Multi-Drive External Enclosures (for 4+ drives, SATA inside, eSATA outside)

[schild]

So, I've got a IDE->USB2.0 Venus for all my old harddrives. I'm looking to do some ridiculous archiving (about 1500 dvds, a few hundred (thousand?) PC & Console games, etc). I've been getting some weird issues with older discs, so paranoia is setting in.

Anyone have some recommendations for large scale (maybe raided) home storage solutions? I don't want some overpriced readyNAS system so much as some sort of stable external solution that I can put safe, reliable drives in. Raided, maybe. Should probably raid them so I have backups for that matter. Anyway, yea, suggestions? Experiences? Brands I should look at? etc.

I'm looking at somewhere between 3-5TB when it's all said and done - probably.

Edit: After I get everything backed up, I will probably double the solution, so RAID at the time of backup would be unnecessary. I'd probably just copy everything onto other harddrives - mirrored, whatever - and then bury it in a time capsule for myself. Maybe put it in carbonite in case of hard drive failure.

Edit 2: This is a 6 month to 1 year long project. Part of me thinks it might be worth waiting for Blu-Ray discs to come down in price since burners are only $250 now, but then I wouldn't have very easy access to say, ALL OF IT. Also, I'm not averse to buying an expensive computer sized enclosure for these drives. And they also don't have to have super fast read or write times, I want stability here - though not necessarily RAID5/6 Stable.

[Engels]

On the cheap side, there's this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332008

and this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817424016

No raid, just drives connected to your existing machine via USB 2.0.

More sophisticated solutions that involve raid are a bit pricier

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817424025

My preference would be to get a mongo computer case (these lianli are nifty but pricy)
and then use my old Asus A8VN motherboard and clunky AMD chip with a bit of ram to build a defacto NAS. But that's just cuz I have a bunch of spare stuff rotting about.

[fuser]

Sounds like you'd want something like a multiplexer container. Take a look at a Stardom ST6600, but again the cost investment is high and you need a esata controller.

[schild]

My hard drive has eSATA on board, so that's not an issue. $400 is a bit much, though it looks like I'm paying for the ability to hot swap and actual build quality with that Stardom. It sure is nice.

[fuser]

My hard drive has eSATA on board, so that's not an issue. $400 is a bit much, though it looks like I'm paying for the ability to hot swap and actual build quality with that Stardom. It sure is nice.

Indeed, have been looking into enclosures for a SATA backup server. Any kind of container (backplane/multiplexer) over 2 bays was nutty, we just eneded up staying with a stripped case 

[schild]

Well, I wouldn't mind getting a smaller case and dropping 4 or more hard drives in it. But how would I convert the SATA drives to one output? I mean, is there some simple solution of some sort I'm missing?

[fuser]

Do you mean how do logical representation of the physical disks to your OS or such? Take a look at http://www.freenas.org/ and I think you will find a good solution with a smaller case.

[Engels]

This spare case, do you have a spare motherboard, cpu & ram to put in it as well? If so, then you'd simply need a raid controller card, assuming, that is, that the spare motherboard itself doesn't have 4 sata slots.

[Murgos]

Well, I wouldn't mind getting a smaller case and dropping 4 or more hard drives in it. But how would I convert the SATA drives to one output? I mean, is there some simple solution of some sort I'm missing?

Linux?  Seriously, can't you do several drives as one logical volume with Windows XP or Vista?

[schild]

I already have uhmmm, 21 volumes on my PC.

[Strazos]

Holy fuck dude, you're crazy.

[schild]

Crazy awesome.

[Strazos]

But do you really need to have instant access to every game and DVD you own, on your PC?

I have pretty fast access...it's called a Disc Book. It holds discs.


But seriously, why go through the hassle? Most of the stuff will be put on there and never be accessed again in all likelihood.

[Pennilenko]

So, I've got a IDE->USB2.0 Venus for all my old harddrives. I'm looking to do some ridiculous archiving (about 1500 dvds, a few hundred (thousand?) PC & Console games, etc). I've been getting some weird issues with older discs, so paranoia is setting in.

Anyone have some recommendations for large scale (maybe raided) home storage solutions? I don't want some overpriced readyNAS system so much as some sort of stable external solution that I can put safe, reliable drives in. Raided, maybe. Should probably raid them so I have backups for that matter. Anyway, yea, suggestions? Experiences? Brands I should look at? etc.

I'm looking at somewhere between 3-5TB when it's all said and done - probably.

Edit: After I get everything backed up, I will probably double the solution, so RAID at the time of backup would be unnecessary. I'd probably just copy everything onto other harddrives - mirrored, whatever - and then bury it in a time capsule for myself. Maybe put it in carbonite in case of hard drive failure.

