Raptor Computing Systems Community Forums (BETA)

Raptor Computing Systems Hardware => Blackbird => Topic started by: cchinicz on September 22, 2020, 04:34:01 pm

Title: How to increase storage: another nvme/PCI or SATA
Post by: cchinicz on September 22, 2020, 04:34:01 pm

Hi All,

My Blackbird came with 128GB Nvme/PCI. I want to expand that with another disk and add to existing /root and /user logical volumes (Fedora32) using LVM.

Should I use the ONLY available PCI slot or sacrifice performance and add a SATA SSD? How bad would it be work with a combination of PCI and SATA?

Thanks in advance.

Title: Re: How to increase storage: another nvme/PCI or SATA
Post by: pocock on September 22, 2020, 06:29:34 pm

There are some PCIe x8 cards that accept multiple NVMe disks over OCuLink, U.2 or directly in M.2 slots

Highpoint is bringing out a PCIe 4.0 product this month:
https://highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/nvme_raid_controllers.htm

LSI tri-mode controllers, 9400-* and 9500-* look interesting but expensive.

Anything like that will help you combine multiple NVMe drives

I'd be interested to know if anybody tested any of those products already as I'm also trying to choose my storage strategy.

Whether you can use SATA drives depends on your workload.  People can only make suggestions if you describe the way you use the computer and the data you need to store.

Title: Re: How to increase storage: another nvme/PCI or SATA
Post by: cchinicz on September 22, 2020, 09:35:33 pm

Hi, thanks for replying. I did not know I could combine multiple disk on a single PCI slot.

I use my Blackbird mostly as a commercial desktop. The single most demanding IO task it does is when Thunderbird compresses the mailbox, which happens a few times every day.

Regards

Title: Re: How to increase storage: another nvme/PCI or SATA
Post by: ClassicHasClass on September 23, 2020, 11:21:34 pm

Not cheap, but hard to argue with the specs. It looks like a nice unit. I'd definitely consider one of those if I decided to put another NVMe device in this T2 (it "only" has 1.5TB of storage currently).

Title: Re: How to increase storage: another nvme/PCI or SATA
Post by: 0x1a4 on October 18, 2020, 01:37:19 pm

I can report that HighPoint  7505 NVMe controller works in the blackbird

Title: Re: How to increase storage: another nvme/PCI or SATA
Post by: MPC7500 on October 19, 2020, 01:05:46 pm

Added (https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/POWER9_Hardware_Compatibility_List/PCIe_Devices#Working_3)

Title: Re: How to increase storage: another nvme/PCI or SATA
Post by: ClassicHasClass on October 19, 2020, 10:29:33 pm

Quote from: 0x1a4 on October 18, 2020, 01:37:19 pm

I can report that HighPoint  7505 NVMe controller works in the blackbird

Is it bootable?