Reddit reviews CJESLNA SATA 2nd HDD Caddy for 12.7mm Universal CD/DVD-ROM

>Anyway, inside these R210 II's, I have 2 SATA power cables and am limited to 2 drives

nope, if you use the ODD slot, and 2.5in drives with sata power splitters, you can fit 5x2.5in drives in there. Use these in your ODD slot. I have 3, they work perfectly, and are cheap. Otherwise, 2x3.5in drives+1x2.5in SSD for a boot drive.

>More than likely will be grabbing 2 525GB Crucial MX300 SSD's for each of these. Motherboard has 5 SATA ports, so I can definitely just connect these SSD's to the onboard, but that limits me to possible onboard RAID (RAID 1, of course), or using ZFSonLinux to create a ZFS mirror.

remember, these are SATA2 3gbps ports, so don't go crazy, unless you really want the faster speeds and better IO performance, enterprise HDDs are still pretty good for sequential read and write and raw data storage. You can definilty hook up 5 drives, but the onboard sata controller does not support real raid, its fakeraid, and windows only. Works perfectly for passing drives to ZFS systems though, though that seems like a waste for this hardware, but who am I to judge.

>If I go hardware RAID in the R210 II's, I can't to 10Gbit network. But I'm also not sure if the R210 II's have onboard RAID (although I'd rather not use that). So 10Gbit and ZFS mirror, or dual 1GbE LACP and hardware RAID for a 2-way SSD mirror?

If you want to go hardware RAID in the R210ii, its limited to software raid or a PCIe addin card, of which there is only a single PCIe slot. The onboard software raid is limited to software RAID1 with a 2 drive max per mirror set. I recommend against using this, as its not the greatest.


Don't use LACP, that still means a 1gbps max per transfer, which is even well over what my WD RE4 4tb drives will do. The R210ii's only have a single PCIe slot, full height, and its power limited to 25w, so if the card tries to draw over 25w on boot, it will halt boot. I have had some chelsio cards trigger that every once in a great while. These machines are very much able to max out a 10gb link with fast enough drives(tried from RAMdisk to RAMdisk, I was getting 800+MB/s) with very low CPU usage. If you want to use both gigabit links, I suggest you set up a windows server 2012r2 environment and use SMB3.0 Multichannel. SMB3 MC is supported on windows server 2012r2, and windows 8.1 and up. This means that you can transfer stuff at an actual 2gbps over 2x1gbps network links, or over whatever network links you have between the two hosts(Lowest common denom here). ZFS is nice, but windows with ReFS, while slower, should work fine for most purposes. ReFS has massively improved, as has storage spaces with mirror and parity.

>Storage-wise, the SSD's would be for the OS, as well as LXC containers. I have a few LXC's in-mind already, including a need for MySQL, so local performance matters for my disks. I won't be copying anything large to this server, but it is likely that I'd have NFS mounts in those LXC's that would utilize the 10Gbit.

Use an SSD for the OS, and use HDDs for the storage. If you want RAID1 SSDs, use a ZFS or storage spaces mirror, but you still won't max out a 10gb connection due to sata2 bus limits.

>Also, does anyone know if the 2 USB ports inside the Dell R210 II (and also inside other Dell servers) is visible to the OS, or is that for DRAC purposes (i.e., storing ISO's, etc).

The 2 internal ports are just that, internal USB ports. They are generally used for storing OSs and such out of reach of datacenter hands, but they work just fine and present to the OS, or can be hidden from the system or disabled as well(options in BIOS). As far as the IDRAC enterprise goes, there is an SD card slot in the back of the server, and that is the storage space for the IDRAC, so unless you put an SD card in there, the IDRAC has no onboard storage, which is fine, because you can have it remote mount ISOs and such. There are tutorials for how to remote mount an ISO, but having that local storage can be very helpful for remote restore operations. That SD card is only accessible to the IDRAC though.

>So it's a tough choice. I'm leaning 10Gbit and ZFS Mirror, but wanted to see what some of you would do?

I don't worry about an OS mirror drive, because SSDs rarely fail, especially modern SSDs. I have put an SSD in the ODD slot, and use HDDs for storage. Boots from the SSD, media storage on the HDDs. I run windows server 2012r2 on my e3-1270v1 powered R210ii, and currently have an unused 10gb Mellanox CX2 in it. That is my DC, plex server, DNS, ect. Runs my home domain and services, and then I have PFsense running on my second R210ii with an e3-1220v1. The second R210ii runs my network. I have an e3-1220v1 in there for AESni support.

