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I have a server with Adaptec 2405 RAID card. I have 4 hard drives attached to it. I want to add 4 more. Adaptec site says 2405 can handle up to 128 hard drives with SAS expanders. It's not clear to me whether I need to buy separate SAS expander card to go with it, or SAS expander mentioned here is just another enclosure that has SAS expander port on it.

Do those enclosures have SAS expander cards on it such that I can just buy SFF-8088-to-SFF-8087 cable and hook it up? Or do I need another SAS expander card in my server? If so, what works well with my raid card?

Thanks

Seong Yup Yoo
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  • We're missing some very basic information. What type of server is this? How are the disks connected to the controller? Are the disks [hot-swap drives mounted to a backplane?](http://serverfault.com/questions/510442/how-exactly-does-a-sas-sff-8087-breakout-cable-work-raid-connection-questions/510445#510445) Are they loose disks? – ewwhite May 25 '13 at 16:58

2 Answers2

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Some enclosures have SAS Expanders built-in, others do not. You would have to check with the specific enclosure you're looking to buy. Also, there are Expander cards that you can buy independently of enclosure. These work well in certain circumstances too.

If you want to buy a SAS Expander (built into a case or independent):

  • Buy one made by the same company
  • Check with your HBA's HCL
  • Search the tubes, certain cards are known for working with darn near anything.
Chris S
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You've got an internal mini-SAS so you are necessarily going to be limited in how many devices you can attach (at least staying internal as the card is intended).

Any expander will work, there's no special magic.

Here's one JBOD I have experience with with a similar but larger scale Adaptec card.

enter image description here

If you got an external card, setting this up would be a snap, even in a daisy chain.

With an internal card, you're going to wind up doing something funky that I would not advise.

dmourati
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