Yesterday, 11:41 AM
Great question, and yes — in theory, you can install a SAS or SATA HBA card into the PCIe slot on the UGREEN DXP8800 Plus and use it to expand your storage to an external disk shelf or internal additional bays via an expander. There’s no specific “software lock” in place on the PCIe slot itself, and in our testing, standard LSI SAS 2008/2308 cards and SATA HBAs are detected by third-party OS like TrueNAS, UnRAID, or even Proxmox just fine.
The key point though: UGOS (UGREEN’s own OS) doesn’t support third-party HBA cards, and the system BIOS is quite limited in terms of configuration options. So if you’re running UGOS, you’re unlikely to get extended drive visibility through a PCIe-attached SAS controller, especially if it relies on kernel drivers not baked into their distro.
That said, once you install a more capable OS — like TrueNAS SCALE or UnRAID — the PCIe slot becomes usable with a supported controller. With that, expanding the system using an external JBOD chassis (via mini-SAS, SFF-8088, etc.) becomes totally feasible, assuming your card and expander are compatible.
So short answer: yes with a third-party OS, no with UGOS. Happy to suggest a suitable HBA or SAS expander setup if needed.
The key point though: UGOS (UGREEN’s own OS) doesn’t support third-party HBA cards, and the system BIOS is quite limited in terms of configuration options. So if you’re running UGOS, you’re unlikely to get extended drive visibility through a PCIe-attached SAS controller, especially if it relies on kernel drivers not baked into their distro.
That said, once you install a more capable OS — like TrueNAS SCALE or UnRAID — the PCIe slot becomes usable with a supported controller. With that, expanding the system using an external JBOD chassis (via mini-SAS, SFF-8088, etc.) becomes totally feasible, assuming your card and expander are compatible.
So short answer: yes with a third-party OS, no with UGOS. Happy to suggest a suitable HBA or SAS expander setup if needed.