The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/BLKMGK on 2024-09-20 01:51:43.
I'm looking at the LSi 9305-16i card, it's a little older now and has gotten cheap enough to pursue. It's listed as a 16 port card but it's got just 4 miniSAS connectors. I see an SFF-8643 breakout to 4x SATA out there but that doesn't seem right, is this cable not for the mini-SAS port maybe? If this really has support for 16 SAS what can I attach to it to support a far larger number of SATA? 4x per SAS port right? What have I missed? Does a better solution exist for a single slot that's not a mint?
I'm currently using two SAS cards and want to free a slot while supporting 24+ SATA drives. I have a SAS card with 6 physical ports my mobo refuses to recognize so this "16" port card caught my eye at sub $100. This is destined for IT mode obviously :) Searches didn't provide any good answers.
P.S. Yes, I know about expanders. No I'm not looking to use one at this time and the backplane I'm currently using in this 4U machine doesn't have one. :(