This is a work in progress!

Introduction

I need more storage. I don't want to pay a whole lot for a JBOD. I found https://makerworld.com/en/models/460543#profileId-369045 and decided to modify it a bit.

6 Bays

6 bays will probably fit on top of my SFF server better. shaztech doesn't have a 6 bay varient, so I took the 8 bays model and sliced + merged it to make it 6 bays.

Caddy/Tray First Impressions

I printed the trays/caddys to get an idea of their profile + workings. Printed with a Prusa MK4 on fast preset or something like that.

thumbnail This is where the Socked Head Screws M3 x 22mm - McMaster #91290A124 go. One screw per tray.

There a little bit but not much space for airflow.

I printed the tabs on their side to have the layers form in the way that allows the tabs to be the strongest.

PETG

PLA seems to be unsuitable for this, at least according to Reddit. The consensus is that PLA would deform and be weak under the heat and general use. PETG is what I intend to make the caddys and possibly the base + case out of as well.

ASM1166

I chose an ASM1166-based expander for more SATA slots. THe HP ProDesk I'm using only has 3. I opted for the ASM1166 one rather than an LSI HBA because a) this is a bit cheaper b) the LSI card seems to consume more power c) I don't need very many SATA slots. Maybe in the future I'll swap to an LSI, time will tell.

One known quirk about the ASM1166 cards is instability on older firmware versions on 600-series Intel motherboards. Newer firmware versions also seems to have better stability and better support for power management.

Following Phil Barker's guide and SilverStone's Intel Compatibility download, I found I had version 221118-0048-00. Through a forum thread, 221118-0000-00 appeared to be better, with support for hot swap. The download for this newer firmware is the second post in that thread.

I was unable to get the card showing up in RomUpdWin.exe if I didn't have CSM enabled i nthe BIOS nor if I had any SATA cables plugged into the card. If it still didn't show up, a restart did the trick.

I initially attempted to use the RomUpdWin.exe from the SilverStone Intel compatibility download with the newer firmware ROM as another person did. When I tried that, RomUpdWin.exe became unresponsive. Using the RomUpdWin.exe that was alongside the newer firmware worked.

In the interface, Update ASM2116 SPI flash ROM is unchecked initially; enable it to update the firmware. You'll get a message about there being no operations to perform otherwise. Then, just press start. From hitting start to the flash completing took no more that about 5 seconds. Then, you'll be prompted to restart.

With this newer firmware, the LED lights on the PCIE card seemed to be on more whereas I only saw them on once with the old firmware. I can also confirm hotswap works.

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/141770-asm1166-flashen-mit-der-firmware-der-silverstone-ecs06-karte-sata-kontroller/ has a few images and details on the proess for more information.