Interesting cheap JBODs available

Are you talking about actual backplane or the SAS Expander?

The backplanes in mine support Sata III and SAS 6gb/s. The Expander is limited to Sata II/Sas 3gb/s
There are some HP expanders that will support Sata III, but I am not getting one due to the limitation on spinners drives
 
Hello,

I just received one piece from mrrackables on ebay. He shipped to France for $120 shipping cost
So a total of $170+$120 = $290.

I will mod the fans, and maybe find a solution for the PSU noise, i'll keep you updated !
 
Here is my setup
HP DL385 G6 Server (6core Opteron, 8gb ram, WHS 2011)
OS is loaded on 160gb Intel SSD
Server Backup drives are 128gb Intel SSD and 80gb Laptop spinner
LSI 9211-4i has the OS and server backup drives on it using an external 4 bay sata enclosure
Rocketraid 2720SGL is connected to the 6 hotswap bays in the DL385 (5ea 2tb drives in Raid 5)
HP P410 Raid controller using an internal to external SAS converter, this is than connected to the SE3016 enclosure 1 and than daisy chained to Enclosure 2

5x2tb WD Black Sata 2 drives = raid 5 (Whole server backup)
16x1tb various drives Sata 2 = Raid 10 (with 2 Hotspares)
3tb Hitachi drive Sata 3 = Whole server backup and kept offsite (backed up once a month)

Here are some tests I have ran:
 
Has anyone tried the 3ware 9690SA-8e raid controller with this enclosure?

I have tried it and it see's the enclosure without any issues, but it does not see any drives installed. I have tried 10 different drives and all the slots with no change.
 
did you try updating the firmware on the card?

i am using an 8888elp with the omnistor jbod enclosure and it picks it up fine...

using toshiba hdkpc09 drives.
 
I found the issue it was with the enclosure itself. The top drive row SAS cable came unplugged and was not allowing the expander to work correctly. Once the cable was reseated it found the enclosure and the drives without any issues.
 
I've run into a problem with this array. I've got 9 drives in there, and it's showing up in the BIOS of the enclosure.
The issue I'm having is with my LSI sas1068e card. It is only seeing the first 8 drives. Is there any way to increase how many drives that card will see? Or do I need to get a new one? I've updated the firmware to 1.33, but that didn't help.

Or I guess I could mount them internally, but that kind of defeats the purpose of getting one this large.

P 0 D00 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 1 D01 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 2 D02 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 3 D03 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 4 D04 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 5 D05 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 6 D06 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 7 D07 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 8 D08 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
 
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> BIOS of the enclosure

How are you getting into the enclosure "BIOS"? Serial port on the front? I just want to clarify this, if you're seeing the 9 drives and/or the expander target in your SAS card BIOS config, that's something different and would lead to a different analysis.

I saw 12 drives successfully with the enclosure attached to a 1068e based card (details here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1787549) using a SFF8087 to SFF8088 cable before I went to a SAS2008 based card because of an apparent performance limitation with the 1068e...
 
How are you getting into the enclosure "BIOS"? Serial port on the front? I just want to clarify this, if you're seeing the 9 drives and/or the expander target in your SAS card BIOS config, that's something different and would lead to a different analysis.

I'm seeing all 9 drives in the SE3016 via the serial interface on the front. When I go into the setup of the LSIsas1068e during boot, it's only seeing 8 drives.

I'm using an external SFF8088 to SFF8088. The SAS card I'm using doesn't have an internal SAS port.

LSI Setup:
20140115_131536_zps01c8d93c.jpg


SE3016:
Link Status: Port Type Rate Init Dev Link PRdy
P 0 D00 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 1 D01 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 2 D02 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 3 D03 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 4 D04 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 5 D05 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 6 D06 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 7 D07 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
P 8 D08 SATA 3.0G OK End ---- Rdy
 
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It's not seeing the drives even before it gets to the OS. But, just for grins I booted up in Linux, and it's not seeing the drives either. Here's a shot of what it's seeing during boot.

20140116_044100_zpsifjemag1.jpg.html
 
So, what is the consensus how to silence this thing? Swap PSU and fans? Or only fans? And, what PSU and fans should one swap to instead? What brand, and model? Any suggestions?
 
