Actually, some time ago, I purchased one such multiplier as well. My server (TYAN S5512 / Xeon e3-1220L v2 - yes, it is 2 cores only, as it is a harvester) was running Win 10 Pro, and as you stated just one port was functional. However, when I installed Linux on that box, all was fine - all ports started to work. So, maybe Linux is more forgiving, and compensates better than Windows.
1 Like
Hello @enderTown and Fellow miners!
Id have a question to those 12v to 5 volt converters:
10 Harddisks are connected in parallel to one 12->5v converter and to the 12 v of the psu.
At the same Time, the converters are connected in parallel to the psu. Is that correct?
Yep that’s right! 
1 Like
Thank you for your reply! So I received a PCIe multiplier card or to be precise an m.2 to 5x SATA card, which uses the JMB585 chip, which supposedly supports FIS-based switching. If I connect the aforementioned port multiplier (JMB575 based) to it, Windows still will only recognize one drive.
What is odd. It seems to randomly pick one of the (currently) two drives connected for testing purposes.
Are there drivers needed for Windows?
EDIT:
Yes, but it is hard to get decent information from AliExpress vendors.
I did a lot of trial and error searching for JMB585 bridge drivers, as well as JMB575 pm drivers and found that for me using the following worked: 10 Port SATA III to PCIe 3.0 x1 NON-RAID Expansion Card
1 Like
Interesting thread when ready when Chia at around $40 in comparison to when posts were made here. I’m somewhat in the same boat where the higher Chia price was about 50% higher than it is now.
Not sure if the OP is around or cares at this point, but I would be curious. SATA isn’t designed for what you initially designed. I think you discovered that fact because of the issues that arose. Am I right?
In other words, SAS, being a scalable storage environment, is designed for your initial design. So the issue about startup, the HBAs and drives can and do deal with that. They are designed for that. SATA are not. When it comes to cabling and adapters, the server drives have massive expandability. HBAs and cable options for connecting many, many drives.
So please tell me if I’m wrong, but did the initial plan simply fail because of choosing SATA vs. SAS?
As for the vibration issues, I would suggest that Wal Mart anything is trash quality. If you want sturdy, solid, less chance of vibration issues, then going to a food service supplier to buy a solid rack is the way to go. You won’t get the number of racks, but there are other ways of hanging drives. I would just say this to anyone. Buy the heavier rack. Shop by weight, not by price. It might look the same, but it will be shit quality. Lighter is less expensive to manufacture and less money to transport. Make it look legit, the Wal Mart way.
I’m with you on paying the least amount per TB possible, although you mentioned going to bigger size drives. With a 50% reduced value of XCH now, do you stand by that choice or was your original plan with smaller drives a better way to go? Yes, I understand your adapter, cable issues, but that’s not my point. If you could have bought sas, and built this out like an open air server, taking into account HBA and cables, and still pay far less than big hard drives, would you rethink things?
I can imagine that the experience and issues might cloud your perspective which is understandable. And you may not know the world of sas, HBAs and cables.
Vibration is an interesting aspect to this. I will say one thing. Metal doesn’t bend/break. For these purposes, metal vs. plastic is no comparison. I do not hang anything off anything plastic. I’m just not sure if the sas drives can manage vibrations better. They are far more robust so perhaps less of an issue. A server rack has what anti-vibration measures in place? When we’re talking SATA though, I would say all bets are off. I’m not an expert on this aspect but vibration = bad any way you slice it. In that sense I’m not mixing plotting with farming on the same unit. If farming requires little hard drive movement then I don’t see an issue. I don’t plot with SSD for those that care. It’s SAS or nothing.
Anyways I appreciate the thread you started and sharing your trials and tribulations. I do wonder though how you view things now through the lens of a 50% less valuable XCH. That is, if you are still actively farming Chia.
1 Like
Yep! See this thread for the continuation and updates: The Journey to One Petabyte - Chia Farming & Harvesting - Chia Forum
Nope! I just got tired of LARPing as an enterprise JBOD designer 
Agreed! I didn’t have any vibration issues but I do like the heavier racks and JBODs now that I have them (see updated thread)
If your goal is cheapest $/TB, smaller drives are way to go. If you have cheap electricity and plenty of connection points (SAS or SATA) then it makes sense. Any drive uses $7-10/year in electricity at 10-12c/kwh. For the smallest drives, you are paying maybe $7-8/TB if you buy in bulk or find good deals. But my target for cost per drive for connections (SAS JBODs in my case) is about $10. So if you just plan on running them for a few years and then upgrading, smaller drives might make sense over larger drives, especially if you already have the connections. If you are out of connection points, buying larger drives might make sense so you don’t have to buy as many more connections (SAS/HBA/JBOD/etc). 
YES! See more details in continuation thread above.
Yep! And growing. Check out me and Jerod (Digital Spaceport) unloading our latest auction win here:
Digital Spaceport Storage Wars - The Breakdown - YouTube
Digital Spaceport Server Wars Final Analysis - With Josh Painter (Endertown, Catmos) - YouTube
If you are scaling up to petabytes, you’ll want to stop buying retail (or even ebay) and start looking for local/state auction deals on lots of server equipment!
Hope that helps, good luck!
3 Likes
Hey thank you for the great reply. Amazing contributions. I will check your other post. I’ve watched the Spaceport videos and had no idea that was you.
Just a quick note from what you’ve said. My understanding is sas are more tuned to handle slightly warmer temps. I also know sas are far more robust. I guess in the next couple years we will see how retail drives, especially the external ones hold up. If my sas drives last forever, then that makes up for some added power costs.
I’ve done my numbers to the bone. I add cable and HBA costs, on a per drive basis. I can’t come close on any other storage solution. I get that everyone’s mileage will vary. I can get prices where this cannot be touched. Believe me I am very thorough on researching and trying to find sources.
JBODs are in my future, just not right now. I can only invest in hardware expenses that will directly increase my yield. The server gear is industry proven but I need to get returns on investment before I step up into that realm. I also want to show newcomers the most economical way to enter this space.
Thanks again for all your sharing of insights and experience.
1 Like
The DC/DC converters work really well, but I’m experiencing an issue with the cables/connectors heating up.
Are your connectors on the breakout board hot when you connect 10 HDDs on a single cable?
I’ve tried using a regular PC 750W modular PSU (with GPU cable port), but the connectors become uncomfortably hot. I suspect that my PSU cables simply isn’t capable of handling these DC/DC converters. It says that are 18 AWG.
I attempted to connect 10 drives, but it seems that may be too much due to the heating issue. Connecting 5 drives per single 12V PSU cable seems to be okay.
Do you recommend connecting 10 or 5 HDDs per single DC/DC converter/cable when utilizing a server PSU with a breakout board?
Thank you for your assistance.