I’ve been digging into this more and found a potential concern with my planned passive adapter approach. From this thread, the 1m SATA cable limit applies to the entire signal path, not individual cables. A passive SFF-8088 to SFF-8087 adapter doesn’t regenerate the signal.
My planned setup:
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0.5m external SAS cable (HBA to JBOD)
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Passive SFF-8088 to SFF-8087 bracket
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~0.5m internal breakout cables to drives
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Total: ~1m (right at the edge of SATA spec)
Given the chassis will be adjacent in the rack, I’m hoping the short run is fine. But should I consider adding a SAS expander (e.g. Intel RES2SV240) to the JBOD instead of a passive adapter? Seems overkill for 6 drives, but would eliminate cable length concerns entirely.
Has anyone run a similar DIY JBOD with passive adapter and short cables successfully?