So, what is the consensus how to silence this thing? Swap PSU and fans? Or only fans? And, what PSU and fans should one swap to instead? What brand, and model? Any suggestions?

You can keep the same PSU that comes with it. Just need to replace it with a 40mm fan. Just make sure that it's a 4 pin one. You'll have to splice the wires together.

The rear fans are standard 80mm. You can use any fans that you want, they just need a molex connector.

As for the model/brand, any should be good. Anything is quieter then what comes with it.

You can replace the PSU with a standard one, but you'll have to take apart the standard molex plugs, and use the ones on the PSU that comes with it.
 
Did you mean 3 pins fan ?

brutalizer, the included fans are heavy duty, high speed, high current, made for use in extreme heat it seems. They literally make the ears bleed.

If you replace them with standard PC fans it will already be night and day. If you really want silence, then you might consider widening the holes to use bigger, slower fans.
 
I have one such SE3016 case, but have not opened it up yet. And yes, it sounds too loud. So to silence this thing, I need to swap all fans to standard 80 mm fans? And that suffice? And I can swap the PSU fan too, but that is messy? So, I just go and buy 2-3 fans that are 80 mm and that is enough to silence it?
 
I have one such SE3016 case, but have not opened it up yet. And yes, it sounds too loud. So to silence this thing, I need to swap all fans to standard 80 mm fans? And that suffice? And I can swap the PSU fan too, but that is messy? So, I just go and buy 2-3 fans that are 80 mm and that is enough to silence it?

Yes. I went with the Rosewill RFA-80-K 80mm Case Fan. Cheap and actually pretty quiet.
For the PSU, I replaced it with Noctua NF-A4x10. Expensive, but worth it. You can't hear a thing!
 
Cant hear a thing? That sounds perfect. I will dabble with it later, and might have questions then. Thanx! :)
 
I got 2 of the SilentX 80mm fans up at Frys, and just a 40mm that they had in stock. And, even that makes a huge difference. I finally racked mine up in the closet, and I can't even hear it now.

I know some people have drilled out the back to fit 2 120mm fans, but I don't think you really need that for noise.
 
Yes. I went with the Rosewill RFA-80-K 80mm Case Fan. Cheap and actually pretty quiet.
For the PSU, I replaced it with Noctua NF-A4x10. Expensive, but worth it. You can't hear a thing!

I think you might have lost some hearing before swapping the fans, if you can't hear those 16 hard drives !

brutalizer : just to be clear it's 2*80mm fans for the case and 1*40mm fan for the PSU. The PSU fan requires dismantling the PSU (many screws) and cutting and splicing the wires to reuse the connector of the original fan. But that's the worst offender by a long shot so you need to do it. I replaced the 80mm ones and got stuck at the PSU fan because I realized I had in stock a 50mm fan, not a 40mm, so I reassembled the PSU and used it like that, it was still horrible.
 
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Yeah, I have the recommended 40mm fan, but keep cringing at the idea of cutting and soldering. I have some experience with this, but it's kinda a pain, and I am leery of messing up and having a jbod that no longer powers up. It's in the corner of the downstairs family room and not *too* noisy anymore, since I replaced the case fans, but one of these days :)
 
brutalizer : just to be clear it's 2*80mm fans for the case and 1*40mm fan for the PSU. The PSU fan requires dismantling the PSU (many screws) and cutting and splicing the wires to reuse the connector of the original fan. But that's the worst offender by a long shot so you need to do it. I replaced the 80mm ones and got stuck at the PSU fan because I realized I had in stock a 50mm fan, not a 40mm, so I reassembled the PSU and used it like that, it was still horrible.
So it is the PSU that makes the most noise? But it is a bit messy to swap the 40mm fan in the PSU? Ok, I will start with the two 80mm fans in the case. They should be easy.

The larger the fans, the quieter. To bad it is messy to get in 120mm instead of 80mm. And I wished the PSU 40mm fan was 80mm.

I will try to get mid-high end fans for all of them. I am bothered by noise. If you know of any particularly good fans, please post the names here. I will google, too, of course.

Thanks for the help, guys.
 
