JDawg

I see. Thanks @dj_nsk you've saved me a lot unnecessary trial and error! I did some poking around, and I get the idea that although they are using some sort port multiplier ("infiniband", either protocol/signaling/cable or some combo), and the device needs to show an id to DSM to be recognized. Something about SiI3132 chipset on the host controller, and SiI3826 on the expansion with Synology firmware. Folks have reported that non-Synology eSATA boxes only show one drive on DSM. So if I want to expand I'll find a cheap/used Synology-brand expansion box, keeping to this guide. This should have the benefit of showing properly in DSM. Sure, much lower bandwidth than having an array of disks plugged into a multi-sata-port controller directly on the motherboard (vast majority I'm sure, and likely where I'll end up... eventually). The alternative is any box that does RAID and auto formats outside the OS -- just presents a single disk volume to DSM. Oh, and I thought about SAS -- In this thread a fellow mentions using LSI2308 SAS card, but there are no details on loader, model, DSM major version, or how well it operates w/ DSM. I wish I could be reporting my own results, but I'm still waiting for controllers to arrive in the mail (thus the "planning" questions). I'll report back when I have results. Tho I sent back the 5-bay device I was going to try, given that it wouldn't have worked as JBOD (but more so because the thin plastic bay doors were so cheap and flimsy they were going to break on the 2nd or 3rd opening). Hopefully multi-bay USB boxes will work.

Thanks for that. So no insight on how port multiplier responds, but it's a good idea to match model number with the # of sata ports/drives you have. USB can be dynamic. Treat the system like a bonafide Synology and don't try to swap drive unless it's to replace a failed one. Ok. Thanks.

Yes! 24.3.11 is what I'm running -- thank you pointing me to the wiki Sorry about my poor wording--I was trying to not run on with a bunch of irrelevant info. I was just trying to ask how to setup so I can jockey drives on and off the NAS without having to reconfigure sata port maps each time -- whether I could do that with eSATA, or if I need to use a USB sata-port-multiplied multi-bay box instead. So here's the long version. Re sata add-in controller, and port-mulitpliers -- If I hang a 5-bay port-multipied box off of a sata port (say add-in controller), then should I have all my bays pre-populated when I run the DSM install? Or Will I have to reboot DSM whenever I install/remove a drive? (more about install locationn below) If I forego the add-in controller, then I could run the 5-bay off the primary/single sata port. But does that mean I'll have to dedicate one of the bays for DSM install?, and then when I setup a protected volume it would be across other bays? Installing a large 2TB SSD in the one/only sata port (second volume on NVMe), I find DSM installation doesn't do much in the way of asking where you want to install (which drive, or create a small partition so that you're not installing on a huge volume), and Storage Manager doesn't show you where the OS lives. But I guess that makes sense--Synology likes to keep it simple: one large RAID volume. (more below on adding a miniPCIe sata controller for an extra sata port). So an asymetric sata port/drive landscape, multiple drives, either each on one sata port, or all on a port-multiplied port (eSATA), and/or both --- does ARC/DSM ask which to install on? .. or if to create raid volume, and how to lay out the drives? Would I install with only the one drive installed that I want DSM to live on, then later populate other sata ports? These details is what all the write-ups are missing, from what I found so far (from a planning perspective). Is DSM designed for Synology hardware where the controller/ports are always a nice symetric layout -- detect drives, provision a raid container accross all the present drives, format btrs, and install.? From the beginning... I have in mind that I would use an external sata JBOD box (it can do RAID too, but I'd leave it in JBOD mode) as a hub to attach miscellaneous spare hard drives as needed, say when I need some extra room sorting old data, checking their contents before permanently abandoning them, or for extra room on the NAS (yes, unprotected -- none of the drives on this NAS are to be in raid/mirror/stripe/concatinated/etc). Maybe the drive(s) is just scratch space, or maybe have data and I want to sort through it ... so the 5-bay SATA enclosure just offers a place to attach drives instead of hanging them off a USB/sata dongle on my laptop or other PCs. These drives might be serving a purpose to the NAS when I'm fooling with a NAS app (Plex?) and need a bit of extras storage space there, or simply the NAS just gives me a place to plug the drive in while I sort the data on it from a PC across the network, or maybe it provides scratch space when I need someplace to drop 500GB of files. So the assumption is that I attach drive(s) now and then, might be for a day/week/month, might have a file system EXT4 or NTFS, etc. And that after plugging in the drive to a JBOD bay, I would go into DSM UI and share the drive so I can access it accros the network. Or, I maybe I'd repartition it and create a voume that a DSM app could use. Not doing raid, concatination or spanning. As for eSATA vs USB... I'm a nas noob. The only other NAS I have experience with is my little Thecus N0204, two drives, USB, (well, large Network Appliance 25 years ago.) So I don't speak the lingo of Synology, Qnap, etc in terms of this tech. I'm unsure whether my mode with misc drives is better done with the SATA JBOD box or a USB-based setup. I have two other two-bay USB external boxes. Instead of straight sata, I could use a USB bridsge, eS3U31, on the 5-bay converting it to USB. eS3U31 is prob no less robust than the USB/SATA bridge in the 2-bay USB boxes. Anyway, the point is that I want to just be able to jockey drives without restating the DSM--on the fly drive jockeying. So if the answer is: with eSATA your going to need to at least reboot DSM, or in worst case: edit config files each time to change the SATA landscape. Then this isn't my path. maybe you tell me: The only time you'll need to reconfigure DSM is when you add/remove SATA controller ports, such as installing one of the mini SATA controllers; but plugging/unplugging drives into the JBOD box will be on-the-fly. If that's the case then Yay! No USB in the middle! But if the former, since I also have USB 2-bay boxes, then perhaps I use the 5-bay SATA as expanded permanant storage rather than as jump drives and limiting myself to only the one internal SATA and NVMe drives. (more in the next paragraph...) More... So the DSM-NAS is a server, replacing a bunch of of other PCs I have running... I have an ESXi server running one VM with a Docker container serving Sync for my address book and calendar. DSM does that. I have another PC running as a fiile server. DSM does that. I have an old Thecus nas sharing an iTunes folder..., another PC serving IMAP..., another doing backups... So this DSM will replace the others. You'd rightly argue that if I'm consolodating all these services into one box then surely I'd want a non-mini PC with plenty of drives, reduntanly protected, maybe RAID 6. (sigh) And you'd be right, I am lamenting... Since the PC I've chosen is so limited on SATA ports (just one, and one NVMe; For years I've dabbled in building mini PCs for home always-on/servers, using ITX and smaller, and was doing this long before Lenovo, Dell, and HP had their lines of SFF and minis), I've contrived to squeeze a M.2/miniPCIe sata controller in and run a sata port to the back-panel--either as eSATA jack or run the cable straight through to an external port-multiplied JBOD box. If this doesn't work then I'll just use a USB bridge and call it a day... Back to my lamented mini PC... Maybe I'm better off using the 5-bay JBOD box as DSM permanent storage--5 bays is a nice number for that. Put the whole shebang on a 5-drive Raid-6. But I was trying to keep to SSD drives, and didn't want to break the bank by buying 5 large SSDs. (my misc 2.5" drives are mostly mechanical). Maybe I can run 3 bays for permanant, and have two bays for jockying temp drives??? Install with 3 bays populated, then other 2 will be jocky-able? I guess if I'm doing raid then I can buy cheaper lower-endurance SSDs. So I expect to have to learn how to customize the sata portmap, but I just don't want to have to do it after the initial configuration. Yes, I've been slowly piecing together the process, but this is such a mature project that I hoping to find a broader guide on ins and outs of the sata port map config.

