An external rack that can accomodate all 10 hard drives?

[alegator]

I have like 10 hard drives that I use for storage of videos and pictures. Each time I want to load a given file I have to either install the corresponding hard drive internally as a 2nd drive, or externally as a USB drive. Either way (even the external one) is bothersome, as it means connecting/disconnecting the IDE cables, power cables, etc each time, with the associated wear of connectors, etc. Does it exist an external rack that can accomodate all 10 hard drives, connect the rack to the PC via USB or Firewire, and by means of a switch choose the hard drive to connect? Thanks.

[redwudz]

alegator, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks, Moderator redwudz

[rallynavvie]

Several ways you can do this:

You can find multi-bay enclosures on eBay and several industrial computer markets. You can get them in USB or FireWire or both. Usually a simple 3/4 drive enclosure will run about $250. 8+ bay enclosures would be pretty expensive, almost be cheaper to buy a case with lots of room for drives and buy bridgeboards for everything

Or you can get a single enclosure that supports hotswapping and just buy enough drive trays for all the drives. Then all you have to do is swap the drives (in their trays) out from the enclosure.

Or you could just put a hot-swap bay into your existing PC and get enough drive trays for everything. If you need to access more than one drive at any given time you can also find hot-swap bays that convert multiple 5.25" bays to multiple 3.5" hot-swap bays (like three 5.25" bays converting to five 3.5" hot-swap bays). This is what I did with my primary workstation as I filled up hard drives with video pretty quick, but I only went with the single drive hot-swap bay as I never had to access more than one storage drive at a time.

Finally you could also just build a cheap computer with extra IDE controllers for all your drives and upgrade your network for GbE. Nice thing about a file server like that is it can be used for other things as well. I even added one of the multiple hot-swap bays to my file server that works with the same swap trays from my workstation. Pretty much unlimited uses between the two. Just make sure to get a nice, static-free container to store the drives in.

[alegator]

alegator, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks, Moderator redwudz

Sorry for that, next time will avoid generic titles to my posts. Regards.

[alegator]

Several ways you can do this:

You can find multi-bay enclosures on eBay and several industrial computer markets. You can get them in USB or FireWire or both. Usually a simple 3/4 drive enclosure will run about $250. 8+ bay enclosures would be pretty expensive, almost be cheaper to buy a case with lots of room for drives and buy bridgeboards for everything

Or you can get a single enclosure that supports hotswapping and just buy enough drive trays for all the drives. Then all you have to do is swap the drives (in their trays) out from the enclosure.

Or you could just put a hot-swap bay into your existing PC and get enough drive trays for everything. If you need to access more than one drive at any given time you can also find hot-swap bays that convert multiple 5.25" bays to multiple 3.5" hot-swap bays (like three 5.25" bays converting to five 3.5" hot-swap bays). This is what I did with my primary workstation as I filled up hard drives with video pretty quick, but I only went with the single drive hot-swap bay as I never had to access more than one storage drive at a time.

Finally you could also just build a cheap computer with extra IDE controllers for all your drives and upgrade your network for GbE. Nice thing about a file server like that is it can be used for other things as well. I even added one of the multiple hot-swap bays to my file server that works with the same swap trays from my workstation. Pretty much unlimited uses between the two. Just make sure to get a nice, static-free container to store the drives in.

Wow, thanks for so many ways to approach the problem at hand. I was aware of hot swap bays. My PC has 2 IDE controllers. The first one accomodates two hard drives (I only have a single OS drive). The 2nd IDE controller accomodates two CD/DVD drives. Now, I'm only using the DVD burner and disconnected the CD reader, so I could install a hot-swap bay where the CD drive is now? I'm asking this because I read somewhere that if you mix in the same IDE controller devices with different speeds (in this case the DVD burner and the hot swap bay with a hard drive), then both devices will run at the speed of the slower device...is this so? If not, can you recommend me a hot swap bay to replace the CD drive? Thanks

[lordsmurf]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy some new high-capacity drives? Then sell off or otherwise dispose of the current ones?

[rallynavvie]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy some new high-capacity drives? Then sell off or otherwise dispose of the current ones?

