM6 connectivity, so essentially you need a SAS to QSFP cable.

The issue there, is I dont think they do SFF8087 (internal SAS) to QSFP, only to SFF8088 (external SAS) which would mean you'd have to get a different SAS HBA with external connectors. You could use an SFF8087 to 8088 Adapter, you can get them as PCIe bracket adapters.

The other route is the "cheap" route. Essentially you get a case to mount the disks in, a PSU, and a SAS Expander card with external slots.

You then make your own JBOD enclosure, and get a SFF8088 to SFF8087 cable, and run the cable through a spare slot in the back of your server to attach to the enclosure. Heres where someone used a cheap motherboard just for enabling the turning on/off: https://www.servethehome.com/sas-expanders-diy-cheap-low-cost-jbod-enclosures-raid/