First Time Using SAS Hard Drives (Seagate Cheetah 15K.7 Drive)

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MisterCloke

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May 22, 2014
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Hello All -

I am new to using SAS hard drives, and would like to be a little more educated about them. I currently have two of these hard drives that were given to me:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148538

I would like to use them in my current setup, but I'm not sure of the proper hardware to use. The motherboard I am currently using is this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132053

In my readings so far, I've read that you need to use a controller card to make these work? I was having a look at this card, and was curious if this is the proper one to use:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118182

I also don't have the proper cables to use to go between the controller card (If I need to use one.), and was curious what ones I should purchase to use them. Could someone link me to the proper cables?

If I don't need to use a controller card, what do I need to use?

Thanks in advance!

Justin
 
Solution
WyomingKnott
Well, the board's connectors are "2 x SFF-8087 mini-SAS." Those are actually connectors for 4 separate SAS devices, so you will need an octopus cable (quadrapus?). Something like the bottom two pictures on this page: http://www.specialty-cables.com/mini_sas_cables-int.html , although probably better quality. The one on the right has full-width data plus power connectors, although it gets power from a Molex connector, which is dumb.

Something like this gets power from 15-pin SATA power cables and combines it with the data to connect to your SAS drives: http://www.startech.com/Cables/Drive/SAS/50cm-Internal-Serial-Attached-SCSI-Mini-SAS-Cable-SFF8087-to-4x-FF8482~SAS808782P50
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WyomingKnott

WyomingKnott

Legenda in Aeternum
Aug 29, 2006
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Well, those pieces will work together. Unless you already have a large SSD, though, I would put $290 into an SSD rather than an SSAS controller.

My understanding is that SSAS drives aren't any faster than SATA drives, but they are more appropriate for enterprise use, 24/7. They even support dual-hosting so that if the host system fails the drive can be brought up on the spare system.

Excellent choice of card, if a bit expensive, because multiple PCI-E 3.0 lanes will not strangle the speed of a drive, but I think it may be overkill. 8 x PCI-E 3.0 will run about 8 GB/sec - that's significantly more than those two drives are going to put out.

Now, if you attached two SSDs to it...
 
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MisterCloke

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May 22, 2014
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I appreciate the response! But, I already have 1 SSD drive, and was going to use these two as back up and storage drives. Could you possibly link me to the cables I need to buy to connect the drives to the card?

 
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WyomingKnott

WyomingKnott

Legenda in Aeternum
Aug 29, 2006
13,249
3
51,960
Well, the board's connectors are "2 x SFF-8087 mini-SAS." Those are actually connectors for 4 separate SAS devices, so you will need an octopus cable (quadrapus?). Something like the bottom two pictures on this page: http://www.specialty-cables.com/mini_sas_cables-int.html , although probably better quality. The one on the right has full-width data plus power connectors, although it gets power from a Molex connector, which is dumb.

Something like this gets power from 15-pin SATA power cables and combines it with the data to connect to your SAS drives: http://www.startech.com/Cables/Drive/SAS/50cm-Internal-Serial-Attached-SCSI-Mini-SAS-Cable-SFF8087-to-4x-FF8482~SAS808782P50
 
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Solution
M

MisterCloke

Reputable
May 22, 2014
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4,510


Once again, I really appreciate your timely response!

The description of the cable spells it out pretty easily, describing that it connects an SAS controller to up to 4x SAS drives. I was curious if that was the most efficient way to connect these drives, or should I be using individual cables that go between the card, and each drive separately?

 
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