Question Is there a PCIe adapter card for ESATA to 4 x SATA or USB-accessible hard disks can go to hardware RAID cards ?

[Exp1oit]

I have a Dell Precision T7820 workstation host who has 4 hard disk locations, but two of them are U2 and the other two are SATA.So, I had to buy a hard disk enclosure to hold more hard disks.But this DAS has two access points, one Type-C to USB, and one is ESATA.

I would like to utilize ESATA access to the host computer and utilize a PICE expansion card to convert the external ESATA to 4 SATA cables to the internal RAID card so that I can do RAID.
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Questions:

1) Is there such a PCIe expansion card for ESATA to 4 x SATA ?

2) If I access it via USB to the motherboard, is it that the external hard disk linked via USB is not visible on the RAID card. It is not possible to form a RAID ?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Is there such a PCIE expansion card for ESATA to 4 x SATA?

ESATA to SATA is just a simple cable.

If I access it via USB to the motherboard. Is it that the external hard disk linked via USB is not visible on the RAID card. It is not possible to form a RAID?

Do not create RAID on USB connected external drives.
USB is not suitable for RAID. You'd be inviting all kinds of problems.
Just don't.

 

[helpstar]

get something like:

PCIe To 4 Port SATA III 6G +2 Port esata RAID Controller card ...​

eSATA expansion card plus the 4 SATA drives including RAID

 

[Math Geek]

eSata is only 1 sata connection in bandwidth. Trying to split it into 4 sata ports will obviously have serious speed issues.

Other than being a bad idea as said above, expecting any speed benefit with raid is not going to happen that way. Use the usb-c connection.

If you need more space, get a bigger NAS that connects via Ethernet.

 

[USAFRet]

Why RAID?

 

[Misgar]

Why RAID?

Glib answer. Because Dell suggest it as an option? Some users know the positive and negative aspects of RAID, others think it has magical "backup" properties, only to discover the error of their ways at a later date.

Still, it's a good question and needs to be asked.

I have a Dell Precision T7820 workstation host who has 4 hard disk locations,

What chassis do you have. There seem to be many variants of the 7820, which is to be expected from Dell. Yours sounds like one of the smaller versions. Do you have room for a PCIe x8 controller card?

If you need more space, get a bigger NAS that connects via Ethernet.

Or maybe a SAS Expander if you want to complicate matters? There's some inexpensive second hand kit out there (ex-server pulls) and SAS can be faster than Gigabit Ethernet.
https://techtellectual.com/what-is-a-sas-expander/

 

[Exp1oit]

Glib answer. Because Dell suggest it as an option? Some users know the positive and negative aspects of RAID, others think it has magical "backup" properties, only to discover the error of their ways at a later date.

Still, it's a good question and needs to be asked.

What chassis do you have. There seem to be many variants of the 7820, which is to be expected from Dell. Yours sounds like one of the smaller versions. Do you have room for a PCIe x8 controller card?


Or maybe a SAS Expander if you want to complicate matters? There's some inexpensive second hand kit out there (ex-server pulls) and SAS can be faster than Gigabit Ethernet.
https://techtellectual.com/what-is-a-sas-expander/

My mainframe has about 3 PCIE x16 slots because this mainframe doesn't have any more HDD slots, even though I added a SAS card. It would also be because there are no extra SATA cables or locations, so I would have to go through an external disk.

 

[Exp1oit]

ESATA to SATA is just a simple cable.

Do not create RAID on USB connected external drives.
USB is not suitable for RAID. You'd be inviting all kinds of problems.
Just don't.

I don't have an ESATA port on my host so I may need an adapter card, but I see that a cable will convert my ESATA to SATA so I maybe connect a RAID card through this SATA link to create a RAID!

What I'm not sure about now is that if I have 4 ESATA drives and access them through a single SATA, I can only see if there is only one disk

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I just don't want to use zfs because my host doesn't have enough RAM. they show up as 4 in Linux!

 

[Misgar]

I added a SAS card.

If you have added a SAS card, it's probably a Host Bus Adapter for internal drives.

