New Norco cases with minSAS backplanes

croakz

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
102
Oh man.. so tempting to upgrade.

Basically updates to existing models with SFF-8087 Mini SAS backplanes, so no new 24+1 :(

http://www.norcotek.com/item_detail.php?categoryid=1&modelno=RPC-4220

http://www.norcotek.com/item_detail.php?categoryid=1&modelno=RPC-3216

http://www.norcotek.com/item_detail.php?categoryid=1&modelno=RPC-2208

Edit:

Wait, there are some changes. 4220 lists 6 fans, where the 4020 had 7 fans.. move to 4x80mm fans on the wall behind the drives?? Also lists a 2.5" hd bay vs the old 3.5" hd bay..

And a whole mess of picts at avsforums:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16503434

Looks like the backplanes are horizontal mounted. yay for more airflow!
 
Last edited:
Cool. Awesome. This is great.


Up for sale, another norco case and two sat2 controllers :D Must have this new miniSAS case.


The only bummer is the 2.5" hard drive slot.
 
Also, look at that fan wall. Might be easy to mod for bigger, quieter fans.
 
Ohhhh... That looks exciting. Less clutter.

Can someone explain to me the optimal way to wire one of these Nocros? What controllers and cables would you use if you were building a WHS?

Gotta move away from my laptop eSata server sometime...
 
Ohhhh... That looks exciting. Less clutter.

Can someone explain to me the optimal way to wire one of these Nocros? What controllers and cables would you use if you were building a WHS?

Gotta move away from my laptop eSata server sometime...

check the galaxy thread, the wiring is pretty simple.
 
I am familiar with the regular wiring with the sata backplate, and have read just about all of the posts on your fallout shelter :eek:. I guess I am alittle stumped about how to wire the 4220. It has 5 SFF-8087 Mini SAS backplanes, so do you buy a 4 sata -> the 8087 for the mobo ports and then find controllers that use the same plug for the other 4 backplates?

Its just a conceptual gap that I am trying to fill in. While there always seems to be tons of reading material on the consumer grade stuff, I find it hard to learn about the enterprise and server equipment...

If you were to order new equipment to fill a 4220, what controllers and cables would you buy?
 
I am familiar with the regular wiring with the sata backplate, and have read just about all of the posts on your fallout shelter :eek:. I guess I am alittle stumped about how to wire the 4220. It has 5 SFF-8087 Mini SAS backplanes, so do you buy a 4 sata -> the 8087 for the mobo ports and then find controllers that use the same plug for the other 4 backplates?

Its just a conceptual gap that I am trying to fill in. While there always seems to be tons of reading material on the consumer grade stuff, I find it hard to learn about the enterprise and server equipment...

If you were to order new equipment to fill a 4220, what controllers and cables would you buy?


you have many options.


you can get a controller with miniSAS headers, and get miniSAS to miniSAS cables, simple and clean

or you can get minSAS to SATA fan out cables, this will allow you to plug the backplane into standard motherboard or SATA controller headers.

or you can use any of the compact SAS interfaces to the miniSAS, they make just about every single cable out there for every imaginable need. What makes this so perfect is that you can get any interface to work with it using only a few cables.... it's not only clean, but much more functional as you will not get your cables to move and make improper contact.
 
Thank you for explaining that better. I have been following your setups and everything on the Norco and supermicro controllers and it has been illuminating. I wont be considering a build till October, but I try to completely research everything. I spose by then we should be seeing WHS2...
 
This is hot, but for how good of a deal I got from Ockie on my 4020 and considering I don't want to buy new controller cards/cables, I feel no need to upgrade.
 
This is hot, but for how good of a deal I got from Ockie on my 4020 and considering I don't want to buy new controller cards/cables, I feel no need to upgrade.

Wanna double that and get another good deal? lol
 
You should be banned from this forum for that. :D

Okay...

How about, my wallet is on fire and will kill me if I upgrade?

I might want to jump on this deal too! Dont be such a hot deal hog thebeephaha. :p

CUUPENS.jpg
 
Ugh, just as I got done building the 4020 :( Oh well, I still find a well organized bunch of wiring pretty to look at =P

 
Wow you didn't flip the fans around, I don't even know how you got the SATA cables plugged in! (aside from skills naturally)
 
Wow you didn't flip the fans around, I don't even know how you got the SATA cables plugged in! (aside from skills naturally)

I cheated and removed the screws holding the fan divider in place so I could move it around during cable routing ;)
 
Looks very cool and like quite a step up from the 4020, however I'll pass as I'm quite certain my next storage build will be using a chassis with a SAS expander backplane (like the Supermicro 836E1/846E1) which would save me from buy a 16 or 24 port SAS card (or multiple smaller cards).
 
Looks very cool and like quite a step up from the 4020, however I'll pass as I'm quite certain my next storage build will be using a chassis with a SAS expander backplane (like the Supermicro 836E1/846E1) which would save me from buy a 16 or 24 port SAS card (or multiple smaller cards).

