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StMartinsTrr
join:2004-08-26
UK

StMartinsTrr

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USB 3.0 card on Dell 2800??

Is the above do-able please? I am looking to migrate from tape back up to portable hard drives, but the back up of 500Gb via the server's built-in USB port (front of case used) is taking almost 24 hours, and a no-no, whereas tape was done in 10 hours overnight incl verification.

Looking at cards, it appears I would need a molex or simialr power connection and therefore a cable extender?

Yeah, I know - get new servers! This is a budget budget job folks, so not an option now. Make do and mend is the motto.
JoelC707
Premium Member
join:2002-07-09
Lanett, AL

JoelC707

Premium Member

The molex port may be a problem but most servers have a single molex connector in them for the tape backup unit. You'd need an extension of course but at least it's already there. Some may use a floppy connector instead, just get the right extension and you're set. USB 3.0 provides more power to the port, thus the need for the additional power connector (you might be able to leave it off, or find one without it but you would be limited to 2.0 power levels which is likely fine).

The problem is every USB 3.0 card I've seen is PCIe. Your server has only PCI-X slots. The two are NOT compatible. There may be PCI cards (which is compatible with PCI-X) but you're going to be limited by the PCI bus which at 32-bit, 33MHz would be 133 MBps. Compare that to the PCIe x1 slot at 250MBps in each direction (and might be 500MBps if the PCIe version is 2.0) and USB 3.0's 5Gbps (approximately 500MBps) and you can see the bottleneck.

Oh, here's some food for thought. If you need to "mend" this sever at some point, look for newer generation used servers on ebay or related. My first server was a Dell 2600 bought from Dell Outlet. It lasted us for several years but started developing errors in a couple sticks of RAM and a PSU went out. For less than the cost of the PSU and RAM I got us a Dell 2850 with more RAM than I could have put in the 2600 (win-win). A couple more years later that 2850 needed some repairs and again got replaced with a Dell 2950 in the same manner.

Where I'm going with the food for thought, is that the 2800 may not have a PCIe slot, but the 29xx and newer do and they can be had for just a couple hundred bucks. Might be worth considering, or a newer server if the time comes that you need to do some more extensive "mending" on the 2800.
mikefxu
join:2004-10-05
Titusville, FL

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»www.amazon.com/Sabrent-P ··· 03C1U9LE
JoelC707
Premium Member
join:2002-07-09
Lanett, AL

JoelC707

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Despite "PCIX" in the name (every vendor manages to think the X in PCI-X means "express", it doesn't) that is not a PCI-X card according to the images and all the rest of the text on the page. Even searching Google shows the same data taking me back to "they confused X with e" basically lol.
mikefxu
join:2004-10-05
Titusville, FL

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Try again: »www.provantage.com/start ··· 92QC.htm
StMartinsTrr
join:2004-08-26
UK

StMartinsTrr

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My local vendor has a similar one, but with molex connector, which was what was in my thoughts on posting (the one you highlighted has SATA).

»www.cclonline.com/produc ··· NET0236/

Based on your comments would this be worth a go or better to save the money and search out a 2900??

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix

Premium Member

Both of those are only PCI not full PCI-X (PCI-X is longer and can do higher bandwidth than PCI)

PCI-X is 64bit and up to 133MHz and can do 1GBps max, but as PCI-X was mostly only in servers I doubt you'll find a USB3 full PCI-X 133MHz card.

exocet_cm
Writing
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join:2003-03-23
Brooklyn, NY

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The 2800 has two on-board SATA ports in the rear of the of the case on the motherboard. MOLEX to SATA power with a SATA power cord and backup directly to the hard drive if you don't mind funky looking cables hanging out the back of your server.

Otherwise, SATA to eSATA adapter connected to the internal SATA port on the motherboard. Backup via eSATA external device.

Edit: Sorry, I was thinking PE2850 which I have two of.
mikefxu
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said by »www.dell.com/downloads/a ··· heet.pdf :

I/O channels: Seven total: two PCI Express™ slots (1 x 4 lane and 1 x 8 lane); four PCI-X™ slots (64-bit/133MHz); one PCI slot (32-bit/33MHz, 5v)

JoelC707
Premium Member
join:2002-07-09
Lanett, AL

JoelC707

Premium Member

Damn..... I thought the 9th gen was where PCIe started, not 8th gen. If this really is a 2800 and not a 2850, there should be PCIe slots then (my 2850 only has PCI-X)

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix

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Could have been optional

I know my DL360 G5 has the option of PCIe or PCI-X depending on which riser card is in use.
JoelC707
Premium Member
join:2002-07-09
Lanett, AL

JoelC707

Premium Member

My 2950's had that option on the riser card also but it's base connector is PCIe and converts to PCI-X. The 2850's base connector is PCI-X IIRC. Sure it's still possible to convert but you have the shared bus problem of PCI/PCI-X limiting available bandwidth.

PCI-X 133 (manimum config of PCI-X commonly found) and PCIe 1.0 x4 are roughly the same speed. You'd need a lot of dedicated PCI-X buses to support the two-three slots commonly found on the risers, which becomes an even bigger problem if they used PCIe 2.0 on the riser.

Of course all this is moot, if he indeed has the 2800 as it apparently has PCIe support natively. It wouldn't be the first time Dell has used different architectures in the same generation. The 2650 is a P4 Netburst? era Xeon, the 1650 is a basic P3 (not even P3 Xeon) like the 4th and 5th generation servers.

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
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join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix

Premium Member

said by JoelC707:

shared bus problem of PCI/PCI-X

That's not always an issue as some servers have multiple PCI busses so on some its not really shared. (or atleast only shared with itself).

on my DL380 G4 it has 3 PCI-X slots, 2 are on one buss the 3rd on on its own, the 2 are on a 100MHz bus the 3rd has a dedicated 133MHz bus.
trog
join:2001-03-25
Scarborough, ON

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Would PCI-X to x4 PCI Express Adapter Card help? See »www.startech.com/Cards-A ··· CIX1PEX4
JoelC707
Premium Member
join:2002-07-09
Lanett, AL

JoelC707

Premium Member

It CAN but is unneccesary as apparently the system has true PCIe slots and utilize any regular USB3 add-in card. The other issue that may not be immediately apparent about that (and all of their other) adapter is that it requires a half height card/bracket to work properly. There may be USB3 add-in cards that meet that those requirements for sure, just throwing it out there to be aware of.