Josh380
Member
So this post kinda belongs in the DIY section, but also here since it's computer related.
Basically what I want to do is connect multiple hard drives to my computer. I don't have the cash for some fancy hard drive enclosure with RAID and only 4 bays, and NAS devices are also expensive and limited to physical space. Granted, some of these devices can run massive hard drives (I believe 4TB x 2 is the max at the moment, I could be wrong), but I have older hard drives that have some good usable space that are, well, still usable.
So here's what I'm thinking about doing. Picture 1 shows a neat little device that I've been using for a few years now that allows me to connect an internal IDE or SATA drive to my computer via USB and an external power supply (a brick power supply with one lead and molex connector). These have gotten pretty cheap over the last few years, and now run a mere $6 on eBay without the power supply, US stock.
You can probably see where I'm going with this by now. I figure, why not buy 4 or 5 of these to start with, get a USB hub like Picture 2, and use an old PC power supply to power my drives? Then, maybe find a computer tower to house it all, or fabricate some sort of rack for it.
I think this could work. I don't see why not. But I'm wondering if there are some details I'm missing here. Will the USB hub, for one, be able to handle the data flow of all drives at once..for that matter the computer itself, or will I have to limit it to a few at a time? I also wonder about hot-swapping...I know you're NEVER supposed to unplug any internal peripheral device without powering the system down first..does this apply here since I'm not using a motherboard? Incidentally, the USB hub pictured notes that it supports hot-swapping.
I should note that I have a Dell Optiplex 7020 SFF, Intel i5 4590 @ 3.3 GHz, with 8 GB of RAM, ATI Radeon 1 GB GPU, running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I don't think it makes a difference here, but I have the stock power supply in this system, not the 315w supply. Also, the power supply will be connected to it's own power strip with an On/Off switch, so I can shut off the drives when not in use.
Basically what I want to do is connect multiple hard drives to my computer. I don't have the cash for some fancy hard drive enclosure with RAID and only 4 bays, and NAS devices are also expensive and limited to physical space. Granted, some of these devices can run massive hard drives (I believe 4TB x 2 is the max at the moment, I could be wrong), but I have older hard drives that have some good usable space that are, well, still usable.
So here's what I'm thinking about doing. Picture 1 shows a neat little device that I've been using for a few years now that allows me to connect an internal IDE or SATA drive to my computer via USB and an external power supply (a brick power supply with one lead and molex connector). These have gotten pretty cheap over the last few years, and now run a mere $6 on eBay without the power supply, US stock.
You can probably see where I'm going with this by now. I figure, why not buy 4 or 5 of these to start with, get a USB hub like Picture 2, and use an old PC power supply to power my drives? Then, maybe find a computer tower to house it all, or fabricate some sort of rack for it.
I think this could work. I don't see why not. But I'm wondering if there are some details I'm missing here. Will the USB hub, for one, be able to handle the data flow of all drives at once..for that matter the computer itself, or will I have to limit it to a few at a time? I also wonder about hot-swapping...I know you're NEVER supposed to unplug any internal peripheral device without powering the system down first..does this apply here since I'm not using a motherboard? Incidentally, the USB hub pictured notes that it supports hot-swapping.
I should note that I have a Dell Optiplex 7020 SFF, Intel i5 4590 @ 3.3 GHz, with 8 GB of RAM, ATI Radeon 1 GB GPU, running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I don't think it makes a difference here, but I have the stock power supply in this system, not the 315w supply. Also, the power supply will be connected to it's own power strip with an On/Off switch, so I can shut off the drives when not in use.
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