All of this is experimental curiosity. I wouldn’t deploy a solution like this to my own server. If you’re curious about that I have it all posted over here: FrenziedManbeast's HomeLab
I manage machines for lots of friends/family so I like kicking around ideas of adding lots of disks in small spaces. An HBA with all the cables and adapters is an ungodly mess compared to a simple carrier board.
Thanks for your input and thoughts!