External Hard Drives

[NE1]

I have 4 external hard drives sat behind my desktop computer , I have to stack them on top of each other as I need them at various times of day.

Will this have an adverse effect on them ?

Is there anything out there that people use to hold 4 drives , anybody got any home made solutions.

[innerspace]

Google nas. Its the best option, not cheap but worth while if you need the storage.

But getting your externals into a nas raid away would need an extra drive or 2 to juggle around.

Stacking could cause issues with cheap drives or casings, I imagine it would increase vibrations, plus maybe heat.

Flat (or right angles), stable and ventilated will be best for the life span, but remember that each and every one of those drives will die one day, hope you have backups of backups.

[DogNo1]

I suggest NOT using a NAS with RAID. Personally, I have never been able to recover a RAID. I suggest using instead individual redundant hard disks. The capacities are now large enough to obviate the need for RAID. If you need space, put them on your desk, or better yet on the floor or a separate table, standing up on their sides but in individual cradles so they don't fall over. The cradles can be bought cheaply at PC stores. Sometimes they are supplied with external hard disks. It's a simple matter using a file manager such as Total Commander (there's a free version) to copy the contents of one disk to another and then to another. Double redundancy gives you safety if you have two disks fail in quick succession. It's happened to me. I now keep my external disks turned off unless I am using them and buy a new disk to add to the chain every couple of years. I also keep a cloud backup on Bitcasa. It provides unlimited storage for a yearly fee. There are other cloud solutions but they charge you increasing fees as your gigabyte usage goes up. You can Google cloud storage to see all of the providers. May your data always be safe.

[innerspace]

The advantage of a nas is more than just raid.

Fake raid from a mobo is notoriously hard to recover yet still possible. Hardware, software(nix) or nas based raid generally ok, unless a second drive fails during recovery(depending on level).

Other nas benefits...

single storage device, single power cable, single connection cable. Saves a lot of plugging in and out.

Easy network access across devices.

Easy remote backup(raid is not foolproof backup) to cheap cloud devices like amazon glacier.

Run full web servers, media servers etc.

Low power, reliable always on device.

Having to think about backups means they happen less often and typically the one time you think "tomorrow" a drive fails. With a nas my backups are thought free and automatic.

Stick with your way if it works for you but personally I have been there and wont go back.

[ksamuiguy]

I have 6, Seagate Expansion external drives, the biggest problem I have found is heat build up. i have added those rubber stick on furniture dots to increase the separation between the disks. than a small low speed fan moving air across the two stacks of drives. Auto backup to 2 separate alternate drives daily, full back up first than incremental after that.

This is what I do and it has saved my ass on several occasions over the years.

I have just read that many drive manufacturers are having problems with External drives over 2 Tb, as the drives get bigger the possible data loss increases if there is a drive failure.

Most of my DATA DRIVES are stagnant and only turned on once a month, data back to 1994, e mails all, again has saved my ass on several occasions. Advisable to make a directory list for each disk, don't forget to label the disk on the outside to match your disk directory.

[ignis]

Myself use the HDD rack out of a old Tower, also have the twin fan units... cheap cheerful and works

[thedemon]

You can buy these in Thailand for 3-4k

http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

Not RAID and not NAS,

It is just a 4 bay enclosure with adjustable speed fans and connects to your PC via either a single USB3.0 or eSata cable. The HDD's are presented to the operating system as 4 individual drives as if they were SATA connected.

With USB3.0 there is no performance hit on read/write speeds compared to SATA, at least that I have noticed.

[WhizBang]

I use this 4 bay SATA Dock

[SpaceKadet]

Or if you want something more permanent try this: http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/enclosure-box/orico/4-bay-3-5inch-sata-external-enclosure-aluminium-black-usb-3-0-esata-3549susj3-p016089/

Unless you don't want to keep them inside your PC enclosure.

[astral]

Are all the disks active at the same time?

I keep my stacked when not in use, then pull out the one I need and plug it in.

No problems so far.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

You can buy these in Thailand for 3-4k

http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

Not RAID and not NAS,

It is just a 4 bay enclosure with adjustable speed fans and connects to your PC via either a single USB3.0 or eSata cable. The HDD's are presented to the operating system as 4 individual drives as if they were SATA connected.

With USB3.0 there is no performance hit on read/write speeds compared to SATA, at least that I have noticed.

A lot of negative 1 star reviews on Amazon for this product...in fact, about 20% of all posted reviews are 1 star ones, including a lot who say they can't get USB3 to work with this product.

[thedemon]

You can buy these in Thailand for 3-4k

http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

Not RAID and not NAS,

It is just a 4 bay enclosure with adjustable speed fans and connects to your PC via either a single USB3.0 or eSata cable. The HDD's are presented to the operating system as 4 individual drives as if they were SATA connected.

With USB3.0 there is no performance hit on read/write speeds compared to SATA, at least that I have noticed.

A lot of negative 1 star reviews on Amazon for this product...in fact, about 20% of all posted reviews are 1 star ones, including a lot who say they can't get USB3 to work with this product.

I could imagine that might be the case. They're made by an OEM in China and generically branded so come with poor instructions and little to no support. But at USD100, there isn't much else to choose from. The next level up and you will need to spend THB15-20K.

Having said that I have had one 4 bay and another 8 bay running 24/7 for about 18 months without any problems. The fans are pretty noisy which might be annoying for some. Mine are tucked away in a storage room so it doesn't matter.

[DogNo1]

There's something to be said for having separate enclosures for each external drive and that is true redundancy. You can connect them all to your computer using a USB hub and only turn them on as needed. Many externals come with a cradle so you can stand them on their sides to isolate them from the heat and vibration of other drives or you can buy cradles cheaply at a computer store or even jury-rig your own.

[bendejo]

Heat is a big concern, so arranging some space between the drives is important.

You might find something in places that sell housewares etc, some sort of small shelf organizer gadget with a few levels.

Daiso is good for this stuff, I'd guess metal would be better than plastic.

Cradles for standing the drives on their sides, mentioned above, sounds like a good idea.

[slipperylobster]

Lots of cheap, plastic/wire shelving that sits on top of a counter. You want something like a cooling rack..I would think

Another thing that comes to mind are the old, eight track storage towers. Might be something you could find in a second hand shop/antique shop. Mine would just about fit it one of those.

On the side... perhaps a stationary story would have letter dividers, made out of mesh.

Here is an idea I just had...that I may try. Attach some thin rubber (for protection) material to the inside lips of a large paper clamp. Then attach the clamp to the bottom edge of the drive. The handles facing backward. You can then suspend your drives from a peg, or two bookends with a rod between them.

Edited November 2, 2014 by slipperylobster