Do you ever use the optical drive in your laptop? If not (or rarely), you might consider buying a caddy for a 2.5" drive that fits in your optical drive slot. Something like this, for instance (just make sure you get the right size for your drive bay). A caddy is cheap and easy to install. Then you can keep using the HDD for storage and use the SSD for just OS and programs. You might be able to get away with a smaller/cheaper SSD this way too, although if you've got the scratch, I'm sure you'll find a use for 250 GB!

If you want, you can even get an external enclosure for cheap and turn your old optical drive into an external USB drive. I think this is the one I used.

I found the one in the picture, but there's one for a little cheaper and it's on prime, if you have that.

You can never have too much storage.

This is the one I ordered: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056EW4A4

Knowing what size of display you'd prefer would be very helpful. However, I'll give you a couple options.

The Lenovo Z710 would be good if you want a 17.3" display. It has a quad-core i7, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD and Nvidia GT 745M graphics.

If you want a 15.6" display, get the ASUS N550JV. Very similar specs to the Z710, except it has a touchscreen and a slightly more powerful graphics card (if that is useful to you).

Neither come with an SSD stock, but you can easily upgrade that yourself by getting a Samsung 840 Evo. You can either replace the existing HDD with it, and get an External Enclosure to put the old hard drive in so you can use it as an external drive.

Or

You can get a hard drive caddy and remove the existing optical drive in either laptop and replace it with the SSD in this so you can have an SSD and HDD.

USB type C would be optimal. ESATA could work. But at the end of the day, an SSD internally is the only way you could achieve the full advantage of the SSD. Otherwise get a normal HDD.


Edit: Just was reading this is for a laptop. Maybe remove your CD/DVD drive and replace it with a hard drive bay. They exist: http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY%C2%AE-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1426007353&sr=8-9&keywords=dvd+drive+sata+laptop

I used these to mount 2 x 2.5" drives in mine. Technically you could get 2 of these and properly mount 4 SSD's in a r210. For ~$7/ea and minimal effort, it was worth it to me.

However, just laying the drives inside or using double sided tape will work too.

EDIT: I also bought 2 of these, but it will be another 4-6 weeks before they come in. The plan was to mount the boot drive I'm this. I had considered using another of those 2 2.5 to 3.5" adapter, so I could technically mount 5 drives. A 128GB boot drive, and 4 525GB SSD's in a ZFS RAID10. I really don't need that much space in these boxes.

You've already figured it out...but here's a link to one...there's another one on there for half the price as well...I did it on mine and added an SSD...love it.

http://www.amazon.com/SATA-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344293722&sr=8-2&keywords=hard+drive+caddy

I bought one of these and it works well.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056EW4A4

Not sure where you would put the second 2.5" drive tho?

If the only root cause of the case swap is the 1060 and the extra SSD, you might not need to put the components in a new case.

If the GTX 1060 fits in the case and you can part with your optical drive, you could install the extra SSD in one of these in the optical drive bay. You'd still want to swap out the power supply for a GTX 1060; I wouldn't run a 1060 off of the 180 or 300 watt PSUs that these systems come stock with.

If you do end up doing the case swap, the front panel switch/LED header pinout is standard.

If you're going to be doing UE4 work on a laptop, get the best GPU and CPU you can. You shouldn't think its a good idea to save there, because you cannot upgrade after the fact. Unfortunately next gen mobile notebook GPUs aren't out yet, so we're all somewhat stuck with what is out now. A 960m is the mainstream part, a 940m is not sold to be a serious gamer part,

A 960m is going to beat the hell out of a 940m. As will an i7 vs i5.

(For benchmarks, 45.3 fps vs 14.43 in Bioshock Infinite, a UE4 game. 30.9 fps vs 11.05 fps in Metro: Last Light. 20.75 fps vs 7.15 fps in Crysis 3. Link )

The $577 Acer might handle some light work, but the $973 Asus is the better choice. Really its the only choice when you factor in gaming. Let alone game development.

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One trick that I did with my Asus N550JK (i7-4700hq + GTX 850m) notebook was swapped out the BluRay drive with a 1TB HDD, using a HDD Caddy. Then I added a 480gb SSD as the main drive.

if your laptop uses a standard laptop drive http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY%C2%AE-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1411880212&sr=8-5&keywords=dvd+drive+bay+converter is what you need. I can't tell if your laptop does as asus has many models with the 550 number

Usually you'll need to get a caddy that fits in the optical bay which includes the mini-sata power converter.

