If they do, they would not offer 3yrs warranty, they would went out business a long time ago LOL
They're inexpensive parts, regardless of the warranty offered.
Service life has as much to do with the design as the actual parts used (i.e. cheap IC part with clean and well regulated power will be more stable and run longer than the same part with crappy power that damages the chip). Of course, these differences are typically seen in the rest of the parts selection as well (i.e. better PSU = need to use better parts to begin with, and don't cut any of the sections).
To put the JMB394 into perspective in terms of quantity pricing, I'll compare it to an ARM9 chip (the JMB394 is likely ARM based, but such chips are usually only ARM7 + some additional circuits to make an RoC). Which in quantity, an ARM9 can be had for just under $11USD per (
here - this isn't a specialized version such as an RoC, but should give a good idea as to quantity pricing).
For actual pricing, it would take an email to JMicron's sales dept (everywhere I looked didn't even offer them as special order).
So there's a lot of markup in DAT Optic's units compared to Areca in terms of the PCB and it's parts (or similar), which use far more extensive (= expensive) processors for their RAID designs. The enclosure, fans, PSU, internal cables, and backplane PCB's add cost of course, but the bare bones Sans Digital units can give an idea as to what that retails for (just missing the RoC controller PCB is all).
So then, this?:
MP 5,1 3.33 6-core
Areca 1880i, connected to the below:
120GB SSD (system) (will this connect to the Areca as a basic disk (nonRAID), but make use of the 6gb/s connection to the motherboard?)
60GB SSD (scratch, non-RAID)
4x 3TB internal, RAID1, Use for all working files and docs. Use Hitachi 3TB Deskstar drives (noisy, hot, loud?)
You can boot off of the Areca once it's been flashed with the EFI (EBC actually) if you go that route, but
I'd leave the boot disk on the ICH (ICH = system's SATA ports). Even though it's 3.0Gb/s, it's still fast enough for a single OWC SSD right now (can sustain ~275MB/s, and the disk is a bit slower @ ~250MB/s). The 285MB/s figure you see on OWC's site is a burst rate, not sustained. If you do this, you'd use one of the included internal cables and connect it to the DATA side of the drive. You'd also need to make/get an extension cable and tie in another power cable to power it.
How To (retains the DATA signal on the optical bay cable):You'll need to cut off the male SATA end, and splice the power cables together (tie the wires you just cut to those on the Backplane Extension Cable; don't leave any power lines un-connected). Just follow the wire colors and locations, and connect using solder + heatshrink tubing, crimp connectors, or wire nuts (any of these will work; cleanest = solder + heatshrink tubing IMO). No matter the splicing method however, it gets power without sacrificing the DATA line on the original cable to the optical bay and won't void the warranty.
However - - I'd go with the following:
As per where to fit the SSD and leave it on the ICH, you can either place it in an Icy Dock adapter (
here), or place it in the empty optical bay. Both will fit actually, but there's only a single data connection per optical bay. So one of the SSD's will have to go in an HDD bay, unless you pull the OEM optical disk, or take the SSD external, but there's no need to do this (read on).
As per the 4x disks in a RAID 1, that's not really not the best way to go. A RAID 1 is really only meant to be 2x disks, where one of them is an identical copy of the other (you need a backup here too, as any mistake is duplicated on both disks, such as an accidental file deletion).
So you can save 2x HDD bays as well as the cost of 2x 3TB disks too.
Or, if you're after some additional performance and want to use 4x disks, you can use a level 10.
But as you're looking at running the Areca, you can place 3 or 4x disks in a RAID 5, get n = 1 redundancy, and performance that exceeds a level 10 (stripe set is faster, but no redundancy).
You do have options as to how you can set up the Areca, as there's 8x ports (can attach 8x disks without using SAS Expanders - up to 128 disks with SAS Expanders - it's a serious RAID card that offers a lot of bang-for-the-buck, as it's the fastest line of cards out last I checked, which was recent).
In this instance, if you do use 4x HDD's in the internal bays for a RAID (primary data location), then you can go ahead and hook up one of the SSD's to the card via one of the internal cables that come with the Areca (it's just that 3x of the ports aren't used, and there's insufficient room to do much with them, save a unit that can hold 4 or 8x 2.5" disks in a single ODD bay). This is why I didn't recommend going this way, as it puts some limits on future expansion, particularly with 3.5' disks (you can take a port external to a MiniSAS enclosure, but you need the whole port to do that = you'd loose the SSD on that port if you had to do this).
I know, this stuff can get confusing. But read carefully, and it should make sense.
There's other cards in that series as well that offer more ports (up to 24, but they're more expensive as a result).
BTW, you also need to run a proper UPS that has a pure sine wave output inverter. A line interactive model will be fine, but it does need the inverter type I just listed to keep from causing problems (damage potentially) to the MP's PSU, as switched types don't play well with Active PFC PSU's (what the MP uses). Refurbished work fine, and is a good option IMO, as you can get such a unit for quite a discount (i.e. half or more off). A 1500VA unit such as the
SUA1500 by APC can be had for ~$250 this way (
SMT1500 is similar, but has an LCD display which adds to the cost).
Then, just for media serving:
5x 3TB NAS RAID5 (DATOptic 5-Bay) (15TB) Serving media files to network, connected to Areca 1880i
No. You don't connect the NAS to any controller at all.
Just connect power and get it on the network (make sure it's configured correctly).
Backup EVERYTHING on what? Sans Digital 8-bay on RAID5 once they approve the 3TB drives, also connected to the Areca 1880i?
You'd use a simple eSATA card that supports Port Multipliers, which comes with the enclosure (this unit is being used successfully by other MR members, so we know the cards that come in the kit work properly via driver support). Those cards do not have boot support, but you don't need it. Booting will be done via the ICH (system's SATA ports).
properly.
