Netstor NS780S-G3 User manual

First edition, Oct. 2019
User Manual
NS780S-G3
Desktop 16-Bay PCIe to SAS/SATA Enclosure

1. Overview
2. Package Checklist
4
4
5. Host Adapter Installation 10
6. Power On/Off 12
7. Operation 14
4. Enclosure Setup 6
3. Panel Layout 5
6
．RAID Card/HBA Card Installation
8
．Hard Drive Installation
14
．LED Status on Host card and Target card
15
．macOS operating system
15
．Windows operating system
12
6.1 Power on/off by host
13
6.2 Power on/off manually

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8. Fan Speed Adjustment 16
16
．The front two fans
17
．The rear two fans
9. Troubleshooting 18
18
9.1 Fan LED showing red light
19
9.2 Global HDD LED showing red light
Appendix: The Functions on Backplane 20
20
1 Function of Backplane Drive Fault LED (SW1-1)
21
5 Global HDD LED fault indicator jumper
21
3 Function of LED act source (SW1-3)
21
4 Function of Power on/off by Host or
Manually (SW1-4)
20
2 Function of SAS HDD act state LED on
Backplane (SW1-2)

1. Overview
2. Package Checklist
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The NS780S-G3 is a desktop 16-bay PCIe to SAS/SATA enclosure with
high-speed data transfer rate and available for large storage capacity.
Providing RAID data protection solution, the 16-bay storage fully
applies to video editing fields of 8K UHD (7680 × 4320), 4K (4096×2160),
HD (1920×1080), and 3D animation. Featuring easy setup of the
enclosure, the NS780S-G3 can be easily connected to host computer
through only one data cable connectivity.
Before installing this unit, verify the package contains the following items.
A. NS780S-G3 Enclosure × 1
B. HDD tray (installed in NS780S-G3; compatible with 3.5” and 2.5” HDDs) × 16
C. HDD mounting screws
D. PCIe 3.0 ×8 host adapter × 1
E. Low profile bracket × 1
F. PCIe 3.0 ×8 data cable (1.5 meter) × 1
G. Internal mini-SAS to mini-SAS data cable × 4
H. Power cord × 1

3. Panel Layout
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10. Thumbscrews to loosen/tighten
the side door
9. 120x120x25 mm hot-swappable
cooling fans
8. Target card with external PCIe ×8
connector for host connection
7. Slot for RAID controller card
6. Power receptacle
5. Global HDD LED
。Reading/writing – blue
Periodic access – flashing blue
HDD failure – red (go to page 19. for the detail)
Rebuilding – interlacing of flashing blue and flashing red
4. Temperature LED
。Green – temperature normal
Red – Over-temperature (higher than 50℃)
3. Fan LED
。Green – fan normal
Red – fan failure (low frequency of RPM or stop)
(go to page 18. for the detail)
2. Buzzer mute button
1. Power on/off button (display)
。Blue – power on
No light – power off

4. Enclosure Setup
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•RAID Card/HBA Card Installation
1. Remove the NS780S-G3 from its packaging, and place the enclosure on the
even surface close to the computer.
2. Loosen the two thumbscrews and remove the side door from NS780S-G3.
3. Detach the pillar under the sixteen drive trays by unscrewing the two screws
at top and at the bottom side of the pillar.

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4. Install one SAS/SATA RAID card into the PCIe ×16 slot [labeled SLOT 1 (RAID Card)]
on the backplane of NS780S-G3, and tighten the RAID card with the screw on
RAID card’s bracket.
5. Connect the four internal mini-SAS to mini-SAS data cables between RAID HBA and
NS780S-G3 backplane. Connect the topmost mini-SAS connector (labeled SAS Port 1)
on backplane to Channel 1~4 mini-SAS connector on RAID HBA, the second
connector (labeled SAS Port 2) to Channel 5~8 mini-SAS connector on RAID HBA, the
third (SAS Port 3) to Channel 9~12 mini-SAS connector on HBA, and the fourth
(SAS Port 4) to Channel 13~16 mini-SAS connector on HBA.
SLOT 1
RAID Card
SAS Port 1
SAS Port 2
SAS Port 3
SAS Port 4
Channel 1~4
Channel 5~8
Channel 9~12
Channel 13~16

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•Hard Drive Installation
7. Loosen the thumbscrew on the drive tray, and then pull the tray out
of the enclosure.
8. Place the drive tray on a flat surface, and then attach the hard drive into the tray.
6. Restore the pillar back to the original state by tightening the two screws at top
and at the bottom side of the pillar.
1.
2.

