[Davers]

Hey gang..I'm out of sata ports and will need to add drives soon. What are my options? Can I get a pci express to esata card or something like that and plug in an external enclosure? If so, any suggesitions?

Thanks for any input!!

Dave

[bapski]

just got my AOC-SASLP-MV8 working. now my server is ready for 8 more drives!

NICE INPUTS HERE TOO

[scywin]

If you are also out of room in the case then eSata and an external case would certainly make sense. If you have room inside the case and are just out of ports then a card with internal Sata ports might also serve your purpose.

Another option would depend on the size of your drives. If you have smaller drives, you might be able to expand your available disk space by simply replacing the drives with larger drives.

[Drashna Jaelre (WGS)]

scywin has the best answer here. :)

If you have smaller drives, upgrade is about the easiest way.

However, if you have room inside the case, I would recommend a controller card that uses SATA (not esata) and add more HDDs internally. If not, then eSATA ports would do.

[Davers]

Thanks for the replies guys...You got me pointed in the right direction. I found this online that has got me motivated to add a port multiplier...:-) Clicky-click

Thanks again!!

Dave B)

[GaPony]

There are some better prices out there... so do your shopping.

[Chris Cowles]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a cheap low-profile SATA controller compatible with PCI-Express x16, having at least 1 internal SATA connector? RAID and speed are not an issue. I'm only using it to connect an optical drive. An eSATA port and/or internal IDE port would be ideal, but not required.

Thanks.

[wardog (WGS)]

SYBA SD-LP-PEX2IR PCI Express Low Profile SATA II Controller Card

Just beware that this has the requested shorter low-profile PCI bracket, not the standard length one.

[Davers]

Ok...here's what I wound up getting...and it all works like a charm.

Sata card
Backplane
2TB Drive

WHS recognised the sata card no problem and it installed the drivers without using the disk. The backplane fit perfectly into my 3 empty bays...no bending, folding, cutting, or melting was involved! And, the drive of course went into the tray with little effort. My only...complaint, although not really a complaint is that the fan on the backplane is a bit loud, even on it's low setting. Other than that, I'm really happy with how it turned out. Now I just need to purchase 3 more 2TB drives, and I'll be up to almost 10 TB!! :-)

Thanks for the encouragement and advice everyone!

Dave

[snowdins]

I just ran out of SATA ports.. and came upon this thread. I think I will buy what you just did Davers =)

[snowdins]

So I bought what Davers did in this thread and installed everything last night. Works perfectly and very easy!

[Drashna Jaelre (WGS)]

It's a nice card, and backplanes are always good. :)