I have a ProLiant DL380 G5 which has 5 pcie slots and one of those slots is being used by a P400 raid controller which is connected to 2 SAS disks. The problem is I would like to run it without a raid controller replacing the SAS drives with a SATA drive and use a SATA controller.
It also currently has a CD/DVD drive which is connected to the motherboard using s custom connector. Again I don't need this DVD drive.
Most motherboards have a native connect to the hard disk. In the HP, the only connect to the hard disk is through the pcie based P400 raid controller which occupies a pcie slot out of 5. My question is since I have no need for a raid facility, is there any onboard motherboard connector I can use to connect a sata hdd to the motherboard without sacrificing the pcie slot or even using the raid controller?
If there is no such option, is there any possibility I can replace the current DVD with a 2.5" hdd and use that instead (I assume I will have to change some BIOS options).
If that is not possible either, then I suppose I am stuffed and will have to accept that I am losing thev pcie slot.
thanks for reading.
It also currently has a CD/DVD drive which is connected to the motherboard using s custom connector. Again I don't need this DVD drive.
Most motherboards have a native connect to the hard disk. In the HP, the only connect to the hard disk is through the pcie based P400 raid controller which occupies a pcie slot out of 5. My question is since I have no need for a raid facility, is there any onboard motherboard connector I can use to connect a sata hdd to the motherboard without sacrificing the pcie slot or even using the raid controller?
If there is no such option, is there any possibility I can replace the current DVD with a 2.5" hdd and use that instead (I assume I will have to change some BIOS options).
If that is not possible either, then I suppose I am stuffed and will have to accept that I am losing thev pcie slot.
thanks for reading.