How to install internal SSD boot drive for Dell R720?

The_MisFitz

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Disclaimer: I am VERY new to anything server or homelab. I probably do not know what I'm talking about most of the time.

I have a R720 with a H310MM RAID card that is flashed into IT mode. I plan to make this server into a NAS & PLEX server. It currently has 8x3TB drives in it. I need a boot drive that doesn’t take up a HDD bay.

I figured I'd get a cheap SSD and install it internally. Inside the R720 I see a SATA port labeled "SATA TBU" on my server's anatomy sticker and what seems to be a possible power port labeled "BACKPLANE BAY0 POWER". I'm not sure what kind of cord I would need to hook up from that power port to power a SATA SSD. I have absolutely no clue if I can just go grab a small SSD and hook it up to these ports safely.

I need some guidance as to whether or not this will work and if not, what I should do instead. Trying to get this done as cheap as possible. Also, I can provide pictures if they'll help at all.

Would a SATADOM be a better option? I’ve read they’re better than a USB but not as good as an SSD for a boot drive.

Plz halp

EDIT: Just found this adapter on eBay. Would this be a better solution? I don’t see myself using the optical drove for anything anytime soon.
 
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Arwen

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SATA DOMs tend to be a bit slower, fewer size options, and more expensive than SATA SSDs.

That said, I've bought 2 SATA DOMs in the last years. One for the mirror of my FreeNAS Mini's supplied SATA DOM. And one for my old P.C. as a mirror for the OS partition on it's HDD. Both work fine for their application. And in both cases, a 2.5" SATA SSD would have had to be jury rigged to fit in the case, (like with duct tape :).

One comment, many reviewers say don't buy SATA DOMs due to un-reliability. In my case, I bought a better brand, (meaning more expensive than the cheaper ones), and I have had no problems yet.
 

The_MisFitz

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SATA DOMs tend to be a bit slower, fewer size options, and more expensive than SATA SSDs.

That said, I've bought 2 SATA DOMs in the last years. One for the mirror of my FreeNAS Mini's supplied SATA DOM. And one for my old P.C. as a mirror for the OS partition on it's HDD. Both work fine for their application. And in both cases, a 2.5" SATA SSD would have had to be jury rigged to fit in the case, (like with duct tape :).

One comment, many reviewers say don't buy SATA DOMs due to un-reliability. In my case, I bought a better brand, (meaning more expensive than the cheaper ones), and I have had no problems yet.

Hey, I’m okay with jury rigging! I’d just like to get what I need for a long-term solution. I don’t want to have to go back and change it for any reason.

I’ve heard a lot about mirroring boot drives. What is that? What’s it do and what’s the benefit of it?
 

Arwen

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...
I’ve heard a lot about mirroring boot drives. What is that? What’s it do and what’s the benefit of it?
Mirroring of the boot drives allows the server to stay fully functional when you loose a boot device. (The mirror boot device supplies all the data.) In a home envrionment, with good backups of the configuration file, mirroring only saves you from re-installing to a new boot device and restoring the configuration file.

But, if you prefer long term reliability, mirroring boot devices can save down time, and headaches.

When using a USB flash drive for booting, it is recommended to mirror to a second. USB flash drives tend to be lower quality, (and cheaper), than "real" flash drives, (SATA or SAS SSDs). In fact, ZFS tends to find low quality USB flash drives easily, due to it's checksum verification on ALL reads.

Of course, a SATA SSD is generally quite reliable and may last 3 or more years without trouble.
 

The_MisFitz

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Mirroring of the boot drives allows the server to stay fully functional when you loose a boot device. (The mirror boot device supplies all the data.) In a home envrionment, with good backups of the configuration file, mirroring only saves you from re-installing to a new boot device and restoring the configuration file.

But, if you prefer long term reliability, mirroring boot devices can save down time, and headaches.

When using a USB flash drive for booting, it is recommended to mirror to a second. USB flash drives tend to be lower quality, (and cheaper), than "real" flash drives, (SATA or SAS SSDs). In fact, ZFS tends to find low quality USB flash drives easily, due to it's checksum verification on ALL reads.

Of course, a SATA SSD is generally quite reliable and may last 3 or more years without trouble.

It will be in a home environment so I don’t mind having to reinstall a new boot drive if one fails as long as I don’t lose my data. I think I’ll stick with a SSD boot drive. I just have to figure out how to install it in my current server. Hopefully someone with some insight will reply to this thread.

Thanks for the help!
 

Redcoat

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Feb 18, 2014
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A quick look at the System Board Connectors , pages 129 and 130 in the Manual found here: https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/poweredge-r720_owners-manual_en-us.pdf could suggest that connectors 2 and 4 might be what you want - I say might as Dell uses a lot of proprietary parts.

Attach the drive to a convenient surface with sticky-backed Velcro tape.
 
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