Multiple HDD storage enclosures

Langtang

I've got numerous HDD lying about the place and need a simple storage solution so that they can all be used. I recently purchased new 4TB drives to go into the PC, and the 2TB ones that are coming out are still in working order and full of data that I'd like to access.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to a multi bay option? They would just be accessed by the PC when it is on, and not used in any NAS type set-up (been there, got the scars to prove it)

TIA

forgotmyname

Build an old PC and use that to house older drives that still work, ideal as a backup unit also.

Its an old dual core machine with SATA and the older IDE ports on the motherboard, 4 additional slots
for addon cards. Ideal for all my 1TB and 2TB drives that still work but too small for the NAS boxes.

Carrot007

forgotmyname said:

Build an old PC and use that to house older drives that still work, ideal as a backup unit also.

Its an old dual core machine with SATA and the older IDE ports on the motherboard, 4 additional slots
for addon cards. Ideal for all my 1TB and 2TB drives that still work but too small for the NAS boxes.

I do this instead of a NAS. Becuase I sometimes want to run things on the machine as well.

I have a 6TB and 8TB drive in mine with an AMD A8-6600K APU (2 core/4 thread) and 16GB DDR3. But the Specs really do not matter depending on what you do with it.

I recomend linux mint for an easy life. But whatever works is fine too!

Chino

forgotmyname said:

Its an old dual core machine

What is? 

getmore4less

forgotmyname said:

Build an old PC and use that to house older drives that still work, ideal as a backup unit also.

Its an old dual core machine with SATA and the older IDE ports on the motherboard, 4 additional slots
for addon cards. Ideal for all my 1TB and 2TB drives that still work but too small for the NAS boxes.

Chino said:

forgotmyname said:

Its an old dual core machine

What is? 

The box they built to hold their drives.

Langtang

Thanks for the suggestions.
 

I think a full pc tower would be a step too far - I’m being told to declutter the computer room, not clutter it some more. Was really looking for an off the shelf enclosure that would “neatly” fit on the desk. 

Thanks anyway. 

Belenus

Langtang said:

I've got numerous HDD lying about the place and need a simple storage solution so that they can all be used. I recently purchased new 4TB drives to go into the PC, and the 2TB ones that are coming out are still in working order and full of data that I'd like to access.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to a multi bay option? They would just be accessed by the PC when it is on, and not used in any NAS type set-up (been there, got the scars to prove it)

TIA

Why don't you copy everything onto the new drives and keep the old drives as back ups?

One external single bay caddy would then suffice.

Perhaps you have more than 8TB of data.

getmore4less

I tried google as that often works.

https://www.google.com/search?q=small+format+SATA+enclosure+for+multiple+drives

something like this maybe

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0711L68MS

or
https://www.google.com/search?q=Multiple+Hard+Drive+Enclosure

found

https://www.amazon.co.uk//dp/B07H11KXCL

Langtang

getmore4less said:

I tried google as that often works.

GIYF... love it. I was going to be more sarcastic but you might be the one who saves me £76K in tax, so I won't. 

forgotmyname

You dont need a full tower just an open style case, you can stack the drives using double sided tape etc.  Depends how often
your going to run it.

I kept that machine because it was a wide variety of ports like eSATA and FireWire..  12 drives in it all sub 2TB.  Ideal for recovering data
off dead or infected machines.

getmore4less

Langtang said:

getmore4less said:

I tried google as that often works.

GIYF... love it. I was going to be more sarcastic but you might be the one who saves me £76K in tax, so I won't. 

One thing I have learnt over the years is a lot of people can't do google, they try and fail.
( I think some just give up at first try)

There is a knack in getting the right keywords then spotting when your search needs refining.
often the first search gives clues to better keywords,  goggle promotes pages so you need to get past those..


I had assumed you would have tried google but as you just asked for ideas and not posted an example with is this any good anything better i assumed you failed.

My first attempt was not good, finding mainly NAS solutions
the couple I posted were more productive enough to give a couple of ideas and a pointer in the right direction.


I would be more concerned about getting told to tidy your room