HBA Advice

[jkirkcaldy]

So I have this chassis for my server https://www.logic-case.com/products/rackmount-chassis/4u/4u-server-case-w-16-x-35-hot-swappable-satasas-drive-bays-6gbs-minisas-+-2-x-525-bays-sc-4316/

 

it is currently populated with 12 sata drives using the built in ports on the mobo as well as a sata PCIe card as well as a startech card. If I want to add any more drives to the server I now need to buy another PCIe card to give me the extra slots. I would like to use the opportunity to get rid of the two expansion cards that are in there already and replace them with one card that will support all the drives. 

 

There are 4 SFF-8087 ports one for each row of drives.

 

What I need (if it exists) is one expansion card that has enough ports for all 16 drives. The drives are all Sata 3 I don't need sas drives.

 

Ideally I don't want to spend more than £200 on the card and I am not opposed to buying second hand. I don't need any raid functionality as all my drives are pooled using Transparent Raid from FlexRaid. it only stores media files and anything important is backed up on another drive plus crashplan central.  

 

I have a fairly good knowledge when it comes to building and buying a gaming system or but I am just getting into the enterprise hardware so I am still very much a novice when it comes to shopping for this hardware. I have had a look around but from what I can see the places that used to sell "affordable" 16 port HBA cards either don't sell them anymore or they are enterprise cards with features that I don't need. I have looked through ebay but buying server hardware isn't necessarily as easy as buying consumer or gaming hardware due to compatability issues and the assumption that you know exactly what you are looking for. 

 

Other information:

Windows Server 2012r2 (possibly updating to 2016 soon) 

gigabyte z77-ud5h mobo

32GB ddr3 ram

all drives are formatted as standard NTFS drives 

All drives are Sata 3

No raid

system is connected to a UPS

System runs 24/7

Plex Server/Nextcloud vm/Ark server/file server

 

 

Any more questions or information I will answer as best I can

 

Thanks for the help.

[Electronics Wizardy]

This is what you want. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PERC-H200-6Gb-PCI-e-SAS-SATA-8-Port-Raid-Controller-M1015-9211-8i-047MCV/132056329021?_trksid=p2045573.c100506.m3226&_trkparms=aid%3D555014%26algo%3DPL.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D41451%26meid%3De8880ac6b33a48c1955dbd55a8326443%26pid%3D100506%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26

 

Get a sas expander if you want more ports.

[dalekphalm]

40 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

This is what you want. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PERC-H200-6Gb-PCI-e-SAS-SATA-8-Port-Raid-Controller-M1015-9211-8i-047MCV/132056329021?_trksid=p2045573.c100506.m3226&_trkparms=aid%3D555014%26algo%3DPL.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D41451%26meid%3De8880ac6b33a48c1955dbd55a8326443%26pid%3D100506%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26

 

Get a sas expander if you want more ports.

Just a side note: I have an H200 - these usually come with the IR firmware on them. Flashing to IT firmware was pretty easy (Though I did that 100% accidentally while trying to do other things  lol).

 

You can pick up SAS expanders on eBay for somewhat cheap, though honestly, for the same price, you could just pick up more H200's.