Is there an in-depth tutorial on how DSM/Xpen responds to changes in SATA disks? (perhaps also covering USB). I ask because so far all I can find are forum responses "do this", "edit sataportmap/DiskIdxMap values", "I did this..." Do I have to reinstall/recover whenever I rearrange drives? I'm hoping for an in-depth planning guide that covers a lot of general info, AFTER INSTALL, on what happens / what-to-do when adding/rearranging SATA drives, controllers, swapping out drives (e.g. for single-disk volumes), covering all scenarios. And perhaps about attaching/removing USB dives too. Again, so all I've found are posts that address specific issues when somebody is migrating a drive, or adding a new drive... I'm hoping to find a broad tutorial that answers questions I don't have yet. More... Rather than one-time build a reasonably spec'd box, I'm using misc leftover hardware, so I expect to have a lot of sata drive changes over time (tho I expect that's not ideal, I'm just the type that will tweak-as-I-go.) My choice hardware is very limiting (Lenovo M900 tiny), and I know I should just use more suitable stuff, but... I'm still in discovery mode, and when I get far along then I'd like to avoid having to rebuild from scratch. So what's specifically eluding me is... Using ARC loader, I seem to need at least one Sata drive to install -- I can't install on NVMe? Even tho I thought I'm installing on the USB stick, is it really installing on a base sata drive? What happens if I wish to remove the 1st (only) sata drive at a later time to upgrade it? Does this 1st sata drive get used for core DSM apps, so it's required and can't be removed? Is rearranging SATA drives a matter of "edit config file and cross fingers"? No dynamic behavior by DSM? If I were to use a JBOD sata box (my sata port supports port-multiplier), and occasionally pop in a drive, or delete a volume and remove a drive, whether I'll have to edit the If I were to add an ASMedia or JMB585 secondary sata controller, then could I jockey sata drives on those? I've been monkeying with DS920+, which doesn't seem to have satamap command ... should I switch to DS3622xs+? So with this external sata JBOD 5-bay drive rack, if it's so much trouble to swap drives, I could instead connect it with a USB-SATA bridge (instead of attaching it to an add-on sata controller), and use via File Station(?) That would be quite limiting -- no software DSM-based RAID (I'm fine with that), but would I otherwise be able to share files via apps like Plex Server off of those USB-attached drives? Any links to tutorials that address these topics? Thanks!!!