Guys, how do you rack mount the SE3016 without rails? Only by fastening it to the rack by screwing the front only?

If two of them are mounted back to back in a rack, how does cooling work? The fans will blow into each other... looks very strange to me.

I was thinking about getting a Norco 4224 with a Corsair HX 750 PSU, the Chenbro CK23601H0C01 36-Port 6G Expander mounted in the Chenbro 84H323210-017 Port Expander case which basically bolts to the bottom of the Norco and uses the mainbord opening of the Norco case for the 8088 connectors (it also has a power led header and power switch header for the front of the case). This will give me a quieter solution and 24 drives in 4U with dual-link at 6Gbps. But it will be more expensive than the SE3016. The SE3016 can be silenced though, is only 16 drives at 3U and being half depth, it will blow hot air in the middle of my rack (it is 90cm deep, a Sun StorEdge 900-40).

So, basically I am unsure which route to go. What is your recommendation?
 
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I'm thinking of picking one of these up, Any recommendations on an inexpensive card?
 
I'm thinking of picking one of these up, Any recommendations on an inexpensive card?

Depends on if you need hardware RAID or not.

If you're gonna use software raid (ZFS, MDADM, FlexRAID, etc) then you should get an HBA from LSI or other reputable company.

If you're going to use a hardware raid solution, then I'd recommend checking out the LSI 8888-ELP Raid card if you will only be using drives of 2TB and smaller (the 8888 doesn't support 3TB+). This card is very cheap and readily available on the likes of eBay. Some of the SE3016 sellers even bundle the expander with it.

If you need 3TB+ capacity drives, then I'd recommend a newer generation LSI raid card, such as something from their 9200 or 9600 series. The specific card would depend on your individual needs. Ideally you'd want to make sure it has external SFF-8088 connectors on it. Many Raid cards only come with SFF-8087 internal ports, and then you'll have to route the cable outside the case via a drilled hole, empty PCI slot bracket, or through the front panel with an empty ODD bay (Again depending on the specific case you own).
 
Anyone know if the two case fans and the 40mm PSU fan in the SE3016 are PWM 4-pin fans or just standard? Thanks!
 
Was thinking if an angled SFF 8088 connector would do a better job connecting to the front 8088 connectors of the SE3016. Anyone tried?
 
Anyone know if the two case fans and the 40mm PSU fan in the SE3016 are PWM 4-pin fans or just standard? Thanks!

It's been a while since I was inside mine, but I seem to recall that they are just 3-pin fans. The 2x case fans are definitely 3-pin and have a standard fan connector. The 40mm PSU fan is some sort of non (or less) standard fan corrector, and I really don't remember how many pins it had, but I *think* it was only 3-pins.

As for the angled SSF connector, that would really depend on your setup and space constraints. There's nothing wrong with using a straight angle connector, but if you're routing the cable to the back of a PC or Server case, and don't have a lot of room (Or just want it to look a little neater) then a right angle connector would be nice.
 
Depends on if you need hardware RAID or not.

If you're gonna use software raid (ZFS, MDADM, FlexRAID, etc) then you should get an HBA from LSI or other reputable company.

If you're going to use a hardware raid solution, then I'd recommend checking out the LSI 8888-ELP Raid card if you will only be using drives of 2TB and smaller (the 8888 doesn't support 3TB+). This card is very cheap and readily available on the likes of eBay. Some of the SE3016 sellers even bundle the expander with it.

If you need 3TB+ capacity drives, then I'd recommend a newer generation LSI raid card, such as something from their 9200 or 9600 series. The specific card would depend on your individual needs. Ideally you'd want to make sure it has external SFF-8088 connectors on it. Many Raid cards only come with SFF-8087 internal ports, and then you'll have to route the cable outside the case via a drilled hole, empty PCI slot bracket, or through the front panel with an empty ODD bay (Again depending on the specific case you own).

Right now I have 5 1tb drives in an software array using drive bender. http://www.drivebender.com/

I do want to add 3tb drives in the future, I don't mind sticking with the drive bender software. This is just for home media storage.
 
Right now I have 5 1tb drives in an software array using drive bender. http://www.drivebender.com/

I do want to add 3tb drives in the future, I don't mind sticking with the drive bender software. This is just for home media storage.

