Im looking for someone that I can trade a moded hp mediasmart case that i can add to my ex485. I have a complete ex470, that i wanted to convert it as extra drives to my ex485 server. Or willing to buy a pre one built already.
tye

Just want to clear something up to make sure I understand what your looking for.

Are you looking for an MSS enclosure to convert to become a 4 bay Port Multiplier for use with the EX485? If I am correct then this would have to be a USB connected device not an eSATA because the EX485's eSATA Port can only support 1 drive.

Anyway on eBAY people are always selling non-working MSS units and it matters not which model they are selling as they all can easily be converted something I have done twice in the past and have written about doing it.

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Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

I am a little confused to what you are after as well.
I do think the EX485's series had some problems, the port issue was not the only one, it seems to me that the EX485's series seemed to have more troubles with hardware, but maybe its just me, it seemed like the power supplies and motherboard bricked a lot more on the EX485's.

For both of these I would be looking at trying to find one of the EX490/5 or x510 models and then if you were looking to build a external esata enclosure I would use the EX485. Or save it for spare parts and someone might even have a already converted enclosure for sale...

Good luck

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[X510 CPU/RAM/All 2 TB Red's] [X510 CPU/Sync'ed Backup/All 2 TB Hitachi's]
[X510 /2 in box]
[X710 LIAN LI DIY W2016E] Stablebit Drivepool [EX-503 LIAN LI 5-bay USB3 External]
Fear the Cloud

The EX485 did some strange things and many of the issues surrounded the SMI and rebooting. At the same time those who reported such issues also had DEBUG Boards and either they improperly set things in the BIOS or well who knows. The other issue I am aware of is when another OS was installed and then attempting to install the original software the recovery would fail because the SMI was not functioning. Similar recovery issues occurred with the EX470 which maybe why HP decided to change method in which the MSS was recovered.

Anyway if you want to convert an MSS to become a port multiplier the question is do you want it to be USB or eSATA and to verify it will work properly with your server which server model are you planning on using it with. If its the EX48x then it will need to be USB and so finding a proper backplane to work will be the challenge but the good folks at Sans Digital may have a backplane they are willing to sell you that works with USB.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8