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9. Adopt four of the screws provided, and then fasten the HDD on the drive
tray. Tighten each screw to fasten the tray snugly to the hard drive. Do not
tighten the screws overly. For 3.5” HDDs, tighten the four screws on the
sides of the tray; for 2.5” HDDs, tighten the three screws on the bottom of
the tray as shown in the picture below.
10. Insert the drive tray containing the HDD into the NS780S-G3 enclosure correctly,
and then tighten the thumbscrew on the tray.
11. Go over steps 7 to 10 again for further drives.
WARNING:
You must verify the heads of the four screws are level with the side (for 3.5” HDD)
or the bottom (for 2.5” HDD) of the drive tray while the HDDs are attached to the
trays; otherwise, a screw may take hold of the tray from the side and prevent
pulling the tray out of the array.
1.
2.

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1. Install Netstor NS780S-G3 PCIe 3.0 ×8 host adapter into an available PCIe ×8
slot (compatible with PCIe 3.0 ×16 slot) in the computer, and then secure
the host adapter with a screw.
2. Connect one end of the PCIe ×8 data cable to the external PCIe 3.0 ×8
connector on NS780S-G3 host adapter on computer. Verify the connector
is firmly conjoined.
5. Host Adapter Installation
※

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※ Note the ring-pull of the external PCIe ×8 data cable connector must be at the same side
as Nestor host card and target card’s obverse side when cable is connected to the
host/target card.
3. Connect the other end of the PCIe ×8 data cable to the external PCIe 3.0 ×8
connector on NS780S-G3 enclosure.

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3. When the host computer is shut down, the Netstor storage will be
powered off automatically as well.
2. Power on the host computer, and then the NS780S-G3 storage will be
powered on along automatically.
6. Power On/Off
There are two ways to power on/off the NS780S-G3. One is to power on/off
the NS780S-G3 by the host computer; the other is to power on/off the Netstor
unit manually. Switch SW1-4 on the backplane within the Netstor unit
determines whether to power the Netstor storage on or off by host or manually.
The default setting is set to turning on or off by host.
6.1 Power on/off by host (Default)
1. Connect one end of power cord to the power cord receptacle at rear of
NS780S-G3 enclosure, and the other end of power cord to the power outlet.
1.
1. shut down
2. powered off automatically
2.

1. Connect one end of power cord to the power cord receptacle at rear of
NS780S-G3 enclosure, and the other end of power cord to the power outlet.
2. Press and hold NS780S-G3 storage’s front LED button for over two seconds
until the LED button turns blue light to power on the Netstor unit. And
then power on your host computer.
3. After the computer is shut down, press and hold NS780S-G3 enclosure’s
front LED button for over two seconds until the LED button shows no
light to power off the storage.
6.2 Power on/off manually (go to page 20. to set SW1-4 to OFF for effect)
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1. Hold for over two seconds
2. Hold LED button for over two seconds
1. Host computer shut down
2. Power on your host computer

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7. Operation
•LED Status on Host card and Target card
LED2 ~ LED5 show solid green light: PCIe ×8 connection between
computer and NS780S-G3 is linked.
LED2 ~ LED5 not showing light: PCIe connection between computer
and NS780S-G3 is NOT linked.
SW1 switch:
When SW1 switch is turned to the left position, the NP960AG3 card will
be set as the host card. The LED1 will show red light to indicate the
NP960AG3 card is configured as the host card.
As SW1 switch is turned to the right position, the NP960AG3 card will be set as
the target card. The LED1 will show blue light to indicate the NP960AG3 card is
configured as the target card.

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•macOS operating system
Verify the RAID card in NS780S-G3 is recognized by Mac Pro. Click Apple icon
at the top menu bar, select About This Mac, and click System Report button.
Click PCI in the left column, as the RAID card info appears in the information
area, it means Netstor storage’s RAID controller card is recognized correctly
by Mac Pro.
To configure the RAID setting for the storage, please refer to the user’s manual
of the RAID controller card that is installed in NS780S-G3.
•Windows operating system
1. Verify the RAID card in NS780S-G3 is recognized by host computer. Right click
This PC, and select Manage. As window of Computer Management pops up,
click Device Manager in the left column, click View at the top menu bar, and
select Devices by connection.
2. Click ACPI x64-based PC, select Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System, and click
PCI Express Root Complex. Open the PCI Express Root Port, and the RAID card
in NS780S-G3 will be shown, meaning the storage’s RAID card is recognized
correctly by the host computer.

