Faster External Drive connection for Poweredge T320

Just in case you missed a recent similar post re esata/usb3, Allsysgo01's answer seems to clarify that Belkin/StarTek USB3 cards certified for a PowerVault 114 can work on the R620. So as the T320 is of the same generation as the R620, you could simply buy either referenced card and try it out and likely it should work without issue on your T320 server. Or you could simply go to a local computer swap meet or local computer store and pick up a few $10 USB3 &/or eSATA cards which use different chipsets and try each of them in your server (reporting back what worked and what didn't).

Heck, i bought a couple of Welland EZSTOR 2 port eSATAP cards for my HP workstation for $10 each, that's $20 the pair. One eSATAp cable would normally cost more on it's own, and i had 2 in each box !!

Note if you can't plug a HBA into a server, and an eSATA card is a HBA with just another name, then something is really wrong with these Teir1 OEM's. One day i may plug one of these into my T610 but as it's in service, i'd have to do it during an appropriate time, and this may still not help you as i'm running a client OS on my server which your not...

With some cards, you may need to use a hacked adapter lead to pinch a little power from somewhere on your system but usually you wont run into issues unless you are using eSATA and expect to power 3.5" HDD via an eSATAP cable (similar issue for USB3).

Note that these USB3/eSATAp cards are a 'non enterprise' solution but they should work and they re cheap, probably to the dislike of all Teri1 OEM's :).

Actually I was just looking around in OMSA and  noticed the following entry under slots:

C600/X79 series chipset 6-Port SATA AHCI Controller

This is in addition to the Perc H710 my hot swap drives are connected to.

Does this mean I could just use a simple sata cable to eSata connector setup to connect an external eSata drive?  I have several of those lying around that came bundled with eSata enclosures.  I have not gotten around to opening up my new box yet...

Thanks,

Andrew

The T320 allows you to set the embedded SATA connector to AHCI mode within BIOS but this in and of itself does not equate to having an eSATA port.

eSATA provides different though compatible voltages to SATA which allow for longer cables which themselves are better quality than normal SATA cables. As such the motherboard manufacturer must design their mobos SATA ports to accommodate these voltage differences if the ports are to also be eSATA compatible. From a user perspective this is usually seen by the mobo BIOS exposing a setting to allow a SATA port to be configured as an eSATA port. The T320 does not have such a setting as far as i know, my HP Z210 does... But not all is lost...

As an eSATA ports has the ability to insert a USB cable into the port, to fully utilize an eSATA connector (as seen from outside the box) you also need to make USB available to the connector. Yet another evolution of the eSATA connector is eSATAp which also provides power to the plugged in device. I find eSATAp more friendly as i don't need to power the external drive separately. To fully utilize eSATAp, you can find eSATAp cards that are simply small dumb circuit boards attached to PCIe endplates that allow internal USB, internal (+5v & +12v) power and internal eSATA cables to be routed to the external eSATAp port (no electronics used, hence dumb). With these you can expose a true eSATAp to the outside world.

(I bought two of the above cards for $5 each which work very well and I also bought two of these smarter cards which are simply HBA providing 2x eSATAp ports for $10 each which i haven't used yet. The local computer swap meet can be a great source of nicknacks. I've got no affiliation with the suppliers or manufacturers, I'm simply a consumer). 

Note there are some more mundane mechanical issues like SATA ports are designed for 50, yes 50 connect and disconnect cycles while eSATA ports are designed for 5,000 connect and disconnect cycles. There is also the fact that SATA cables have a maximum length of 1m while eSATA cables can cope with 2m maximum lengths.

So, from a physical layer perspective, as long as the internal SATA cable connecting the mobo port to the eSATAp bracket is not connected and disconnected too often and the overall length of the internal SATA + external eSATAp cable remains below 1 meter (if your using the dumb board and don't have true eSATA on the mobo), then any normal SATA port should work well as an eSATA port, and without issue, as long as the system is booted with eSATA HDD attached.

But to achieve true hot plugging to the above, in a running system, then you need to ensure that the system itself can cope with hot plugging on the SATA port you are using. Supposedly the SATA standard supports this but the mobo chipset and OS drivers must also cater for this feature, and not all do...

So the easiest way to tell if hot plugging is supported is to check what happens when you hot plug a HDD into your new eSATAp port via the eSATAp cable. If hot plugging is supported, then the HDD will show itself under the safely remove hardware notification area icon where you will be able to left click to safely remove the device (you do safely remove hardware to remove your usb drives don't you -if not change your habits :emotion-1: )...

If hot plugging is not supported on this port, then nothing will happen and you won't see the HDD in the list of devices you can safely remove. This lack of hot plugging can occur is the os driver for the hardware in question (mobo chipset) does not support the safely remove windows api even though the hardware may support the feature. So if the safely remove hardware does not list your drive, i believe there is an application called HotSwap that duplicates the safely remove hardware function and allows the hot plug feature to be used despite driver deficiencies. As a disclaimer, I've never used HotSwap so can't vouch for it...

At the end of the day, you just need to try it and test it works for you as no one can give you a guarantee that it is dell certified (it's not) and will be robust (it may be).

Like always, buyer beware  :)

Well, I experimented.  I hooked a eSata connector to the available Sata port on the computer (designed for a 2nd optical device), and put its eSata port in an empty slot. 

I booted the machine, waited until I had a desktop, and turned on a powered external eSata drive plugged into the new connector.  The OS did recognize the drive, but no "safely remove hardware" entry showed up.  I disabled write caching on the drive, and believe that should keep me safe when turning off the power to the drive.

Am I wrong?  I think this will meet my needs.

Corrections?

Thanks,

Andrew