this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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SAS is an extension on SATA. You can connect 4 SATA drives to most SAS ports or 2 12gbps SAS drives. You can't connect a SAS drive to a SATA port.
J12 needs a mini-SAS breakout cable and each drive requires a PSU. J5-8 are already SATA ports. 8 total SATA drives or 4 SAS + 4 SATA drives are supported by the ports given.
Thanks! SAS is totally new to me and there is a bit of a learning curve…. I am confused though as the manual refers to the 4 sata ports on the card and mentions that sas or sata devices can be connected?
I'd have to read the documentation more for that board.
SAS drives can only connect to SAS controllers, SATA drives can connect to SATA or to SAS controllers but SAS drives cannot connect to SATA controllers.
If the 4 SATA ports goto a SAS controller then you could have 8 SAS drives connected at 6gbps or 4 connected "dual channel" at 12gbps or 8 SATA drives at 6gbps.
Specs are here if you are willing to have a look! https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12353334
Also sounds like the external SFF-8088 is data only and I somehow need to introduce power. Looping the cable back inside won't solve my problem?
Yeah, specs say 4 SAS ports only through the external connector and 4 internal SATA ports. The external SAS port can be used for SAS or SATA, the internal SATA ports are SATA only.
The external connector assumes you're using external enclosures. If you want to you can loop it back inside the case but it'll require the case to have up to 8 SATA power connectors which is slightly unusual (assuming you're using the internal SATA connectors as well).
Appreciate it. I am going down the road of a sata to sas adaptor one of the internal ports. I have spare connections on my power supply so hopefully it will all work out. Since I know now sas drives don’t work on sata ports I guess the main reason the adaptors exist is scenarios like this.