I was thinking of going the same route...then I came across this

http://www.provantage.com/chenbro-micom-ck13601~7CHEN0FH.htm

Anyone have experience with these? I would love to be able to use this with a Perc6 off Ebay for a cheap 24 port RAID 6 setup.
 
I've been looking at the Chenbro SAS expander for ages. I'm just wondering what it actually works with (in terms of controllers and drives) as I've yet to come across someone with one.
 
I care about processor speed as that affects the RAID array rebuild time. I'm probably the only one left that's not on the WHS bandwagon.
 
Aww, no HighPoint cards. As much as I like Areca, their SAS controllers don't like consumer Seagate drives (unless that has changed recently, which would be awesome), so that's not going to work. No idea how fast 3ware or LSI cards are either, so I have more research to do.

??? That's all I used with all the arecas I've owned.
 
I care about processor speed as that affects the RAID array rebuild time. I'm probably the only one left that's not on the WHS bandwagon.

you know you wanna ;)

but seriously, have you looked at the adaptec 5 series? They are pretty comparable in performance, and I dont know of any drive compatibility issues.

I personally do not like LSI, I dont like the BIOS i find it unintuitive, and I dont like the Megaraid software its slow, and I feel like its just not well put together....just my 2 cents.
 
Aww, no HighPoint cards. As much as I like Areca, their SAS controllers don't like consumer Seagate drives (unless that has changed recently, which would be awesome), so that's not going to work. No idea how fast 3ware or LSI cards are either, so I have more research to do.

I moved my Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB drives to an Areca 1680ix-24 and they seem to be working fine. Granted it's my backup array and I don't use it often, but I'd be willing to run any tests if you want.
 
Aww, no HighPoint cards. As much as I like Areca, their SAS controllers don't like consumer Seagate drives (unless that has changed recently, which would be awesome), so that's not going to work. No idea how fast 3ware or LSI cards are either, so I have more research to do.

The list is probably more expansive than that the measly 10 cards in their PDF, but you'd have to find out what expander chip they're using.

I'm probably the only one left that's not on the WHS bandwagon.

Nah, you're hardly alone. My file server is still running Debian with a 3ware array and can't forsee myself ever moving to WHS.
 
you know you wanna ;)

but seriously, have you looked at the adaptec 5 series? They are pretty comparable in performance, and I dont know of any drive compatibility issues.

I personally do not like LSI, I dont like the BIOS i find it unintuitive, and I dont like the Megaraid software its slow, and I feel like its just not well put together....just my 2 cents.


The adaptec is a great controller brand. I think it's one of the few compatible to just about everything out there. A lot of people don't like them due to their conservative numbers that they put out, their higher end cards are highly underrated.


LSI is one of the best out there, you find them in just about every true server system. Their menu does suck monkey balls for the most part, it's primitive and crude.... but at least it works.
 
The list is probably more expansive than that the measly 10 cards in their PDF, but you'd have to find out what expander chip they're using.

The Chenbro SAS expanders use an LSI chip. I don't remember which one exactly, but I ran across it the other day. I've been looking into the SAS expanders lately as well.

Update: The SAS expander chip that Chenbro uses is a LSI SASX36.
 
I moved my Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB drives to an Areca 1680ix-24 and they seem to be working fine. Granted it's my backup array and I don't use it often, but I'd be willing to run any tests if you want.

I had nothing but trouble (drives falling out of array and destroying it) with 1680ix-24 and 1tb seagates, it is possible they fixed it with newest firmware
 
I care about processor speed as that affects the RAID array rebuild time. I'm probably the only one left that's not on the WHS bandwagon.

there are still few of us left, I'm not jumping on WHS bandwagon anytime soon.
Linux+XFS+LVM is what I like.
 
I had nothing but trouble (drives falling out of array and destroying it) with 1680ix-24 and 1tb seagates, it is possible they fixed it with newest firmware

This is only the case with the 1680. Areca screwed up big time on that one.
 
The Chenbro SAS expanders use an LSI chip. I don't remember which one exactly, but I ran across it the other day. I've been looking into the SAS expanders lately as well.

Update: The SAS expander chip that Chenbro uses is a LSI SASX36.

I'll inquire with our Highpoint rep/FAE about a SAS expander compatibility list.
 
I had nothing but trouble (drives falling out of array and destroying it) with 1680ix-24 and 1tb seagates, it is possible they fixed it with newest firmware

I am running the latest firmware for the Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB drives.
 
Not going to quote everyone, but only the original 1680 had problems with Seagate consumer drives then? If so, then I might just stick with Areca and get a 1680ix-24. I do remember people having issues with it and someone selling their 1680ix-24 and getting a 1280ML instead. Maybe it was axan? It's been a while, so I don't remember.
 
Back
Top