I apologise if this isn't an appropriate question for this forum.
I've an elderly server that works well and that I'd therefore prefer not to scrap entirely. But I would like to replace the current U320 drives with SAS/SATA drives as the old ones wear out.
I could do that as a batch job by simply pulling the U320 drives, putting SAS/SATA drives in their place, and hooking them up directly with cables in place of the current backplane. But I'd lose the hot-swap capability, so I'd rather not go that route.
The alternative is to find, or kludge, a backplane. If I could find small cards each with power and data connectors for one drive, I could assemble them. Or, if I could find pre-made backplanes for horizontal rows of 6 drives mounted vertically with connectors on 32mm centers, I could use those.
All constructive suggestions welcomed!
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Since I can't add a comment…
Thanks for your responses, and you've (especially Evan, who sounds like a Scot) pretty much convinced me. I'm a Scot, and genetically cheap, so it'll be a wrench. I won't mention what that old server is since you're already laughing and I'd hate for anyone to stroke out 🙂 but it belongs to me and, far from gathering dust in a garage, is in daily use as a toy webserver for development. It's really quite a nice old thing.
So my current plan is to leave it in place in its current role with the U320s, and build up a new server running FreeNAS to concentrate all the SAS/SATA storage that's now distributed across the LAN. Does that sound reasonable?
Best Answer
Realistically speaking, you're doing your employer a disservice trying to drag a machine with such old technology into the future. It's time to buy a new machine. By the time you spend the time cobbling together this bespoke solution you'll have spent more of their money than just buying a new machine. You're also leaving a major headache for the next person who has to support it.
(I say this as a really, really cheap guy who is fully on board with the idea of using out-of-warranty or off-lease equipment in production roles, provided that adequate spare parts are available on-site.)
If you really want to continue using this machine buy an external disk storage unit of some type (DASD, iSCSI, fibre channel, etc) and attach it to the machine. At least then you're not leaving a horrible nightmare for somebody else to support when you're gone. It can also be attached to a new machine in the future, allowing it to outlive a host server that's already likely well past its prime.
Doing anything inside the box isn't financially realistic and creates a nightmare for the future. Don't do it!