SATA SSD on Supermicro PIO-628U-TR4T+-ST031

[Aebian]

Greetings,

 

I have a Supermicro server and I'm currently trying to have my SATA SSD show up in BIOS so I can use it for my ESXi installation as datastore on this server. 

The motherboard is this baby --> https://www.supermicro.com/manuals/motherboard/C612/MNL-1597.pdf

 

 

I have connected the SATA cable to the yellow port (left green border) and have then used power from the BP port (right green border).

However the drive never shows up in BIOS. I have connected the drive to a windows PC and can confirm it is detected and working. 

 

For the SATA power I use these cables:

 

Do you have any idea what could be the reason the device never shows up? 

 

Regards,

 

Alex

[Electronics Wizardy]

CHeck the bios, it might be disabled in there.

 

That power connector is likely for 12v only for gpus, so it probalby doesn't have the right power.

 

Id just boot from a usb stick on the usb port next to that slot.

[Aebian]

Booting from USB stick works fine. That's not the issue. My ESXi is installed on a USB 3.0 stick

However the SSD never shows up in BIOS, SATA is enabled there. 

 

About the power connector: the black one at the bottom is a SATA power, the black one at the top left get's plugged in to the BP port, so this seems fairly normal. Or what do you mean by it does not have the right power? Why does it have the SATA power plugs then? 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Aebian said:

Booting from USB stick works fine. That's not the issue. My ESXi is installed on a USB 3.0 stick

However the SSD never shows up in BIOS, SATA is enabled there. 

 

About the power connector: the black one at the bottom is a SATA power, the black one at the top left get's plugged in to the BP port, so this seems fairly normal. Or what do you mean by it does not have the right power? Why does it have the SATA power plugs then? 

Where did you get that sata power cable from? is it from supermicro? Is there a model number?

 

It looks like the pinout on that connector isn't right. Can you check it with a multimeter? That plug is made for a backplane power connector, not a sata power connector. Looking at the pinout in the manual, that cable won't power your ssd. 

 

Can you put your ssd in the front drive bays? 

[Aebian]

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Where did you get that sata power cable from? is it from supermicro? Is there a model number?

Yeah it is from supermicro, it is part-number Supermicro CBL-PWEX-0485-01 Power Cable, 8P to 2 2x2(50/60CM) & 2 SATA (26+16cm)

Even lists SATA on the black connector:

 

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Can you put your ssd in the front drive bays? 

Since my drives in the bay are SAS I cannot. ESXi however recognizes the SAS raid controller, it's just that the drives (RAID50) are not useable directly on ESXi. This might need further configuring. 

 

Is there anything else I can check? I know that my SAS drives are powered and I have a left-over MOLEX connector at hand. If it comes down to it I could do the "you-shouldn't-do" approach and get a MOLEX to SATA cable. 

 

Thanks for your help so far. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Aebian said:

Since my drives in the bay are SAS I cannot. ESXi however recognizes the SAS raid controller, it's just that the drives (RAID50) are not useable directly on ESXi. This might need further configuring. 

 

Is there anything else I can check? I know that my SAS drives are powered and I have a left-over MOLEX connector at hand. If it comes down to it I could do the "you-shouldn't-do" approach and get a MOLEX to SATA cable. 

 

Thanks for your help so far. 

You can plug sata drive into a sas enclosure, then make a single disk raid for the sata ssd. You can use the raid 50 on esxi just fine

 

Did that cable come with the server? Id check the voltages with a multimeter, as that cable doesn't seem right to me

[Aebian]

7 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Did that cable come with the server

It did not. I might borrowing the multimeter of my friend to check. Thanks. 

[Aebian]

I have verified that the cable is the issue. 

I have also bought a MOLEX to SATA POWER cable lately and can confirm it works with that cable, 

 

So what cable would work in the 6-pin slot onh the green right for SATA power.  MOLEX seems to work too which is ultimately also powered from a 6-pin beige connector. 

 

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

12 minutes ago, Aebian said:

I have verified that the cable is the issue. 

I have also bought a MOLEX to SATA POWER cable lately and can confirm it works with that cable, 

 

So what cable would work in the 6-pin slot onh the green right for SATA power.  MOLEX seems to work too which is ultimately also powered from a 6-pin beige connector. 

 

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

If it works with a molex to sata, why not just use that.

 

 

You could also power the drive form usb.

 

But id really suggest just putting the ssd in the front bays with the other drives.

 

Sata drives will work fine in a sas raid card. You may need to setup the drives in a raid0/jbod config to use them.