Reddit mentions of CRJ 24-Pin ATX Red LED Power On/Off Switch Jumper Bridge Cable, Black Sleeved 22"

http://www.chenbro.com/en-global/products/Storage_Expansion_Kit/SAS_Expander_Card/CK23601 + fanout cables + https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/5n1an0/supermicro_24_bay_servers_are_very_cheap_on_ebay/ + https://www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9200-8e + 2x external mini-SAS cables

You can pull the motherboard/CPUs/etc out of the Supermicro chassis, use the fanout cables to attach the backplane to the expander, use the SAS-9200-8e to connect your NAS head to your new SAS expander disk enclosure via external mini-SAS

Instead of the Supermicro you can use the Norco RPC-4224 chassis, you will need mini-sas to mini-sas internal cabling instead of mini-sas to fanout for this chassis' backplane, and it will likely be a good few hundred dollars more expensive than the Supermicro (which is generally considered to have higher build quality)

Instead of the Chenbro expander, you can swap one of the Supermicro expander backplanes into the Supermicro chassis and use an internal to external adapter (http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sas_cables_adapters/AD8788-2.asp) to bring the ports to the back of the chassis, but I believe some revisions of the expander backplane are limited to 2TB disk support

Instead of an -8e controller (2 4-lane external mini-sas ports) You can use a -8i (2 4-lane internal mini-sas ports) controller (or cheaper variation, such as the venerable IBM M1015) with an internal to external adapter to reduce interface cost on the NAS head side

The LSI SAS controller chipsets with the Chenbro expander (or other expander utilizing the LSI expander chipset) should allow multiple external mini-SAS ports to be utilized in active/active between the expander and controller (regardless of what the ports on the expander are labeled, in most cases), but other SAS controller / expander combinations may only work with a single 4-lane link

Note that you want to minimize both internal and external cable lengths, and use high quality cables, if you are going to use internal to external adapters (particularly if you're going to use the adapters on both ends of the link), because the adapters add insertion loss to the signal path above what is factored into the maximum cable length specifications

The Supermicro chassis is very loud in the stock configuration, but you can swap the internal fans for quieter ones, and I believe there are compatible power supplies which are much quieter -- worth noting that you will need to replace the fans or use adapter cables with molex connectors (which can be 7V/inline resister type adapters to slow down the stock fans) anyway because there will not be motherboard fan headers for the stock fans

You probably need a board / adapter to either permanently short or inline a switch to control the PS_ON signal without a motherboard (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/CRJ-24-Pin-Switch-Jumper-Sleeved/dp/B01MSY4966/ref=sr_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1484011915&sr=1-7&keywords=power+supply+bridge or similar), Chenbro used to make a fancy kit for mounting the SAS expander as a motherboard with an ATX control board but these seem pretty hard to find (part UEK-23601 if you're interested), and I rather suspect Supermicro may have a part somewhere in their catalog for converting the chassis to a JBOD like this

You can definitely stick with the Fractal series. I did because I couldn't have a loud, unsightly machine setup anywhere in my home. I have my main system w/ 10 Drives + 2 SSDs + 3 NVME drives in an R6. That has a DAS connected with 19 drives inside an R5; 8 stock bays + 3 in 2x5.25 bay adapter + extra 3 drive cage + extra 5 drive cage.

As you are in Europe, you might not even have to pay crazy shipping charges to buy spare drive cages from https://www.fractal-design-shop.de/Define-R5_1. In the US I had to source the extra drive cages from r/hardwareswap but that proved to be easier than I expected. Here is a pic I took before I added the 2nd 5-bay drive cage: https://imgur.com/a/TWL8IB1

Edit: Request for more info...

I have not done a build log as I am not yet "finished" with the build, but it looks like there is sufficient demand for parts info so here it goes:

I have an R6 for my main NAS server loaded with the motherboard, 10 3.5 drives and one SSD. The R5 has two extra drive cages (3 + 5) as well a 2x5.25-to-3x3.5 bay adapter.

The expansion cards I use are:

• 1x LSI 9210-8i with SAS to SATA cables for 8 of the 10 internal drives in the R6. The other 2 + SSD use SATA ports on the motherboard.
  
  
• 1x LSI-9207-8e connected via 8088 cables to two HP SAS expanders powered in the R6 by riser cards which connect to the drives with the same SAS to SATA cables as above.
  
  Additional parts I used:
  
  
• An SFX PSU is important so you can fix the extra drive cages. Don't skimp on this one. You don't need a ton of Watts (I'm using a 600W Gold) but you need quality, you are hooking up thousands of dollars of drives to it!
  
  
• Power splitters: One & Two
  
  
• Power switch to turn on the DAS PSU and reset it any time you need to take the NAS offline (DAS always must be powered on first)
  
• Fan controller for powering fans in the DAS
  
  More inspiration can be found here: https://www.serverbuilds.net/16-bay-das

I'm missing something here. Why can't you just swap your existing PSU for the new bigger one?

