Chapter 5: Installing the Controller and Disk Drives ● 387 Thread the tie-backs through the slots on thecap card and fix to the selected location on thecomputer chassis. The tie-backs shouldcompletely encircle the cap card to ensure thatit is held in place securely, as shown at right. Becareful not to restrict air-flow through yoursystem.8 Connect your computer’s disk activity LEDcable to the LED connector on the controller (marked on the figures in About Your RAIDController on page 15).Ensure that the positive lead of the LED cable (usually a red wire or a wire marked with ared stripe) is attached to pin 1.9 Connect your RAID controller’s I2C connector to an I2C connector on an internalbackplane or enclosure, using an I2C cable. For more connection details, see About YourRAID Controller on page 15.10 Prepare and install your internal disk drives, following the instructions in Connecting DiskDrives to Your Controllers on page 38.If you are not installing internal disk drives, close your computer cabinet, reattach thepower cord, then continue with Connecting External Devices on page 42.Connecting Disk Drives to Your ControllersYou can connect SAS disk drives, SATA disk drives, SATA Solid State Drives (SSD), andAdaptec MaxIQ Solid State Drives to your SAS RAID controller. (See www.adaptec.com/compatibility for a list of compatible disk drives.) There are no jumpers or switches to setbefore installation.If you plan to build a bootable array using internal disk drives, ensure you install at least theminimum number disk drives required to support the RAID level you want. See page 31 formore information.Note: Although you can connect both SAS and SATA disk drives to your SAS controller, Adaptecrecommends that you not combine SAS and SATA disk drives within the same array or logicaldrive. See page 68 for more information.You have two connection options:● To connect directly to the controller, see the following section.● To connect to a backplane, see page 39.To connect Adaptec MaxIQ SSDs or other SSDs to your controller, see page 40.Connecting Directly to the ControllerIn a direct-attach connection, SAS or SATA disk drives are connected directly to a SAS cardwith SAS cables. The number of direct-attached disk drives is limited to four per internal SASconnector. (For more information about direct-attach connections, see page 71.)1 Install your internal SAS or SATA disk drives, following the instructions in your system’sdocumentation.
