Wisecracker said:
Here are
2 8-Bay eSATA external enclosures -- they go on-sale quite often for less than $200.
I've used both models in various forms with great success in JBOD, though the PCIe controller cards ain't all that, and are typically slow with long boot times.
That's why motherboards with 2 x eSATA on-board are great!
![:) :)]()
Many varieties of the AMD x90-FX motherboards come with 'em.
Otherwise, you may consider an eSATA PCI bracket with 2 x external eSATA ports. They'll work just dandy with an 8-bay enclosure if you have enabled SATA AHCI with the proper *.inf drivers ... which is necessary for the OS to recognize the 'port multiplier' function.
Edit: forgot the bracket link!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Thanks for replying
Aha, ok, so you are saying bin the whole of the sas rack I just bought and buy a new esata rack and controller (unless my m board already has esata connections)! I gotcha.
Is there no way to just bin the sas controller in the rack and replace it with an esata version?
If I went the sas route and kept the rack as is would any sas controller card and cable be compatible with my rack or are they proprietary?