That is the cutest HAT I have ever seen … I wish it did SAS
I guess you could do 3.5* with some extender cables.
From the web site > https://shop.allnetchina.cn/collections/frontpage/products/dual-sata-hat-open-frame-for-raspberry-pi-4
The best way is to not use a port multiplier at all, but a PCIe controller card instead.
For around 18 bucks more, you’ll get 6 SATA ports. Thats about the price of a 2 port add-in card but without the added power consumption:
i duno about sata instability, sure cables will go bad if moved around a lot… but usually if stuff is connected and cables managed… then its all down to the hardware… and unless if one has spent more on a PCIe based controller… then i doubt there is much stability to be gained there…
ofc if you are a person that will take it apart 100+ times then sure the PCIe is much more well suited for that… and will ofc be more stable… if its not to cheap…
i don’t think just going PCIe makes something better than SATA, aside from the whole cable thing…
but isn’t that also one of the cool parts of it… because you can essentially just go eSATA and then hook up an outside box for your storage, or whatever… i think the eSATA is like viable for like close to 10 meters.
Providing more SATA ports via a PCIe controller is by far the better solution compared to a port multiplier. That’s not even debatable, especially considering how cheap said SATA controller cards are.
eSATA max. cable length is 2 meters.
By port multiplyer you will slow dawn your sata interface, always use sata cable with locks.
well most small motherboards will have like 1 or 2 pcie slots… starting out by filling that with harddrives for a storage solution system doesn’t allow you to upgrade the system later… like say 10gbit networking or external disk shelves and whatever one could want to do…
i don’t disagree that using sata multipliers are not the best solution… but it’s a very easy and affordable solution…
might have gotten the esata confused with sas
and in regard to this… well if you got even 4 new sata ports… each pair sharing a lane of 12gbit…
thats 2x 12gbit transfer speed… which translates to like 2800mb/s
even at just 6bit you got 1400mb/s… how often will that be relevant… sure it’s a think that might need to be taken into consideration when starting to add a lot of drives…
but it’s a real simple and cheap way to add a lot of drives fast… not sure what the practical limits are tho… kinda want to test it out…
think about it like this… you could in theory take a RPI4 with a sata hat and 4 multipliers of 5 … thats 20 drives… ofc the RPI will most likely start to look very small when having to manage all that…
12Gbit is Sas interface, not SATA it you will make from 1 Sata3 4 ports, you will get 4 Sata1 inteface.
Even Sata2 work very slow, as it has lower IOPS than Sata3.
So just add 4 Sata3 card on PCIe x1 and it pays about 50Eur thats all. then you will get full functional 4 Sata3 interfaces.
your iops argument is flawed tho… my sata 2.0 controller will do 15000 iops easy… thats like 30 hdd’s worth of iops… and thats just what i successfully tested it with… and how much bandwidth does storj use 
and multipliers are dirt cheap and fits any with regular hdd’s
just the case i’m trying to make… no doubt pcie is the superior way of connecting stuff… and i cannot say if using sata multipliers in any large scale is a good idea… i haven’t tried them…
but the tech sure does seem to fit into what storage nodes needs exactly…
So does a simple SATA controller, so what’s your point?
I just checked amazon, a 5 port multiplier nets you additional 4 SATA-II ports for 28€ while a controller card nets you 4 SATA-III ports for 25€
Why would one even bother with tech like port multiplication which is inferior by design? This is exactly the way to get weird errors into your system that take hours to troubleshoot…
I think it’s time to end this debate. Unless you really can’t give up a PCIe slot, a controller card is far superior. Instead of sharing bandwidth, dealing with more cable mess and less reliable connectors, you get full speed extra ports. It’s not even cheaper to do port multiplication. And lets not forget that a LOT of controllers don’t even support port multiplication. There is no contest here, the choice is obvious.
like the contest between a truck and a lorry…
with sata multipliers you can connect like 100 drives, each has their own pros and cons…
i just think they are an interesting solution that maybe very useful for still like RPI, and doesn’t have the regular PCIe slots…
to my knowledge the multiplication is an inherent function in the sata technology… the practical limitation is on how much data the memory on the controller can map and ofc the bandwidth…
but with storj hosting the bandwidth is kinda irrelevant… sure it might be a ridiculous setup that might be unstable and difficult to work with… but has anyone actually tested it…
You can of course contradict everything… but why not do a basic google search first instead of wasting peoples time?
A Serial ATA port multiplier ( SATA PM ) is a device that allows multiple SATA devices to be connected to a single SATA host port. Many common controllers do not support this feature,[1] as it is not a requirement for a SATA controller.[2]
Source: Port multiplier - Wikipedia
well most people buy crap hardware…
i would have thought the point worth mentioning in the wiki was the unreliable behavior which might be why they haven’t gained more traction…
why does it matter anyways if not everything supports it… the point was one can get a metric shitload of drives hooked up to one controller… which might be fun to try
i bet my server sata will run it just fine…
you really like stuff to be accurate don’t you… sorry to disappoint, the world doesn’t seem to work on that principle…
that wiki article is also getting kinda old… and it’s references are even older…
also if you look at the list of controllers that support port multipliers, then there seems to be about the same that supports them as not…
not like your point explains why it is like that… not all of them supports it… how am i suppose to understand that… well look at the reference chart
doesn’t really explain much…
and no matter how amazing wiki is, then it’s far from always correct… or up to date or both and more…
He probably does, but more to the extent of finding “accurate” solutions with the available hardware. And from that view, port multiplication is just something not ever to consider when there are other options.
What counts, however, is how many common sata controllers (e.g. asmedia, intel, amd oder other solutions typically seen on mainboards) support them
People come here asking for advise. We’re talking about this because someone asked for advise. If the responses are riddled with inaccurate information, that’s not exactly helpful to anyone. Why does it matter that not all controllers support it? Because the person asking for advise would have to pick a motherboard that does support it if they want to go that route. It might also be an argument to not bother with that option at all. People are looking for answers, not speculation.
It’s one thing if you say something inaccurate. We all do that from time to time. But it’s something else to correct someone who is actually right in the first place. Useful debate consists of people sharing information and points of view. We’re all here to learn and help. And just disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing isn’t all that useful. So yeah, a little effort to make sure your responses don’t waste people’s time by pointing them in the wrong direction would be appreciated.
PS. A counterpoint is not: “that wiki is old”. An actual counterpoint is: “here is newer information that contradicts it”. So for now I’m going to ignore that argument since as far as I’m aware the information is still accurate.
This is a good finding. However, the PRIME B450M-A is double the price of the PRIME-A320M-K, i.e. $50 more, here in the local shops. For my use case, I’d rather invest these $50 later for a good 6-port SATA PCIe card.
My project is finally live with its first 3 HDDs.
The components that made it into the reused ATX tower case and PSU are:
The 3 HDDs are:
There is one slot SATA left at the moment. As a next step, I will be looking for a SATA expansion card and mounting adapters to fill the upper compartment with more drives.
Power consumption is around 60W in total. From previous measurements, I know that the 3 drives consume 24-25W. So everything else than the HDDs consumes around 35-40W, which fits my initial plan.
I sujjest you to put 120mm fan near HDDs if it posible, it will mantain HDDs temprature in normal range even in summer. I changed all my cases to rachmount with posibilitie to put fans and filters it realy help to holt it work 24/7. Usealy Desctop cases not make it good, and even if can, then pc is full of dust after some time, that also kill it.
Gz! Do some cable management and post this here:
Also, try to only occupy every 2nd HDD bay to improve air ventilation.
