Internal SATA Drives Vs. External

[crbdrbonline 2]

Assuming JBOD, is there any benefit to using drives internally vs externally? I currently have a sever case with 8 large drives connected via SATA3, and I am considering dumping it to go with a miniPC and easier access external drives. In terms of throughput for all of the drives, will external cause a bottleneck in comparison to internal?

[Guest]

Yes.. you can increase this to the size of the ethernet card if you use network storage.. but it will always be as fast as the hardware for transfer.. USB.. and so on.. average drive on SATA III gets 6 GB/s for example.

[crbdrbonline 2]

32 minutes ago, Hxemby001 said:

Yes.. you can increase this to the size of the ethernet card if you use network storage.. but it will always be as fast as the hardware for transfer.. USB.. and so on.. average drive on SATA III gets 6 GB/s for example.

I guess I was considering how many drives it would take to saturate USB 3.1 versus SATA on the motherboard. Will 6 drives connected via USB be just as fast as 6 drives connected via SATA3? 

[Guest]

No.. This would come down to the structure of your motherboard. Ex. Three ports going through one terminal.. only has the full speed of the terminal.. So unless each port has its own terminal AND the motherboard ( I don't think this exists ) has integrated a way to handle all of the data coming through it ( Total sum of all max port speed - data transfer ) and your system is able to process all data through all 'corridors' if it were... Then you must have ram and processing speed for the task...

So following MOST manufacturers and miniPC construction.. motherboards so on.. I would say it would create a bottleneck for the datastream.

EDIT: NAS systems having SATA III connections have capability of transferring/reading 6 GB/s.. but at most it can transfer is 1 GB/s because it is connected via Gigabit Ethernet cards.. then you have other operations going on.. or or sending data to or from a system which may have other places where there are bottlenecks,, then you only have that maximum speed.

EDIT2: I would say that the miniPC is great for a TV performing simple tasks ( maybe not 4K unless indicated ).. Streaming music, videos, searching the web.. Not game play, editing videos.. or as use for main data repositories.. maybe for access of files for consumption as mentioned.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Guest

[crbdrbonline 2]

15 minutes ago, Hxemby001 said:

No.. This would come down to the structure of your motherboard. Ex. Three ports going through one terminal.. only has the full speed of the terminal.. So unless each port has its own terminal AND the motherboard ( I don't think this exists ) has integrated a way to handle all of the data coming through it ( Total sum of all max port speed - data transfer ) and your system is able to process all data through all 'corridors' if it were... Then you must have ram and processing speed for the task...

So following MOST manufacturers and miniPC construction.. motherboards so on.. I would say it would create a bottleneck for the datastream.

EDIT: NAS systems having SATA III connections have capability of transferring/reading 6 GB/s.. but at most it can transfer is 1 GB/s because it is connected via Gigabit Ethernet cards.. then you have other operations going on.. or or sending data to or from a system which may have other places where there are bottlenecks,, then you only have that maximum speed.

EDIT2: I would say that the miniPC is great for a TV performing simple tasks ( maybe not 4K unless indicated ).. Streaming music, videos, searching the web.. Not game play, editing videos.. or as use for main data repositories.. maybe for access of files for consumption as mentioned.

Ok thank you. That was my gut feeling but wanted to make sure. That leads me to looking again at computer cases that have easy access drive storage. All I can find is Supermicro and I am unfamiliar with their quality. 

[mastrmind11 717]

17 hours ago, crbdrbonline said:

Ok thank you. That was my gut feeling but wanted to make sure. That leads me to looking again at computer cases that have easy access drive storage. All I can find is Supermicro and I am unfamiliar with their quality. 

I have this one.  Silverstone cases are really nice.  https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=709&area=en

You pay a bit more but they're always quality.

Edited March 13, 2021 by mastrmind11

[crbdrbonline 2]

7 hours ago, mastrmind11 said:

I have this one.  Silverstone cases are really nice.  https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=709&area=en

You pay a bit more but they're always quality.

Thank you for that. Do you happen to have a link or resource that explains backplanes? I’m assuming that backplane is simply a pass through that allows you to connect directly to the motherboard using regular SATA cables. 
 

In my little bit of confusing research, it appears that there are various kinds of backplanes with SAS expanders and all matter of confusing connections/requirements. 

[CharleyVarrick 277]

In my own undocumented experience, 1 being slowest, 5 fastest

 

USB = 1-2

Internal sata from one drive to networked drive = 2-3

Internal sata to other sata (same enclosure) = 3-4

From/to  same sata drive = 5

[mastrmind11 717]

15 hours ago, crbdrbonline said:

Thank you for that. Do you happen to have a link or resource that explains backplanes? I’m assuming that backplane is simply a pass through that allows you to connect directly to the motherboard using regular SATA cables. 
 

In my little bit of confusing research, it appears that there are various kinds of backplanes with SAS expanders and all matter of confusing connections/requirements. 

yep, backplane is just what hooks the drives to the mobo.  in the case i linked to, all of the drive cages have a sata port at the back of the slide so you just mount your hdd in the cage and slide it back.  it engages the sata port once its clicked in and you're done.

[crbdrbonline 2]

3 hours ago, mastrmind11 said:

yep, backplane is just what hooks the drives to the mobo.  in the case i linked to, all of the drive cages have a sata port at the back of the slide so you just mount your hdd in the cage and slide it back.  it engages the sata port once its clicked in and you're done.

Cool. On the other end, those then just connect (1 to 1) to your SATA ports on the MB or a PCI card correct? I think others use a SAS connector and that where it starts getting fuzzy. 

[mastrmind11 717]

18 hours ago, crbdrbonline said:

Cool. On the other end, those then just connect (1 to 1) to your SATA ports on the MB or a PCI card correct? I think others use a SAS connector and that where it starts getting fuzzy. 

yep.  but depending on your setup you might need an expansion card.  pretty much everyone uses LSI cards flashed to IT mode (plenty of tutorials on how to do it, or you can also buy them pre-flashed on ebay for cheap https://www.ebay.com/c/1227947449).  plug everything in and you're all set.