If you're going to use something like Drive Bender, then you don't need a full hardware raid card. Stick with an HBA, as they're cheaper. Something like an LSI 9211 would work great, and be cheaper. Others can recommend their preferred HBA's if they have any.
 
The IBM M1015 can be had very cheap about $80 on eBay and cross flashed to LSI firmware in IT mode. It is LSI SAS2008 chip based.
 
If you're going to use something like Drive Bender, then you don't need a full hardware raid card. Stick with an HBA, as they're cheaper. Something like an LSI 9211 would work great, and be cheaper. Others can recommend their preferred HBA's if they have any.


I'm gonna stick with JBOD and my Drive bender setup for now. Ended up getting an IBM LSI Logic SAS3444E for now, I don't have 3tb drives currently so at $19 shipped it will work for now. I'll upgrade later..

e. Ebay seller accepted my $125 offer making a total of 152.72 Shipped for the se3016.
 
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The IBM M1015 can be had very cheap about $80 on eBay and cross flashed to LSI firmware in IT mode. It is LSI SAS2008 chip based.

I was looking and couldn't find one of those that cheap. Best I found was an actual LSI 9211-8i for $100 shipped in the FS forum.
 
I was looking and couldn't find one of those that cheap. Best I found was an actual LSI 9211-8i for $100 shipped in the FS forum.
Yes, the original LSI card is more expensive, simply because it has RAID5 functionality and with the IBM M1015 you would need to purchase a separate key to enable RAID5 (which you don't need for IT mode anyway), thus the M1015 is cheaper that the original LSI card.
 
It's been a while since I was inside mine, but I seem to recall that they are just 3-pin fans. The 2x case fans are definitely 3-pin and have a standard fan connector. The 40mm PSU fan is some sort of non (or less) standard fan corrector, and I really don't remember how many pins it had, but I *think* it was only 3-pins.

As for the angled SSF connector, that would really depend on your setup and space constraints. There's nothing wrong with using a straight angle connector, but if you're routing the cable to the back of a PC or Server case, and don't have a lot of room (Or just want it to look a little neater) then a right angle connector would be nice.

Yes, I would definitely need an angled connector as my rack (a Sun StorEdge 900mm 42U) has a front door which unfortunately I would not be able to close with a standard cable. The recessed front of the SE3016 is ok, but not the SF8088 connector in addition. I was thinking of mounting the SE3016 in the back of the rack, blowing towards the front, but it is half depth only and will blow inside the rack. Also not good.
 
Yes, the original LSI card is more expensive, simply because it has RAID5 functionality and with the IBM M1015 you would need to purchase a separate key to enable RAID5 (which you don't need for IT mode anyway), thus the M1015 is cheaper that the original LSI card.

That's my point. There are no $80 m1015's anymore. They are all in the $110-120 range and half of them are shipped from China. I figured grabbing the 9211-8i for $100 was the best deal I could find.
 
That's my point. There are no $80 m1015's anymore. They are all in the $110-120 range and half of them are shipped from China. I figured grabbing the 9211-8i for $100 was the best deal I could find.

Finding a 9211 for $100 incl. shipping is a great deal. Even if the m1015's could still be found for $80, you'd likely still have to pay shipping on top of that.

Grab the 9211 if you haven't already.
 
So it is the PSU that makes the most noise? But it is a bit messy to swap the 40mm fan in the PSU? Ok, I will start with the two 80mm fans in the case. They should be easy.

The larger the fans, the quieter. To bad it is messy to get in 120mm instead of 80mm. And I wished the PSU 40mm fan was 80mm.

I will try to get mid-high end fans for all of them. I am bothered by noise. If you know of any particularly good fans, please post the names here. I will google, too, of course.

One of the best quiet and at same time, kind of high CFM fans are the Noctua. They are also available in non-PWM fitting the SE3016. I have seen numerous Norco's cooled down by them and they are pretty though to cool.

Anyone tried to open up the PSU in the SE3016 and use the main 80 (or swapped 120mm) fans to cool it in addition with the disks?
 
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Got mine today, that was pretty fast shipping. Just waiting on the Card now.
 
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