SAS HDD Question

[demonofelru]

Bit of a weird problem I have here, so please bear with me.  Will try to make it short, basically I recently won this eBay auction http://www.ebay.com/itm/151239690569?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649.  I was happy it was a very good drive for the price, I got the package and opened it up to my surprise it was a 4TB RE Drive.  I thought great even better for the price, took it out and notices it was the SAS version of the WD RE4 . 

 

I don't have a compatible RAID card to use this, but since it was such a good price I was wondering if it might be better just to get a cheap RAID card that supports SAS instead of filing a SNAD claim with eBay and paying for return shipping, I have contacted the seller but no response yet.  

 

Anyway if I am required to return it could I just instead get a RAID card such as this http://www.ebay.com/itm/HighPoint-RocketRAID-2642-LF-SAS-4CH-SATA-PCI-e-RAID-Controller-Host-Adapter-HBA-/131131090969?pt=US_Computer_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item1e8805a819, and connect the drive with something like this http://www.siig.com/sff-8482-to-sata-cable-with-lp4-power.html?

 

Thanks in advance for any help, I feel I'm relatively techy but know very little about more enterprise things like SAS or Fibre Channel etc, so sorry if I didn't give enough info.

[Vitalius]

That is... amazing. Those drives are $300+. Epic. 

I would buy a RAID controller that works with it. Even if you bought this one, it would still be cheaper than buying one of those drives new. You can connect SAS to SATA, but not the other way around (so that RAID controller can connect to either SAS or SATA drives), and it supports up to 8 drives. 

I know it's a bit expensive, but it just depends what you intend to use it for. 

[demonofelru]

That is... amazing. Those drives are $300+. Epic. 

I would buy a RAID controller that works with it. Even if you bought this one, it would still be cheaper than buying one of those drives new. You can connect SAS to SATA, but not the other way around (so that RAID controller can connect to either SAS or SATA drives), and it supports up to 8 drives. 

I know it's a bit expensive, but it just depends what you intend to use it for. 

Thanks for the super quick response what confuses me if there seems to be like 18 different connectors it seems the actual drive is a SFF-8482 it looks like that controller uses mini SAS or SFF-8087?  So I would need a SFF-8087 to SFF-8482 cable and I could maybe get a SFF-8087 to 4 SATA connector if I wanted?

 

Also yeah the whole transaction was extremely suspect the seller was very adamant about one item per eBay ID, and the package came direct from WD and looked like it was a warranty replacement maybe a advanced RMA.  It could be all legit but it is weird.

[jscho]

This is the cheapest SAS controller I could find.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101358

[ross06187]

This is the cheapest SAS controller I could find.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101358

Thats horribly expensive given the drive cost

 

@demonofelru Never buy second hand drives on ebay.  Particularity enterprise class drives.   Yes the drive may be high quality but think what the drive has been doing for the last few years.  it has been tortured to death then after a set point or if it has started to show warning signs it has been replaced and the company has recouped some money selling it on the second hand market.  even under normal use it be lucky to make more than 2 years if it been in a proper enterprise/raid for more than 2-3 years.

 

Have a look at manufacture date, that will give you an idea of how good the drive is.  if its under 2 years old its good provided there are no S.M.A.R.T flags/issues with it, if its older than 3 years i would not use it.

[demonofelru]

Thats horribly expensive given the drive cost

 

@demonofelru Never buy second hand drives on ebay.  Particularity enterprise class drives.   Yes the drive may be high quality but think what the drive has been doing for the last few years.  it has been tortured to death then after a set point or if it has started to show warning signs it has been replaced and the company has recouped some money selling it on the second hand market.  even under normal use it be lucky to make more than 2 years if it been in a proper enterprise/raid for more than 2-3 years.

 

Have a look at manufacture date, that will give you an idea of how good the drive is.  if its under 2 years old its good provided there are no S.M.A.R.T flags/issues with it, if its older than 3 years i would not use it.

In general I'd agree but I've actually had incredible luck with second hand drives on eBay, my first bought hard drive ever is still ticking that I got from there some 10 years ago, I had my max bid at $92 and didn't expect to win in figured I'd give it a shot.  Anyway contacted the seller and they said yeah sorry, they don't have that item it was a mistake and could only offer a refund.  I asked if since it was their fault if they would pay return shipping nut no response to that yet.

 

If not I found a HBA for $40 shipped that would include the cable, I'm actually not too worried about the reliability of it since like I said before it cam direct from WD.  I obviously can't check S.M.A.R.T values since I have no way to connect it but the manufacture date is August 2013 and has some 4 years left on the warranty so that's  a good sign as well.  I also might just resell it on eBay since I could probably get at least $150 for it so make a few bucks but $50 isn't that worth it to me since I hate the hassle of selling on eBay.

 

Either way thanks all for your help I guess I'll update the thread when I figure it out.

[ross06187]

 

 

it sounds like you got a new or refurbish drive from WD.  As you said it was direct i think the seller is misusing (or not) one of there enterprise offers.  Like returning warranty claims and getting the replacement drive sent to you.  or getting sample drives

 

it sound really fishy,.

 

ether way it probably makes the drive new/newish.  given the manufacture date that drive has not seen the inside of a system for long.

[demonofelru]

it sounds like you got a new or refurbish drive from WD.  As you said it was direct i think the seller is misusing (or not) one of there enterprise offers.  Like returning warranty claims and getting the replacement drive sent to you.  or getting sample drives

 

it sound really fishy,.

 

ether way it probably makes the drive new/newish.  given the manufacture date that drive has not seen the inside of a system for long.

Yeah it is most certainly fishy I can't think of a single legitimate reason a warranty drive should come, does WD even allow the drive to be shipped to someone else besides the person RMAing the drive?  It definately is a warranty swap it says so right on the packing slip included like I said direct from WDs warranty warehouse.

[jscho]

Thats horribly expensive given the drive cost

 

SAS controllers are expensive dude... They're designed to be placed in servers and ran 24/7.

It was the cheapest one I could find. Unless someone can find a cheaper one, he'll probably have to resell it.}

Make a profit

[demonofelru]

SAS controllers are expensive dude... They're designed to be placed in servers and ran 24/7.

It was the cheapest one I could find. Unless someone can find a cheaper one, he'll probably have to resell it.}

Make a profit

Cheapest I found was the RocketRAID 2642 about 40 USD shipped with cables, well found some really old ones that didn't support 2TB+ but obviously wouldn't work.  I would probably get a $100+ one anyway would be nice to use a mini sas to 4 SATA and move the ones from my enclosure internally anyway so thanks for the link.