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8. Fan Speed Adjustment
There are four hot-swappable 120×120×25 mm cooling fans in the front and in the rear of
the NS780S-G3 enclosure for ventilation. The cooling fan can simply be drawn out of the
enclosure by pulling the L type metal handle on the fan module.
•The front two fans
The front 120×120×25 mm cooling fan speed can be adjusted. Pull out the fan module,
there are four sets of jumpers labeled with 6V, 8V, 10V, 12V from top to bottom on the
fan connector board. The default setting is the jumper being placed over pin 7 and 8
for label 6V for slowest speed. The speed increases from label 8V to label 12V. As
jumper is not placed over pins, the fan will spin at 12V full speed.
6V
8V
12V
10V

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The default setting is the jumper being placed over pin 9 and pin 10 for label 4, meaning
the slowest speed of fan. The fan speeds increase from label 3 to label 1. When the
jumper is placed over pin 1 and pin 2 for label F, the fan spins at full speed. If all the
pins are open (no jumper being placed over the pins), the fan will not spin.
•The rear two fans
To adjust the fan speeds, pull the rear fan module out of the enclosure. There are
five sets of jumpers labeled with 4, 3, 2, 1, F sequentially from top to bottom on
the fan connector board.
4 (default)
3
1
F
2

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1. Inside the Netstor storage enclosure, the front bottom part, there is an
environmental control board; locate this board.
2. On the environmental control board, there are four LEDs indicating the four
12x12 cm cooling fans inside the Netstor unit.
9. Troubleshooting
9.1 Fan LED showing red light
When one of the cooling fans within Netstor unit fails, the fan LED in front of
NS780S-G3 enclosure will show red light. The approach to distinguish which
cooling fan in the Netstor unit has the issue is given as follows.
As either of the above four LEDs shows red light, the corresponding cooling fan fails.
(A) D4 LED refers to the front top fan
(B) D5 LED refers to the front bottom fan
(C) D6 LED refers to the rear bottom fan
(D) D7 LED refers to the rear top fan
(B)
(A)
(C)
(D)

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1. When both computer and Netstor unit are at the powered on status, enter NS780S-G3
RAID controller card’s web GUI. (here take Areca RAID card’s GUI for example) Click on
‘Information’ in the left column, and then click on ‘RAID Set Hierarchy’. At this moment,
in the GUI it will show, among all the sixteen drives, which number of HDD fails.
Remember the number of the failure HDD.
2. Open Netstor unit’s side door. All the sixteen drive bays are labeled with numbers from
1 through 16. As you have known the number of HDD that fails in the web GUI from the
last step, locate the number of drive bay in the Netstor unit, and you will see, with the
number of the failure drive, it will show red light.
9.2 Global HDD LED showing red light
When one of the HDDs within Netstor unit fails, the Global HDD LED in front of
NS780S-G3 enclosure will show red light. At this time, here is the method to
distinguish which HDD in the Netstor unit has the issue supposing that all the
sixteen bays are populated with drives.
※Note for the Global HDD LED to be effective, the SAS/SATA RAID controller card to be
utilized in the Netstor unit must support SGPIO function.
If the RAID card doesn’t support SGPIO function, then the Global HDD LED won’t work.
1
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16

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Appendix: The Functions on Backplane
1. Function of Backplane Drive Fault LED (SW1-1)
SW1 (Default)
JP1 (Default)
There are sixteen drive fault LEDs beside each HDD connector on the backplane
inside the Netstor unit.
This switch determines whether the drive fault LED on the backplane appears to
be permanent red light or flashing red light when the HDD fails. The default
setting is set to be drive fault LED showing flashing red light.
The situation of the drive fault LED appearing varies according to different
RAID card employed.
2. Function of SAS HDD act state LED on Backplane (SW1-2)
There are sixteen HDD act state LEDs beside each HDD connector on the
backplane inside the Netstor unit.
This switch determines whether the HDD act state LED on the backplane appears
to show blue light or no light when the SAS HDD is inserted into the NS780S-G3.
The default setting is set to be SAS HDD act state LED showing no light.
There is one switch module on the backplane of NS780S-G3 providing four functions
on SW1-1, SW1-2, SW1-3, and SW1-4. The description for each function is given in the
following point one through point four.
1
N
234
1
N
234
1 3
ON
OFF