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H330 + T140 HDD expansion
I recently bought a Dell T140 and running Unraid loving the server and specced up to 32gb ram and a E-2146G Xeon the performance is excellent for my needs.
My only issue is that the PERC H330 that came with the server has the controller leads for 4 SATA drives it’s a 4 bay server so makes sense but I was hoping I could get another cable to extend this to another 4 SATA drives. Does anyone know if this is possible or is 4 the max for the raid controller?
The cable part number is OKFXNG but seems to be non existent online to purchase. As the card has two controllers, a & b I was hoping I could plug another cable into controller b to get a couple more drives squeezed in, I’m not sure whether this is possible or whether the card would require more power from the motherboard.
DELL-Stefan R
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May 29th, 2020 01:00
No, you need to think about a solution to get the power somehow. Maybe a Y-cable will do. As mentioned the system is not designed to be used with more than 4 drives, that is why there is no additional power connector -.-
You need to modify it a bit
Hopefully the PSU is powerful enough to run all the components - well but SSDs do not consume that much power, as we know
DELL-Stefan R
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May 28th, 2020 03:00
Hi Foordy,
good choice, I like the T140 too.
The H330 can run up to 8 drives. You need the cable again, try searching for this:
"dell KFXNG"
But I don't know where you want to put the additional drives ^^ This chassis/system is designed for up to 4 drives.
I don't like the term: "get a couple more drives squeezed in" - but this is your decision
Best regards,
Stefan
Foordy
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May 28th, 2020 13:00
Thanks Stefan,
I've managed to find a few cables now after your post, I did just have one concern which is the 6 pin connector, I believe my T140 Motherboard only has one port on the board so buying a second cable would this still requite extra power or do you know whether this would pickup the drives OK without this?
I appreciate the drive situation and 'squeezing' is not the most ideal but with a couple of SSDs which can be hidden away slightly and no concerns with heat I think it'll be OK but definitely not desirable.
ElCoyote_
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July 10th, 2021 14:00
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/8-x-ssd-drives-in-a-dell-poweredge-t140-in-place-of-4-x-3-5-hdds-need-y-pcie-6pin-adapter.33220/
ElCoyote_
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July 10th, 2021 14:00
Hi,
I might have done just that: I wanted more than than 4 drives in my T140 so I did this:
- I bought two T140 SAS 4x1 cables on ebay (in China) so I still had the one which came with the machine.
- Since there are two SFF SAS connectors on the H730P, no need to change anything here.
- I found 4 nice casters to hold 2 x 2.5SSDs in a 3.5 bay.
- For the PCIe power connector, I had to use a soldering iron to weld the 4 x 2 connectors together.
I figured that the T140 could power 4 x 3.5HDDs and that 8 x 2.5 SSD's would probably be lower wattage anyway.
I've posted pictures on servethehome.net.
My 4 SATA SSDs used to show up as LUNs 0,1,2,3. Now they're LUNs 0,1,4,5
Good luck,
Vincent