What I was suggesting was a SAS Expander card, specifically, one with an external output for connection to an external (SAS) drive cage assembly. Do not buy a SAS Expander with internal ports only. Check for a socket on the rear bracket.

You can connect standard SATA drives to a SAS controller and 3GB/s SAS1 or 6GB/s SAS2 may be adequate if you're running hard disks. If you plan on using SSDs, consider 12GB/s SAS3.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sas-storage,1239-5.html

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/hp-sas-expander-wiki.146/

I just don't want to use zfs because my host doesn't have enough RAM. they show up as 4 in Linux!

By 4, I assume you mean 4GB of system RAM, which is not sufficient for modern ZFS. I run TrueNAS Core on various systems with 16GB to 64BG RAM. The minimum RAM for TrueNAS is 8GB, but it's better to fit at least 16GB. ECC is preferred.

If you're prepared to run an old version of FreeNAS, you could use a system with only 4GB RAM.
https://blog.miniserver.it/en/truenas/freenas-hardware-sizing/

If you do decide to run ZFS, make absolutely certain your SAS controller's BIOS is running in IT-Mode (Initiator Target) and not IR-Mode (hardware RAID). You can flash some cards from IR to IT, but it's much easier to buy an IT-Mode card at the outset. TrueNAS requires full visibility of all hard drives, but IR cards hide a lot of important information from the OS.

 

[Exp1oit]

If you have added a SAS card, it's probably a Host Bus Adapter for internal drives.

What I was suggesting was a SAS Expander card, specifically, one with an external output for connection to an external (SAS) drive cage assembly. Do not buy a SAS Expander with internal ports only. Check for a socket on the rear bracket.

You can connect standard SATA drives to a SAS controller and 3GB/s SAS1 or 6GB/s SAS2 may be adequate if you're running hard disks. If you plan on using SSDs, consider 12GB/s SAS3.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sas-storage,1239-5.html

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/hp-sas-expander-wiki.146/


By 4, I assume you mean 4GB of system RAM, which is not sufficient for modern ZFS. I run TrueNAS Core on various systems with 16GB to 64BG RAM. The minimum RAM for TrueNAS is 8GB, but it's better to fit at least 16GB. ECC is preferred.

If you're prepared to run an old version of FreeNAS, you could use a system with only 4GB RAM.
https://blog.miniserver.it/en/truenas/freenas-hardware-sizing/

If you do decide to run ZFS, make absolutely certain your SAS controller's BIOS is running in IT-Mode (Initiator Target) and not IR-Mode (hardware RAID). You can flash some cards from IR to IT, but it's much easier to buy an IT-Mode card at the outset. TrueNAS requires full visibility of all hard drives, but IR cards hide a lot of important information from the OS.

Wow, this suggestion suggestion looks very good. I searched for the keywords you provided and found this card

LSI MR SAS2108 9280-4i4e 6Gb​

I have another question, so my DAS is linked through an ESATA, I also need to prepare an ESATA to mini SAS adapter cable, and, my expansion cabinet is with 4 hard disks, so can I see all of them on the raid card through only one adapter cable?

When miniSAS is plugged in, is the entire RAID card's data then transferred from the PCIE channel?

 

[Misgar]

LSI MR SAS2108 9280-4i4e 6Gb

The 'e' at the end of the part number signifies the card has RAID (IR) firmware, not Initiator Target (IT) firmware.

This makes it unsuitable if you decide to run a ZFS based OS. For an LSI card with IT firmware, look for something ending with an 'i'.

As for your other question, I've not used eSATA for anything more challenging than an external hard disk connected to a Phenom X4 955 system. Since then I abandoned eSATA. Perhaps someone else can help?

I prefer ZFS to proprietary RAID after a motherboard with on-board RAID failed. The easiest way to get the 4-disk array back up and working was to buy a second hand board with the same RAID chipset.

I transferred an 8-disk RAID-Z2 (ZFS) array from an HP server (Intel Xeon CPU) to a desktop system (AMD CPU) with minimal fuss. Try that with two (incompatible) hardware RAID controllers and you'll be reaching for your backups.