Icy Dock MB455SPF 5-Bay Internal SATA Drive Enclosure

tombxtra · Rated PG Joined: 16 Dec 2010 Posts: 1

As mentioned in an earlier question. I am still puzzled how to connect a drivebay of 5 sata drives.
Apart from the power (molex) connectors , there are depending on the model 4 or 5 sata connectors.

If this is indeed for each drive one, how the hell can something like this be connected to the mainboard
inside. Normal motherboards mostly have only up to 4 sata connectors.

5 connectors thus do not fit. So i am also wondering how "rudepeople" will be able to connect 4 units (aka 20 drives). This means 20 sata cables/connectors at the same time.

I was looking for sata hub (connect x sata's to 1 connector) but these are pretty hard to find. And also not cheap.

Can anybody please advice how this should work? Am i overlooking something?

Thanx for the great initial review

**Modulok** · Posted: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 10:10:21 Post Subject:

Actually many motherboards today have 6 SATA connections. But if you do not have enough on the MB, you could go with a SATA expansion card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815121009

I am actually going to sell that card in the near future if you are intested. Just keep in mind that it is 64bit PCI-X card.

**Doctor Feelgood** · Posted: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 10:12:58 Post Subject:

Hi tombxtra... Never noticed rudepeople's post until now... Oops.

For more connections on a typical system (perhaps even 20 of them) I guess the first thing you would have to do is to either get a motherboard with more SATA connections (the one I am currently using offers 8 of them) and/or get some expansion card SATA adaptors... I have a cheap Rosewill branded one that adds 6 SATA ports to one PCI expansion cards.

But realistically, I think he was talking about a server setup... Maybe a board like this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131643 - with plenty onboard, but more possible with expansion cards or on PIKE adapters.

To do it up right you are correct - it won't be cheap. Forget the adapters and racks, the drives will get expensive at that quantity.

Hellfire · Rated XXX Joined: 05 Aug 2003 Posts: 3473

Yea, lots of SATA cards out there, could easily build a system with many drives depending on how many PCI or PCI-X slots you have (depends on the cards you get). Saw a build with 3 - 8 port SATA PCI cards, filled with 2TB drives...pretty slick, would love to have that at home Smile