[-] IrishMASMS@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Looking past the folks recommending to sell them, it seems you have a handful of useful responses here (welcome to the internet & endless September). /snark Look past the naysayers, it will be fun and a learning experience just getting these drives up and running - a worthwhile experience IMHO.

I am down a similar path now, with a bunch of SAS drives. What I have learned/experienced so far:

  • Forget any USB docking stations or enclosures, they may advertise working for all SAS drives but are hit & miss expensive but cheaply made plastic crap.
  • There are a plethora of adapters available online that say you can convert SAS to SATA. Do not believe them - you need a SATA controller that also supports SAS. You may luck out and have a motherboard that has the right SATA chipset that supports SAS, you may not.

As others have mentioned in this thread, the easiest & optimal approach seems to be:

  • Get a low end workstation or server that supports SAS in the chipset and the drive bays
  • Get a low end workstation or server that supports SAS in the chipset and that you can add the drive bays you need
  • Get a low end workstation or server that you can install a controller card that supports SAS

I scored a free workstation from craigslist and one from freecycle, for another project on the workbench.

HTH, and good luck!

(Edited for formatting)

IrishMASMS

joined 8 months ago