OcuLink, MiniSaS HD, and HBA Questions | Weird Question of the Day

Hardware Hub Storage
1

Hey there,

So I am getting ready for a new server build when I realized something about the motherboard that sparked a questionin my head that I don’t know the answer to:

Do all the HDDs attached to a backplane (that are also going to be a part of the same TrueNas ZFS Pool) need to be hooked up to the same device?

Could I avoid buying an HBA and instead use the two OcuLink connectors and the Mini-SaS HD connectors on my AsRockRack Motherboard to connect to the servers backplane and everything will work fine? Or is it better to use the HBA, keep all the cables the same and have them all hooked up to the same device? Does it not matter at all?

As mentioned, just a random question that popped up that I realized I never really thought about nor have the answer to.

The backplane takes SFF 8077 Mini-SaS in case that’s relevant to this question.

Here is the motherboard just in case:
https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=ROMED8-2T#Specifications

2

Yes.

Yes.

Basically, using the HBA simplifies transplanting a new mainboard into the old system. If you forego the HBA, you’d need the exact same mainboard for the system to work as before. That may not be an issue now, but a few years down the line, good luck :roll_eyes:

3

Understood, that makes sense. Thank you so much @Dutch_Master !