Edit 2: This is a 6 month to 1 year long project. Part of me thinks it might be worth waiting for Blu-Ray discs to come down in price since burners are only $250 now, but then I wouldn't have very easy access to say, ALL OF IT. Also, I'm not averse to buying an expensive computer sized enclosure for these drives. And they also don't have to have super fast read or write times, I want stability here - though not necessarily RAID5/6 Stable.

Hehe sounds like you expect the end of the world and want to reliably store your most precious data in a safe disconnectable way.................

Just remember to keep your future set up cool. Temperature is important to any type of modern disk drive.

[schild]

Just remember to keep your future set up cool. Temperature is important to any type of modern disk drive.

You know who needs to learn this: Ookii.

[Kageru]

I'm thinking about a similar problem. I want to store large volumes of data but it doesn't really need to be online all the time. It looks to me like buying a small 2 drive enclosure (ideally with mirroring and e-sata connections) but having the drives be tool-lessly replaceable would be optimal. That way you could store a huge number of drives off-line and basically connect them up when you need the data from them.

It seems ridiculous to use drives in this fashion, but they're so cheap now and DVD's are just too small.

[schild]

It seems ridiculous to use drives in this fashion, but they're so cheap now and DVD's are just too small.

Bingo. $200 a terabyte? I would buy a drive just to store every MMOG on.

And I mean EVERY MMOG.

[Salamok]

It seems ridiculous to use drives in this fashion, but they're so cheap now and DVD's are just too small.

Bingo. $200 a terabyte? I would buy a drive just to store every MMOG on.

And I mean EVERY MMOG.

and probably try and place each on in it's own volume...

[apocrypha]

Just a brief FYI, stay away from D-Link NAS's. I made the mistake of getting a DNS-323 (2-drive NAS box) that, to cut a long story short, destroyed 1Tb of my data. D-Link's support was worse than useless, in fact one of the first things they told me to do over the phone ended up ensuring that it was then *impossible* to recover the data.

D-Link = bad.

[schild]

Just a brief FYI, stay away from D-Link NAS's. I made the mistake of getting a DNS-323 (2-drive NAS box) that, to cut a long story short, destroyed 1Tb of my data. D-Link's support was worse than useless, in fact one of the first things they told me to do over the phone ended up ensuring that it was then *impossible* to recover the data.

D-Link = bad.

Already learned that ^_^

[fuser]

Blast from the past...


Anyhoo Schild, if you were still looking I came across an Intel device for $591 the other day that was pretty much the cats ass.

Runs Windows Home Server + has expandable DDR2 slot, might replace my home 19" rack mount system (Yes I have a huge 19" rack mount case) for disk storage/ventrillo server.

[schild]

$591 is still too much. I'd rather just build a shuttle. My next storage solution will be handbuilt given the quality of small cases and cost of components lately.

[fuser]

$591 is still too much. I'd rather just build a shuttle. My next storage solution will be handbuilt given the quality of small cases and cost of components lately.

Don't buy a shuttle for the love of god... please don't

[schild]

I owned a Shuttle for 6 years. It was a fantastic box.

[Engels]

Blast from the past...


Anyhoo Schild, if you were still looking I came across an Intel device for $591 the other day that was pretty much the cats ass.

Runs Windows Home Server + has expandable DDR2 slot, might replace my home 19" rack mount system (Yes I have a huge 19" rack mount case) for disk storage/ventrillo server.

It is designed by EMC, makers of Retrospect, possibly my most hated backup software.

[Yegolev]

I don't have any ringing endorsements for EMC from the corporate side, either.  Their shit has gotten much better in the past year or three, and by that I mean it works like a real 21st-century software/hardware solution should.

[Nija]

http://www.thecus.com/

I rock a N5200PRO. You get what you pay for.

[Salamok]

http://www.thecus.com/

I rock a N5200PRO. You get what you pay for.

If that had an eSATA interface it would rock.

[schild]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822102004

New one does have eSATA. At the same time, his 'you get what you pay for' comment makes me want to get a ReadyNAS since the Thecus must be shitty. What he should've said is they're "good and cheap. You get more than what you pay for."

[Nija]

What I meant is that it doesn't have everything you requested, but it has a lot for the price point that it's currently at.

I use iscsi connections to it over gigabit ethernet. 42ish MB/s sustained is good enough for a file dump.

They're working on an 8 port monster that'll fill your TB needs, but it'll be overpriced for awhile.

[fuser]

It is designed by EMC, makers of Retrospect, possibly my most hated backup software.

Know what your bang on right, double checked with the guy and he had a SS4200-EHW loaded with WHS. I thought was included out of the box but it was his own custom install which you cannot just buy :(