Reddit reviews NORCO Computer Parallel Cables (C-SFF8087-4S)

I am using a reverse breakout cable to connect 4 of the SAS ports into my cases backplane.

https://imgur.com/a/HmSaD

This cable:
https://www.amazon.com/NORCO-Computer-Parallel-Cables-C-SFF8087-4S/dp/B002MK7F0Y

To use more than 8 disks with your SAS2 controller, you need to combine 4 of the ports into a single SFF-8087 connection (via the linked reverse breakout cable) and then connect that into a SAS Expander.

My case has a SAS expander built in which is how it expands the 4 SAS2 connections into 24.

A good standalone SAS Expander is this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-RES2SV240-24-Port-RAID-Expander-Card-SAS-SATA-PCI-Express-x4/173218886325

So you connect the reverse breakout cable from 4 blue ports on your motherboard, into that SAS Expander, then you can use forward breakout cables to connect the remaining ports on the SAS Expander into disks.

The SAS expander has 6 ports, 1 is used by the connection to your controller, that leaves 5 open ports which you can connect 4 SATA disks per port for a total of 20 disks.

Forward breakout cable:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=8186

So with 1 reverse breakout, 1 SAS expander, and 5 forward breakout cables, you can connect 20 disks to 4 of your blue SAS ports.

Then you could do the same with the other 4 ports to achieve 40 total disks.

If you wanted to do even more, you could buy a SAS expander with more ports, or start chaining SAS expanders together.

You're welcome!
Link to the case on Norco's website, take special note of the PSU depth max length
Here are a few parts that you will need if you do decide to get that case.
FlexATX PSU The ones on amazon at the time were too long to fit in the case, i had to return the one i bought from them and ended up getting this one.
Reverse Breakout SATA Cable
2x 4PIN MOLEX Extension cables This is to plug into the HDD backplane

If you already have the SATA ports handy, just use a reverse breakout cable to connect to them. If you don't, or need more, I'd recommend the controller card I posted plus 2 SAS cables and you'll be good without have to spend $300+.

SFF8087 to 4x SATA.

Like these:
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SAS8087S450-Serial-Attached-Cable/dp/B004KDO22K/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1396212048&sr=8-11&keywords=sff+8087

http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Internal-SFF-8087-Forward-Breakout/dp/B005E2XTO8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1396212048&sr=8-4&keywords=sff+8087

http://www.amazon.com/Discrete-SFF-8087-Reverse-breakout-cable/dp/B002MK7F0Y/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1396212048&sr=8-7&keywords=sff+8087

This is my server case that I use. I use these cables to go from the back plane to these PCIe sata cards. Back when I used to have my server running Windows I had bought a RAID controller. It wasn't until after I switched to proxmox that I found out the controller wasn't compatible. I think this is a much cheaper option, and I already have multiple of these so my server is pretty much already filled. That is a good idea though. I just didn't really find a good authoritative list on what RAID controllers actually work well with proxmox a few years ago, that is why I went this route. Thanks for the idea though

Cheetah 15K 2.5" drives run on +5 and +12, so I'd guess either a borked backplane or physical incompatibility between the SAS and SATA connectors.

Oracle doc
with the pinout voltage-wise.

That said, the Raptor drives also use SATA's +3.3 IIRC, which the cheetah does not appear to. Test for +3.3 also.

If the voltages are all there, I'd try plugging in the SAS backplane to a SATA controller with a reverse breakout cable