Maximum # harddisk a motherboard can handle with 2 SAS expanders

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denywinarto

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Apr 6, 2016
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I'm new to this JBOD thing so bear with me..
Planning to build gigantic Media server running Ubuntu.
I just bought 1 HP SAS expander and an IBM M1015 SAS Card which has 2 SFF8087 ports, meaning it can hold up to 2 SAS expanders...
I've measured the mobo and it looks like 2 SAS expander could fit in it.. and because of certain scripts i want to run, i'm limiting my library to 1 computer.

Here's the specs :

Motherboad : Asrock Z87
Memory : 16GB 1600MhZ DDR3 G-skill
Processor : Intel® Core™ i3-4130 Processor (3M Cache, 3.40 GHz)
PSU: Plan to use 2-3 PSUs connected with Add2Psu..


So technically that's 64 HDD from SAS expander + 10 from motherboard internal SATA ports.

Questions:

1. Is there any known limitation from motherboard or other factors that i'm not aware of? Is there anything that could prevent 74 HDD from working properly with this setup? (It will be filled with 8TB and 6TB of HDDs btw)..
2. Is it Ok to run SATA from SAS expander and from internal SATA port together?
3. Is non-ECC memory viable enough?

I don't mind a little performace drop as long as i can stream 1080p content
I'm asking this because i want to build acrylic custom casing, and of course i need to know the max capacity to detemine the size of the casing

thanks
 
I would make prob make it like connecting those 2 expanders cards externaly with sff 8088 cables from behind so i could get all sas slots in expander for hdd use.. So.. master card would be some card what has 2 x sff 8088 slots behind it..

In these days there shouldnt be that huge hdd limitation but for thatkind of amount of data u might wanna consider somekind of raid type setup like freenas or what there is in these days?

Your CPU is slow if u are gonna give it any heavy duty stuff + that amount of ram is really small to handle anything.. might wanna consider somekind of xeon system? those are really cheap in these days in ebay.. u might wanna look youtube for lets say or similar videos.. shitloads of more cpu power and memory with small price..
 
WestSidaz said:
I would make prob make it like connecting those 2 expanders cards externaly with sff 8088 cables from behind so i could get all sas slots in expander for hdd use.. So.. master card would be some card what has 2 x sff 8088 slots behind it..

In these days there shouldnt be that huge hdd limitation but for thatkind of amount of data u might wanna consider somekind of raid type setup like freenas or what there is in these days?

Your CPU is slow if u are gonna give it any heavy duty stuff + that amount of ram is really small to handle anything.. might wanna consider somekind of xeon system? those are really cheap in these days in ebay.. u might wanna look youtube for lets say or similar videos.. shitloads of more cpu power and memory with small price..
Click to expand...


It's purely for storage.. so far i have 10 HDD and i havent seen the ram gets full..
I just found out the IBM card can only support 32 HDD max... so i guess max i can get is 42 with internal ports
 
So you didnt actually read what i wrote..

You can get a better card.. Like LSi 9266-8i.. it can take 128 HDDs.. If u want internal connections... Get one card with 2 x sff 8088 connection external so u can connect both sas expanders easily via sff 8088 cable if ur expander models have sff 8088 connection..

For purely storage.. You arent gonna fill those hdds with anything important what u might wanna get back if hdd fails?
And i can recommend u to get a couple proper UPS units for those psus...
 
WestSidaz said:
So you didnt actually read what i wrote..

You can get a better card.. Like LSi 9266-8i.. it can take 128 HDDs.. If u want internal connections... Get one card with 2 x sff 8088 connection external so u can connect both sas expanders easily via sff 8088 cable if ur expander models have sff 8088 connection..

For purely storage.. You arent gonna fill those hdds with anything important what u might wanna get back if hdd fails?
And i can recommend u to get a couple proper UPS units for those psus...
Click to expand...

Sorry i just didn't know which other cards to consider...
That one is interesting..
but i'll probably use it for future when i already have that much HDD.. right now i'm planning for roughly 30-40..

The cost to use raid doesn't make sense in my country i'm afraid..
I'm gonna have to double (or almost double) the amount of HDD that i have to invest..

Let's just assume i'm not using raid for this setup.. will that processor and memory be enough?
Probably can bump the memory to 32 GB

Which PSU do you recommend?
I'm considering Seasonic Prime or other PSU with alot of SATA power ports..
And then chain them with the same unit with Add2PSU
For connecting to HDD i'm using 4x splitter
 
yes cpu and memory will be enough if u do just jbod.. :) and i wouldnt take any cheapest psus.. + i would take ups for it also..

and whatkind of splitters? sata power or data splitters? power splitters can burn ur hdds if there is bad luck involved..
 
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