I have a Clevo 151EM. As soon as I got it, I swapped the HDD for an SSD, installed win7, installed the drivers from the drivers dvd, then took out the DVD drive itself, used this caddy (it was half the price then, you could probably find a similar one for cheaper) with the original HDD. Then I put the original DVD drive in this enclosure. I've tested it, works great, even without the extra USB for power, but have never actually needed the DVD drive since installing windows.

After dropping $1200+ on a laptop, it may not seem like a big deal to save 30 or 50 bucks on a caddy and enclosure, but I can't help it.

It was all crazy simple to do. Happy to answer any questions.

I just finished doing that.
get another Sata cable like on the optical drive. solder the power together. Get the adapter to fit to a standard SSD pinout and set up in front. I used this and just took out the back but it gives me a led activity light as well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056EW4A4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ehh 2xxx series use the original iseries, you'd be better off just getting a cheap AMD Dv6 6xxx series with an obviously better graphics card and SATA III support.

Edit: I use an optical bay to HDD adapter, located Here

First off, you'll need a caddy. Something like this. Put the HDD on the caddy, and replace the optical drive with the caddy. You shouldn't need to do anything more, but I personally would just reinstall Windows on the SSD for a clean slate. Windows would recognize that there's two drives now.

Also, I personally would go for a 50GB/60GB partition for the Windows install (depending on the SSD size).

One option would be to buy a bigger drive, open the laptop up and swap.

Or ask him to look at his usb ports, if any of them are blue (usb3) then he could get an external usb3 ssd. I say ssd because a normal HDD will drive him up a wall.

If portability doesn't matter, another option would be to get something like https://www.amazon.com/CJESLNA-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4 as well as another hdd, and just swap that with his cd drive.

i believe most laptops can do this. I did this with my Sony. Just figure out which height for the caddy you need.

http://www.amazon.com/SATA-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345847208&sr=8-1&keywords=hdd+caddy

http://www.amazon.com/JacobsParts%C2%AE-9-5mm-Optical-Drive-Adapter/dp/B004XIUQYA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345847267&sr=8-1&keywords=hdd+caddy+9.5

Easiest would be to pop the drive out and put it in a USB enclosure. These ones look like good buys.
$14.99 - [inateck 3.0 Tool-Free] (http://www.amazon.com/Inateck-External-Enclosure-Optimized-Tool-Free/dp/B00OFJ1UK6)
$6.00 - [Sabrent 2.0] (http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-SATA-Drive-Enclosure-EC-NU25K/dp/B002R3CXSU)
$9.29 - [Sanoxy SATA] (http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY%C2%AE-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4), this is awesome.

Edit: More and added cd-rom caddy

As your machine has been serviced multiple times you should check the bottom for screws that look like [this] (http://www.zdnet.com/i/story/60/19/009471/macbook-air-11-2010-pentalobe-screw-ogrady-350.jpg). If you have any you should also get [this] (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/TOOLKITMBA/).

It should, I'm using pretty much one like that: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010CRVKUO

The ODD opening is 12.7mm high, so the 9mm caddy (which I originally bought for a laptop) has a bit of a gap on top - if I would care about looks, I should've gotten a caddy like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056EW4A4/ref=sr_1_3

But yeah, either should work, the important thing is the smaller SATA Connector, which they all have.

This Asus is a decent option, but you're probably not getting a 970m for under $1000.

As a side note, when you can, purchase a hard drive caddy for your optical drive (something like this), and install an SSD as your main drive. Your operating system, load times, and overall experience will greatly improve. I've done it, and it's one of the best purchases I've ever made.

You absolutely can. I used something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/SATA-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4/
to replace the optical drive that came with my rack mount server with an ssd.

yea, its a pain in the ass to pull them off though. i used one of these to put a 2nd harddrive in my machine. http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY%C2%AE-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397009404&sr=8-2&keywords=harddrive+caddy

whats nice is the bezel from my dvd drive popped right on, so from the naked eye people would think its an optical drive but its really just the caddy that holds the 2nd harddrive.

The process is pretty similar. Remove the hard drive from the slot and slide the SSD in, no cable needed. I did this with my laptop before and I just used an external hard drive for file storage.

It's possible to add a second hard drive to a laptop if you have an optical drive to sacrifice. You would need something like this: http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY%C2%AE-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4

Depending on how much you use your optical drive, you may want to use an optical bay HHD caddy so you can use the SSD and your HDD at the same time.