looking for: PCI-e controller with SSD slot
 

I did see one of these somewhere a year or so ago, but don't remember where. It was a PCI-e SATA controller with a SATA SSD slot right on the card. It used a regular laptop sized 2.5 inch SSD which could be inserted from an opening in the back.

I don't actually need the back opening, but it would be a plus. It does need to be Linux supported, and I don't know if the one I originally saw was.

A PCI-e card based SSD drive is also an option. But it seems all the OCZ ones are not Linux supported. So some other brand needs to be searched for. Anything more than 32 GB is waste as this is intended to be the OS drive. The spinning drives will be all data.

I dont recall seing any PCIe SATA cards with a mounting for a full sized 2.5'' SSD on the card. It would be a pretty much a marketing gimmick or very limited use anyway.

I have seen a few with mSATA connectors though-

http://www.addonics.com/products/ad2sahmsa.php

No, dont get one. Like most PCIe SATA controllers, it uses a Marvel controller. Which aren't great with windows, and are worse with linux.

OCZdoestn offically support linux with the 'workstation' or 'enthusiast' level PCIe SSDs. They do with 'enterprise' level drives. Not that it matters that much, the PCIe SSDs from OCZ are all 120GB or bigger.

IMO you are better off using the internal intel/AMD conroller SATA ports, with a smallish SATAII/SATAIII SSD.

This may be what you're looking for. They are made by StarTech and are available from a number of dealers as well as Startech's own website.

http://www.directcanada.com/products...%20-%20DT%20SB


If you also neet a controller solution, there is this:

http://www.apricorn.com/products/des...FSoZQgod60iTUg

I definitely need a controller with it (because all the SATA connectors are in use for the data drives, and the first doesn't seem to have one. The second one appears to have one since it implies the SATA connector is for another SATA device. Now the $50 question is ... does it work on Linux? I guess I'll have to pay $50 to find out.

The one I saw a year or so ago did have an external slide-in slot for the drive. So this one is not that one.

Edit:
BAD NEWS! I just discovered from the description on the B&H web site, in the Overview tab, that it uses a Marvell controller chip.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...D_Upgrade.html

The same info was on the apricorn site-

http://www.apricorn.com/products/des...FSoZQgod60iTUg

At least some of the marvel controllers will work, just not very well.

You would be best of running a SSD (or SSDs) on the intel/AMD controller (unless you have SATAI only ports). If you run out of onboard SATAII/SATAIII ports, run data HDDs and/or optical drives from a PCI/PCIe SATA controller.

IMO the best of the cheap controllers are those using SIL3XXX. SYBA branded stuff tends to use SIL3XXX controllers, if that helps. ;)

All of the spinning hard drives use up all of the SATA ports exactly. And they also use up all the hard drive bays. I can boot from a USB memory stick, but prefer to avoid that in production machines. I have a couple of those "CF card on a PCIe card" devices, but they are not controllers and need a spare SATA port. But with these I'm out of usable PCIe slots. CF is a better choice than USB memory stick, but a small laptop sized SATA drive (especially the SLC ones) would be even better. If the OCZ ones used a decent controller chip, that would be a great solution.

I wonder if there might be a way to utilize this model on a server PCIe slot ... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167117 ... e.g. a PCIe card with a mini PCIe slot plus room for this SSD card.