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Is it OK to replace 2 SAS HDs with 2 SSDs on a PE2900 with a PERC 5/i Integrated RAID controller?

In both cases, the drives are configured as a RAID 1 system volume (OS and programs).

In addition to the RAID 1 volume the RAID controller supports two RAID 10 data volumes, each consisting of four SAS HDs.

I read the post about installing 2.5" SSDs in the drive caddies of a PE2950; it seems that what I'm asking is physically possible. I'm wondering if SAS and SATA II can be combined on the same backplane and RAID controller.

Thanks.

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I ordered an Icy Dock and an Intel X25-E 64GB SSD from newegg. I will report back about if it works. – sejong Aug 15 '09 at 22:46
The Icy Dock worked perfectly to physically interface the SSD with the hard drive carrier. I had to configure the SSD into a RAID 0 volume using the RAID controller BIOS, as opposed to the MegaCli command line utility because MegaCli did not recognize the SSD. – sejong Aug 22 '09 at 6:56
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You lucky fellow.

I can't give you a straight answer, but I can point you here - this site mentions that you can obtain a cable to connect 4x drives to a SAS connector. I'm not sure of the specifics of your server, but it possibly already contains one of said cables?

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Thanks for the suggestion, but in my case, I want to install the SSD in a hard drive carrier (caddy) in place of an existing HD, so I don't need the cables you mentioned. After reading several similar questions, I think the Icy Dock 3.5" to 2.5" hard disk adapter can be mounted to a hard drive carrier and will allow a 2.5" SSD to connect to the backplane when the carrier is put in its closed position. – sejong Aug 15 '09 at 23:03
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Why not check the docs for the controller and back plane and take the guesswork out of it?

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support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pe2900/en/hom/html/… shows the available documentation for a Poweredge 2900. How about you tell me were in that documentation it states anything remotely helpful for answering this question? – pplrppl Dec 23 '09 at 20:16
Get the docs from the controller manufacturer. They should have come with the machine of course but Dell are not very good at supplying documentation. They also don't put it all on the web site. – John Gardeniers Dec 23 '09 at 20:35
Great, provide a link to the docs and I'll read them. I've spent hours and days looking for such. Your "answer" of RTFM isn't very helpful unless you can cite a specific reference that does address this. – pplrppl Dec 24 '09 at 20:22
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