RAID Array help

[Lord Adama]

Hello Mac Pro users I have a been doing some research but I seem to hit a bit of a brick wall so I thought I would post here to see if anyone can help. Long story short I am thinking about building SAN. What I was wondering was can I connect the backplanes of the enclosure attached below to a raid card in a older Mac Pro (1,1) that I plan on repurposing as a server once (if) Apple refreshes the Mac Pro. Basically I just want to connect the backplanes directly to the raid card if possible and leave the enclosure without a mobo. This is my first time undertaking a project like this so any help would be appreciated. Also what flavor of RAID would you recommend I plan on using 3tb drive if that matters.

Here is the link for the case.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811152124

 

[nanofrog]

Technically speaking, it's possible.

Keep in mind cable lengths though, as SATA is only good for 1.0 meters. DO NOT TRY TO USE ADAPTERS. Make sure you use the correct cables instead (internal to external).

To be able to have longer distances, you'd need to run SAS disks on a SAS card (SAS can run SATA drives). Distance limit is 10.0 meters with SAS due to a much higher signal voltage (20VDC rather than 400mV for SATA).

Card example would be an ARC-1880-ix24 (need 24 ports if you don't want to have to buy SAS Expanders, which makes the solution cheaper).

Another thing to consider, is use a Norco enclosure and buy a PSU (redundant if you need it), as it will be cheaper than the SuperMicro (i.e. 24 bay Norco + 500W redundant PSU is ~ $730USD).

 

[Lord Adama]

Thanks for the reply, I had originally looked at the Norco case before, but some of reviewers on Newegg had stated that they had received their cases with faulty backplanes. Has anybody here had any issues with that case. Also what would be the best way to run the cables to and from the case and what external to internal cables would you recommend?

 

[nanofrog]

Thanks for the reply, I had originally looked at the Norco case before, but some of reviewers on Newegg had stated that they had received their cases with faulty backplanes. Has anybody here had any issues with that case. Also what would be the best way to run the cables to and from the case and what external to internal cables would you recommend?

Those with bad reviews due to damage likely got units that weren't double boxed, and the carrier (UPS) beat the hell out of during transport.

BTW, if it's just bent metal tabs, it's an easy fix (just get out some pliers and maybe remove and replace a few screws).

As per cables, there are internal to external cables (same type for both SATA and SAS), but the distance is absolutely CRITICAL with SATA (over 1.0 meters and the array is unstable).

One meter isn't that long, so if you're using SATA, the enclosure will have to be right next to the MP, not in a rack, unless you turn the MP on it's side and place it right on top or below the rack enclosure.

Example cable. Run it out of a PCIe bay cover, and run it into the rack enclosure the same way (in the case of 24 drives, you'll need 6x cables as each one contains 4x ports).