I am about to buy an HP EX470, and wish to populate it with three 1.5 TB SATA disks. The TB disk I recent purchased for my desktop (WD10EACS) surprised me with a unusual compact and thin black 15-pin SATA power cable. I had to hunt down an adaptor cable to the usual 4-pin Molex power plug.
I'm concerned the new 1.5 TB disk (Seagate ST31500341AS) I'm buying will have the same power connector issue. Worse, the HP EX470 looks to rely on a standard power connector hard set into the back panel, as I don't see any power plug attachment in the instructions. This may make it impossible to use a power cord adapter.
Does anyone know what's going on with the new SATA disks? Do they all use the 15-pin power connector now? Do the HP MediaSmart servers work with the compact 15-pin or the Molex power connector, or able to use either?
Thanks
[Personal info: I store lots of digital pictures, including scanned and restored photos up to 100 years back, and family videos that are already busting out of my 2 TB of external storage on USB. This server will also allow me to share my collectionwith the rest of the family. :-) ]
Edited byLarryQWSunday, September 14, 2008 8:43 PM
All SATA drives now use the thin black connection.
Looking at the drive backplane in #9, the HP MediaSmart also uses the SATA power connector. http://www.homeserverhacks.com/2007/12/upgrade-memory-in-your-hp-ex470.html
Most modern supplies should give you SATA connectors or adapters necessary to go from Molex to SATA.
Marked as answer byLarryQWMonday, September 15, 2008 4:00 AM
All SATA drives now use the thin black connection.
Looking at the drive backplane in #9, the HP MediaSmart also uses the SATA power connector. http://www.homeserverhacks.com/2007/12/upgrade-memory-in-your-hp-ex470.html
Most modern supplies should give you SATA connectors or adapters necessary to go from Molex to SATA.
Marked as answer byLarryQWMonday, September 15, 2008 4:00 AM
However, I don't see how an older SATA drive, with Molex connector, could ever work with the HP EX470 - there's doesn't look to be enough room between the drive and back plane connectors for a cable adaptor. But fortunately, like you said, it seems all new high capacity disks come with the thinner 15-pin power connector anyway.
I especially liked your link as it also told me how to upgrade the memory, my next issue. And I'll probably upgrade the processor to the AMD LE-1640 while I've got the box open, as described in the link from that link.
Now I just need to figure if I need to upgrade my router. I already need a GigE switch for my home, but if the router isn't PnP, I've heard the internet access installation can be brutal. So I'm thinking of instead getting an updated 1 Gbit ethernet and wireless router.
[Edit: I counted and I have 6 wired computers in my home- needing more ports than come with most routers! So instead I just bought an 8-port GigE switch to install behind my wireless router and gateway. I hope it works. I may try upgrading my Netgear router firmware now. Edit again: The firmware upgrade was easy. Also my router indeed has UPnP capabilty.]
Thanks again
Edited byLarryQWTuesday, September 16, 2008 6:52 AM
Yea the older Molex will definitely not work in the HP server. I think I remember a time when hard drives may have had both a Molex and a SATA power plug, probably for compatibility until more power supplies provided SATA power. But I would just say, buy a new SATA drive, stick into your HP server, don't worry :)
Personally I've never really used the PnP. Manually setting up port forwarding for WHS isn't bad. I wouldn't upgrade routers just for PnP support, but perhaps to 802.11n for faster speeds.
It's amazing how I read everywhere on all HP's documentation that any SATA drive will work with the EX470 MediaSmart server. I even downloaded the installation manual and owners guide. Not once do they say you need the new power connector. So much for anyone thiking they'll be able to fill up the server with older 300 GB and 500 GB disks that only have a Molex power connector!!!
Yes, the router setup doesn' look too bad. My firmware upgrade went pretty easy. I didn't even need to re-enter the parametes. I just saved a configuration on my PC, and restored it after the upgrade. So I suspect my install will go quickly.
My HP EX470, along with the upgrade 2GB memory and AMD LE-1640 CPU are arriving Wednesday. NewEgg doesn't carry the AMD LE-1640 processor anymore, so I had to buy it from Amazon instead.
