SAS connectors - need a better solution

C

coo-coo-clocker

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 6, 2007
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I've got 4 SAS drives installed in a CM HAF 932.
The 3.5" drive bays are awesome for ease of installation of the drives and the big front 230mm fan pushes tons of air across the drives.

Here's my problem. The adaptec fanout cables are 1) flimsy, and 2) take up a lot of room off the back of the drives. This makes them very suseptible to getting pinched or pushed loose from the drives.

Question. Are there any cables that are 1) more solid, 2) right angle?
or will a backplane adapter work for this case/configuration?

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
I've been using these for a while now on several of my workstations and servers, some mounted to drives directly and others to backplanes. They all mount securely enough that I can't accidentally bump them loose. I'd wager that your problem stems from the gimmicky all in one pass through connector on those cables.
 
well those cables novadude suggested wont work because they dont provide power to your drives.

Honestly those backplane adaptors will not be an improvement over what you have and are expensive.

Your going to need cables like you have but I have seen some that have a kinda latch mechanism so they stay on real good....as far as right angle I havent seen any but i wouldnt be surprised if someone makes em.
 
novadude said:
I've been using these for a while now on several of my workstations and servers, some mounted to drives directly and others to backplanes. They all mount securely enough that I can't accidentally bump them loose. I'd wager that your problem stems from the gimmicky all in one pass through connector on those cables.
Click to expand...

Will those connect to a sas drive? It was my understanding that sas drives are keyed differently from sata to prevent plugging a sas drive into a sata controller but sata drives are connectable to a sas controller.

I too am using the flimsy silver adaptec cable on my drives and was thinking about something like this https://www.compumusic.com/i463654.htm but I don't have any molex connectors and shy away from adding any.
 
I posted those as an example, not something to buy. Like I said, I'd place the blame on the one piece connector so if you can avoid it then do so.
 
Any reason not to use one of those 5-in-3 type SAS multibay backplanes that takes up 3 5.25 slots? Of course, you could still run into disconnection problems because now it's probably even deeper into your case and easier to swat with your hands, but if the power connection is via molex it's more sturdy. As a plus you get hotswap capability too. But the downside is restricted cooling, as the drives arent exposed to much airflow in a cramped multibay. Some crappy multibays have vibration problems too.

I really wish the SATA connectors were more robust, especially the SATA power connector. They disconnect if you look at them funny. The latch-type ones are better but don't always work depending on how the plastic is molded. WD makes a nice strong connector but it's proprietary to their drives.

For SAS, I think most people assume you're going to be sticking them in some kind of hotswap enclosure. Those adaptors seem to be more like emergency kludges to test drives with.
 
alamone said:
For SAS, I think most people assume you're going to be sticking them in some kind of hotswap enclosure. Those adaptors seem to be more like emergency kludges to test drives with.
Click to expand...

Agreed. If you're going to use SAS, I'd recommend installing the drives in a backplane type enclosure.
 
Volkum said:
Agreed. If you're going to use SAS, I'd recommend installing the drives in a backplane type enclosure.
Click to expand...

Why... unless you need/want hot swapability there is no need to throw extra money at it.
 
I'm partial to the supermicros myself; make sure you get the cages for the drive size that you have (2.5" or 3.5")
 
For 3.5 drives I was considering the iStarUSA BPN-350SAS.
Dual port support, 2 molex for power, trayless bays.

Newegg reviews diss them for various reasons
but I figure you have to compromise somewhat
when it comes to these multibay things versus
a super expensive rack unit.

The Supermicro ones have built in SAS expanders which is nice,
and people seem to like them as well. Fan's obviously going
to be server-grade loud on that one though.
 
You can grab a cable extension into the motherboard header and control it; SM uses SanAce fans which down volt well
 
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