I recently purchased 12TB worth of HDDs, only to discover that they're SAS drives, which my home server setup can't accommodate since it only has SATA connections. I'm wondering if there's any way to connect these SAS drives to my existing setup. Are there specific cables, converters, or expansion cards that I can use to make this work?
8 Answers
If you do get those SAS drives working, make sure to have a fan blowing on them directly. They can run quite hot and may overheat without proper cooling!
Just a heads up, SAS and SATA are different protocols, so a simple cable adapter won’t do the trick. You will definitely need a card and the proper cables to connect those drives.
If you've got the drives, you can find an adapter card to help connect them. Check out this one on eBay: https://ebay.us/m/oKdpJl.
For me, I invested in a good RAID card, especially one with battery-backed RAM cache. Alternatively, I bought a USB3 SAS dock to use my old HDDs as backup drives without needing to mess with my server setup.
Unfortunately, you can't just connect a SAS drive directly to a standard SATA motherboard port, even with an adapter. To use those SAS drives, you'll need a dedicated SAS Host Bus Adapter (HBA) card. This card goes into a PCIe slot on your motherboard, and from there, you can connect your SAS drives using the right SAS cables. If you're just after additional storage for your home PC, buying SATA drives might be a simpler and cheaper option.
You can usually find used HBAs on sites like eBay for a decent price. It's a good option since there's often a lower demand for older server components.
You can get SAS HBAs that connect through a PCIe slot, allowing you to hook up multiple SAS drives. It's best to use them for storage and boot from a faster medium like an NVMe SSD though!
Another option is to pick up a used SAS PCIe card from eBay. Look for one that comes with drive breakout connectors. You should be able to get the card and cables for around $50.
Just check that the HBA you purchase can support your drives. Some older cards might not recognize drives over 4TB.
But remember, with the right HBA, you can also use any future SAS and SATA drives you get!