SATA drives in U.2 Server Bays

AlexanderRis · January 27, 2023

My lab got a R282-Z92 server for some data processing and all the drive bays at the front are Nvme U.2. From what I see online a U.2 Bay should be able to accept a 2.5" SATA SSD, but when we try to put drives in they don't show up in the BIOS or anywhere. We confirmed everything is connected and the drive bay power light turns on, but no data light. We have tons of data on 2.5" SSDs so it would be really nice if we can utilize the bays. We contacted support, but they would only say that there are 2 SATA bays at the back, but that's not too helpful.

Gigabyte R282-Z92 server

Running ubuntu 22.04

Here's a link to the product:

https://www.gigabyte.com/Enterprise/Rack-Server/R282-Z92-rev-100

mariushm · January 27, 2023

it's 24 nvme only in front.

Only 2 SATA in rear.

See diagram :

notice only CPU1 has 8 SATA going into 2x SlimLine 4i , and to those are the 2 rear bays connected

You can get cables for 8 sata ports ex slimline 4i -> 4 x sata cable: https://www.datastoragecables.com/sas/internal/slimsas4i-satax4/

maybe the front cages can be reconfigured or have connectors for the sata ports? for example maybe a SlimLine 4i or that SAS port common on HBA cards. then you would use cables from those 2 SlimLine 4i connectors to the front.