SATA cables from SFF-8643 connector to each of 4 SATA SSD drives

[joselso]

In HP Z8 G4 workstation, which I am considering for purchase in the near future, what type (part-number) of internal 12Gb/s SATA cables should be used to connect each of up to 4 SATA SSD drives located in the 4 internal 3.5" bays to the SFF-8643 internal 4-port connector of the MicroSemi SmartHBA 2100-4i4e controller? I assume that in the default configuration, these SSD drives in the internal bays get their control from Intel chipset SATA controller on-board via some intermediate cabling behind those bays, connecting them to the motherboard. I prefer these SSD drives to be RAID-1 pair or pairs controlled by MicroSemi SmartHBA 2100-4i4e, that's why I need to define the correct type/part-number of 12Gb/s SATA cables suitable both physically and electically for this purpose.

[DGroves · Accepted solution]

FOR SYSTEMS WITH ONBOARD SAS/SATA ADDON chips using standard SAS/SATA ports on the motherboard

SAS/SATA cables are the exact same in regards to the wiring, the only things you need to check is cable length and if you want/need angled or straight connectors on the end

FOR SYSTEMS WITH ONBOARD SAS/SATA ADDON chips that use SFF-4643 connectors (or similar) on the motherboard or a add-in card

cable vendor/maker is up to you, but if you are going from a SAS/SATA raid card directly to SAS/SATA drives or from the motherboard SFF-xxxx connector then you require a FORWARD TYPE CABLE,  not a reverse cable

The two breakout cables, forward and reverse,  are not the same although they look outwardly to be the same, not withstanding the fact that some of these cables have the SATA portion of the cables at staggered lengths and some have them at fixed length

https://www.cablematters.com/pc-795-157-internal-hd-mini-sas-sff-8643-to-4-sata-forward-breakout-cab...

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-SFF-8643-Breakout/dp/B01BW1U2L2

[joselso]

Thanks for the detailed informative response. The configuration I expect to be facing may be somewhat similar to what is illustrated in a dated HP Customer Support document: HP Z600/Z800 Workstations - How to Connect SAS Hard Drives with LSI MegaRAID SAS 8888ELP Host Bus Adapter https://support.hp.com/lv-en/document/c03599822 Of course, the connector type there was different from SFF-8643. Could you confirm that in the modern HP Z8 G4, four blind-mate hard-drive cables protrude from behind the four HP removable 3.5-inch hard drive frame/carrier bays, in a manner similar to the illustrations in that old HP Support document? If so, then I hope the "Internal HD Mini SAS (SFF-8643) to 4 SATA Forward Breakout Cable" in the links that you provided, will correctly mate on its split 4 ends with the 4 connectors located at the ends of the blind-mate hard drive cables in HP Z8 G4. At present I can only rely on relevant detailed illustrations for correct configuration; I expect it will take at least a few months before I can actually test a CTO Z8 G4 workstation for hardware compatibility. BTW, is there an HP part number to the Forward Breakout cable assembly I am looking for?

[DGroves]

please reread what i wrote,...... your reply appears to show that you do not understand the difference between motherboard mounted SAS/SATA ports and add-in cards SAS/SATA ports 

i do not own a "Z" series system, so i will not comment on if it uses motherboard ports or a add-in card's ports for connectivity 

the document you linked to is very close to what i'm using on  my z800/820 systems using 8 port raid cards as these systems have older LSI onboard controller chips that are no longer capable of handling 12GBps SAS or SSD xfer speeds

 the HP 4i card has four SATA/SAS ports on the card not one SFF-xxxx port

i use  two  forward SFF to SATA/SAS cables on the z800 which has a adaptec 6950 with 4 adapters on one cable set so the case's 4 internal SATA/SAS cables can connect to the adaptec card cable 's SAS/SATA connector instead of the motherboard's ports. the other cable set just goes from the 6950 direct to 3 SSD's which are in raid -0 for speed that sit in a 5.25 bay that holds up to 6 2.5 in SSD'S

i suspect the "Z" motherboard needs none of this, as the motherboards onboard LSI controller will be a current spec device in regards to speed

[joselso]

I feel obliged to share here some info' I have gathered recently: The new HP Z8 G4 workstation is different from its predecessors Z800/820/840 workstations in that it no longer contains onboard LSI or other hardware-RAID controller for SAS/SATA drives. Only Intel® SATA RAID controller is onboard. In HP QuickSpecs for Z8 G4 (1 Aug. 2019), page 26, http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c05527763.pdf it is stated: Supported Drive Interfaces: SATA 2 sSATA @6Gb/s, supports RAID 0, 1 8 SATA @6Gb/s, Supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 Factory integrated Intel® SATA RAID is Microsoft Windows only. In HP Z8 G4 Workstation Product Specifications, https://support.hp.com/bg-en/document/c05791621 under Storage and drives, it is stated that for inclusion of optional SAS hard drives, a controller add-in card is required; this optional controller is PCI-E card MicroSemi 2100-4i4e SAS Controller (Smart Host Bus Adapter), illustrated in Figure 11 on page 29 of Microsemi Adaptec® Installation and User's Guide (Jan. 2019) http://download.adaptec.com/pdfs/user_guides/microsemi_smarthba_smartraid_iug_1_2019.pdf As you can see, this controller has a single internal mini-SAS SFF-8643 connector. In response to my inquiry to Microsemi/Adaptec support on suitable fanout cable assemblies to bridge between this connector and up to four SATA drives, they stated: All our cables can be found here https://www.microsemi.com/product-directory/storage-boards/3686-cables-accessories The cables that we have are as follow: For SAS drives Part Number: 2280100-R For SATA drives: Part Number: 2279800-R They work at 12gb, not only at 6gb. So, together with your important reference to Forward SAS-SATA cables available from Amazon (among other suppliers), I feel I now have a better picture of what is needed for my prospective HP CTO Z8 G4 workstation, that will soon (hopefully) replace my aging Z820.