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HP Recommended

I'm not an expert, just a hobby dude who likes computering.

 

So to be in the setting... I have recently bought myself a HP Z620. It is mainly used as a home server, so nothing more special. I have searched myself crazy on the internet about 1 specific question. But since I cannot find it, I know it is a really noobish question. Already looked up in the manual, etc..

But still I want to know what to do.

 

I have read my system can go up to 12TB.

So I have noticed 8 extra SATA ports on my motherboard that are not in use. I've looked for SATA cables that could match some HDD's or for some of my spare server SAS disc (6GB/s & 2.5inch). But no succes so far.

 

Since my hotswaps are fully equiped, I was wondering if I could use those SATA ports to use extra storage or is it used for something else?

 

I've read about storage expander cards, but I'm not sure it has something to do with it. Hopefully someone can help me so I can proceed my adventure 🙂

 

 

Configurations:

*) 500GB SSD (2.5inch)  & 2 x 3.5inch HDD's (so the hotswaps are full)

*) 2x E5 2690 V2 (CPU)

*) 32GB RAM DIMM DDR3

*) K5000 (GPU)

*) Raid controller card: LSI 2038 Mustang

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

 

f you just want more capacity then a external USB or eSATA based drive enclosure box  is the recommended way to go

 

they are available in raid or JBOD versions

 

for hosting drives inside the z620 chassis, using a 5.25 bay enclosure that can support 4 or 6 removable 2.5in drives is recommended

View solution in original post

5 REPLIES 5
HP Recommended

your LSI (mustang) based raid card  is most likely one of the low end model(s) that lack a onboard cache, which has the same feature set as the z820's onboard LSI raid chip

 

these low end cards are not really suitable for raid 5 only 0/1, and depending on the firmware loaded (IR or IT) the card is either a raid capable card or just a SAS/SATA "HBA" port expander without raid

 

The two firmware types are Initiator Target (IT) and Integrated RAID (IR).
IR is the typical hardware RAID firmware that the internal cards or boards
usually ship with.

IT firmware, on the other hand, is the Initiator Target firmware

which is designed to allow a SAS HBA to connect to up to 256
devices using SAS Expanders (or just Hard Drivers directly)

 

The IT firmware is typically shipped on external cards.

The IT firmware does not have any RAID capabilities and
simply acts as an HBA. IE- the cards ports act just like the ports found on your motherboard

 

https://www.broadcom.com/support/knowledgebase/1211161501344/flashing-firmware-and-bios-on-lsi-sas-h...

 

 if you look carefully at the SAS/SATA drives interfaces you will see  that the connectors are slightly different

 

https://www.seagate.com/support/kb/connecting-sata-drive-to-sas-controller-006170en/

 

 

if you wish to use the pci-e card's SAS/SATA  interface  you will need specific "forward" based cables these cables are made with the data/power either connected together as one molded plug or as two discrete cables (see links below)

 

also note there is no difference between a SAS/SATA data only cable

 

Examples:

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-SFF-8087-Breakout/dp/B012BPLYJC/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=sa...

 

https://www.amazon.com/CABLEDECONN-SFF-8087-SFF-8482-Connectors-Power/dp/B010CMW6S4/ref=sr_1_13?keyw...

 

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-18in-SATA-Cable-Power/dp/B000V72AQ4/ref=sr_1_19?keywords=sas+to+...

 

Internal PCI-E SAS/SATA card to External Drive Enclosure box

https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Internal-SFF-8087-External-SFF-8088/dp/B07ZGYXCP6

HP Recommended

Thank you for all the effort in making this reply.

 

First, the first part of your reply is a little bit Chinese for me.. I try to understand it and read the reply a few times over and over... Also took some screenshots, because I think this will help me further.

 

So to get things on one line and make it understandable for me and maby other people 🙂

 

1) I do need the IT firmware (mentioned in this link): 

https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Internal-SFF-8087-External-SFF-8088/dp/B07ZGYXCP6

When I want to connect an external storage array to my HP Z620?

 

2) When I want to use my internal SATA ports (8 free ports in total) on my motherboard, together with my 2.5 inch SAS drives. I do have to use this cable you've mentioned:

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-18in-SATA-Cable-Power/dp/B000V72AQ4/ref=sr_1_19?keywords=sas+to+...

 

3) Or I can also use this cable: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-SFF-8087-Breakout/dp/B012BPLYJC/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=sa...

connect the mini-SAS plug into my LSI 2038 controller and the other 5 SATA cables I can connect to any HDD with SATA connector?

OR

this cable but instead of SATA connectors, with the 29 pin connector (mini-SAS into LSI 2038 and then 29pin connector to the 2.5 inch drives):

https://www.amazon.com/CABLEDECONN-SFF-8087-SFF-8482-Connectors-Power/dp/B010CMW6S4/ref=sr_1_13?keyw...

 

 

Sorry that I have to go that specific, otherwise I'm not in the picture. After re-reading my reply, I'm pretty sure I'm mixing up to much information.. because I'm asking if I can put a sff-8087 cable into a sff-8088... Confused.

Thank you for your time.

 

 

 

HP Recommended

my previous reply was on the PCI-e LSI card feature set not the motherboard ports which are described in the z620 service manual

 

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04205252

 

the sata  2 motherboard ports are also slower than the two sata 3 ports and it's not recommended to mix them together in any type array 

 

The Z620's C602 chipset actually has 2 SATA controllers:  Its "Intel SCU controller" which supports the 4 SATA II ports, plus RAID 0,1,10. Its "AHCI controller" supports the 2 SATA III ports, plus RAID 0 and 1.  On the Z620's motherboard the set of 2 SATA III ports are at the bottom front corner of the motherboard.  They are designated as SATA ports 0 and 1, and are gray in color.  They are oriented along the bottom edge of the motherboard, frontwards and adjacent to another set of white ports (which are for SAS/SATA).  The first gray SATA port 0 (usually used for the main boot drive) is at the far front bottom motherboard corner there, and the second gray SATA port 1 is slightly leftward (towards the rear of the case), also along the bottom edge of the motherboard.  The Z420 and Z620 motherboard layouts are almost identical in most ways, and are identical for the SATA layout of ports.

 

The four slower SATA II ports (2,3,4,5) are up higher nearby, and they all are black in color. The order of their placement is top-down for ports 2 and 3, and then front-back for ports 4 and 5.

 

also, SATA Port 4 can be  connected via a single eSATA plug-to-backplane adapter for connecting external drive boxes at sata 2 speeds from the Bios

HP Recommended

Alright, nice! I'm getting the bigger pictures now how everything is working together.

 

So the best option is actually getting a new HBA controller card so I can manage more devices with a good amount of speed?

 

I think this will be the best value option, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

 

HP Recommended

 

f you just want more capacity then a external USB or eSATA based drive enclosure box  is the recommended way to go

 

they are available in raid or JBOD versions

 

for hosting drives inside the z620 chassis, using a 5.25 bay enclosure that can support 4 or 6 removable 2.5in drives is recommended

† The opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the authors, not of HP. By using this site, you accept the <a href="https://www8.hp.com/us/en/terms-of-use.html" class="udrlinesmall">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="/t5/custom/page/page-id/hp.rulespage" class="udrlinesmall"> Rules of Participation</a>.