But no, don't use a paperclip as a jumper. Buy one of these. https://www.amazon.com/CRJ-24-Pin-Switch-Jumper-Sleeved/dp/B01MSY4966/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=power+supply+jumper&qid=1558017987&s=gateway&sr=8-3

So you're trying to use two psus at the same time? You'll need something like this. Works great for me:

CRJ 24-Pin ATX Red LED Power On/Off Switch Jumper Bridge Cable, Black Sleeved 22" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MSY4966/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_RmVaMA7A5wbhg

building your own is also an option. no backplane or mobo needed.

here's a sample albeit overboard: https://www.serverbuilds.net/16-bay-das

​

basically, the recipe is as follows:

- any case/hotswap cage that can cool your HDD
- psu to power your HDDs
- ON/OFF Switch for psu.
- LSI-9201-16e or 8e (external sas2)
- SFF-8088 to 4 SATA cable long enough to go from server to your external.

1. install LSI9201-16e on server.
   
2. power up your hdd using the psu.
   
3. connect sff-8088 to server.
   
4. connect sata to hdd.

You don't necessarily need two different cards, it just looks nicer that way and it's easier to disconnect the drives. If you want a proper setup, go with multiple cards and cables:

1. In the PowerEdge, you'll want an external HBA like the LSI SAS9200-16e.
   
2. In the disk shelf, you'd install two "external SAS to internal SAS brackets" like this one.
   
3. To connect the two cards, you'll want an external SAS cable (or SFF-8088 to SFF-8088), the length depending on your setup.
   
4. And finally, to connect your drives, you'll need an internal miniSAS to SATA breakout cable (one cable connects 4 drives). I've used these SFF-8087 to SATA cables and they work fine.
   
   Another option, which is super janky but works is to just get some long SFF-8087 to SATA cables and run them out of the PowerEdge and into the disk shelf case. Definitely not as clean, and kind of a pain in the ass to work on...but much cheaper!
   
   
   As for powering the whole thing, all you need is a power supply. You can use the paper clip PSU trick and then use the PSU switch to turn it on. Another option if you wanted to mount the power switch elsewhere would be to use a PSU power switch that plugs into the 24-pin connector and provides an actual toggle switch that you could mount wherever you like.

I'm assuming autocorrect fucked up some of your wording, so I will put what I thought you wrote above each of my responses, and you can correct me if I guessed wrong. But I'm certainly glad I could help.

> Do you have any psus to recommend then?

LEPA's G1600 is probably the cheapest you'll find that actually hits Gold efficiency and doesn't have piss-poor build quality. If you wanted to pay about $150 more upfront to get more efficiency (=more profit) and slightly better build quality, EVGA's 1600T2 is another solid choice.

> And also what about a jumper?

ATX PSUs won't start unless they detect that they're connected to a motherboard, for whatever reason. The thing is, this detection is done by just a couple of pins on the ATX cable, so if you just short them together with a paperclip you will trick the PSU into thinking it's connected to a motherboard.

If you're a tightwad and want to DIY it, plug the ATX cable into your PSU and then find the fourth and fifth pins on the top row (top row being the one closest to the locking tab). (It is important to do this on the cable connector and not on the PSU connectors themselves, because female modular connectors on PSUs are NOT standardized and you may cook the PSU if you short the wrong pins.) Grab a paperclip, bend it straight, then stick each end into the fourth and fifth pins that you found, bend the clip into an arch, then secure it by some means (duct tape is what I use). If you did it right the PSU will turn on without being plugged into a motherboard.

If you don't want to DIY it and have $10 to spare, buy something like this (or just search "psu jumper" on your shopping site of choice). The power switch on the one I linked is not necessary, but could be nice to have.

> Would just using the APW3++ from Bitmain be fine with an S9 or L3+ in the US?

Short answer: no. Long answer: you probably could, but one of two things would happen: your hashrate wouldn't be as high as advertised, or some of your hashes would be invalid, neither of which are good. The reason for this is that the APW3++ can only provide 1200W on a 110V (US) circuit, so it doesn't provide enough power to run an L3+ or S9 at full capacity. That being said, if you wanted to buy a lower-power miner like the Avalon 741 or the very first batch of S9 (if you could find one), the APW3++ would work, as long as the rated power of the miner is under 1200W.

(As a side note, I wouldn't at all recommend buying an L3+. Any Scrypt coin right now will have SHITE profitability and expansion potential compared to Bitcoin (Scrypt is what the L3+ mines, as opposed to SHA256, which is used by Bitcoin and is what the S9 mines). So stick to Bitcoin.)

> Where and how would one seek the bitcoin to get out back into usd?

One of two ways. If you are over 18 and have a bank account, you can use an online marketplace like Coinbase, which will let you sell Bitcoin on an administrated, peer-to-peer marketplace and pays out in bank transfer. If you are underage or you don't want your money in bank transfer, find a real-life Bitcoin ATM near you, which will dispense cash and can be used by anyone but has other downsides (high fees, exchange rates are sometimes not as up-to-date as on online marketplaces).

This was the best purchase I made for my latest build.

Just get one of these.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MSY4966/