I assumed the OP had been using large capacity drives. However even if they are smaller drives the time and money spent on transferring the data to larger drives (which will eventually fill up as well) would probably be similar, if not more expensive, than adding a hot-swap bay and buying trays for all the drives. In my case all my extra drives (maybe 20 or so) are of 200GB capacity or greater, so it would be hugely time-consuming and expensive to transfer them onto drives even double that size. Plus the addition of a hot-swap bay means never-ending expansion as you fill up drives.

alegator: You need to make sure that your onboard IDE controller will support hot-swapping, otherwise you'll need to get a PCI controller that supports it.

[alegator]

Is there a software that will report if my onboard IDE controller supports hot swapping? Or should I "ask the manufacturer"?

[SingSing]

You can also buy 9 more usb enclosures and couple of USB hubs.

of 4 bays USB enclosures, like : http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8745911694&category=167

[TBoneit]

Personally I prefer the External USB Enclosures approach, That way the drives are not all spinning unless I turn them on. Most of my USB enclosures are turned off except as needed.

Dealing with Hard Drives, the key to remember is that it isn't if they will die, it is when they will die.

I've 1 walk in and 2 phone calls this week from people looking for data recovery. Their drievs died taking with them irreplacable pictures, Key business Spreadsheets etc.

Ontrack for example charges $100 for evaluation and $1000 and up for recovery. It is cheaper to back up before they die.

[RLT69]

Maybe this will fit the bill

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817994024

However even if they are smaller drives the time and money spent on transferring the data to larger drives (which will eventually fill up as well) would probably be similar, if not more expensive, than adding a hot-swap bay and buying trays for all the drives.

Hard Drives at NewEgg.com:

$94.99 - 320 GB
$259.99 - 500 GB
$399.99 - 700 GB

Problem here is we do not know the capacity of each hard drive. So depending on what you mean by "small," lordsmurf was correct in asking wouldn't a larger capacity HD be the better approach.

Bottom line, this guy may be better off going with a network storage solution. Yes it's going to cost big bucks but if you are already using 10 HDs and are in the Terabyte range, it will be your best solution. It will enable you to grow in size and have a central storage for all your videos.

FYI you should move to SATA for hot swapping capabilities.

Hands in the air who have rack mounted servers in their homes :P

[alegator]

Personally I prefer the External USB Enclosures approach, That way the drives are not all spinning unless I turn them on. Most of my USB enclosures are turned off except as needed.

Dealing with Hard Drives, the key to remember is that it isn't if they will die, it is when they will die.

I've 1 walk in and 2 phone calls this week from people looking for data recovery. Their drievs died taking with them irreplacable pictures, Key business Spreadsheets etc.

Ontrack for example charges $100 for evaluation and $1000 and up for recovery. It is cheaper to back up before they die.

Most of my hard drives are in "Storage" mode, meaning that I have files in them that I seldom use or if I use them I just connect them to transfer those files to a working hard drive and then disconnect them again. A hard drive that is seldom connected, or even NEVER connected, does it mean that it will last forever (in practical terms), or does an unplugged drive also wear with time?

[Nelson37]

It does not wear, per se, but it is exposed to magnetic fields, being stepped on, peed on by the cat, liquid spilled on it, etc. Also falling onto a hard surface or any severe shock or vibration.

In terms of the data storage, it is magnetic, look up entropy, the data is not forever. But they will last several years, in general.

[tomwil]

Each time I want to load a given file I have to either install the corresponding hard drive internally as a 2nd drive, or externally as a USB drive. Either way (even the external one) is bothersome, as it means connecting/disconnecting the IDE cables, power cables, etc each time, with the associated wear of connectors, etc.

I use the USB to IDE Cable For HDD/DVD available from http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/com/CA4004~.htm . It is just the cable and power supply, not an enclosure. It is very easy to hookup a harddrive and attach it to the computer's USB port. And, not very costly at USD$15 with free shipping.

[alegator]

tomwil, I use a similar product also, but still you're connecting/disconnecting all the time and wearing the connectors. This is the one I use:
http://www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=0383

[TBoneit]

Bare drives are easy to damage from Physical Shock and Static electricity.

I would keep that kind of files on indexed DVDs that are stored in the old 5.25" Tyvek floppy sleeves in a floppy storage case that can hold over 50 discs per unit.

Yes I still have tons of these in the basement. Easy to create numbered discs and have a database that keeps track of what is where. I do not recall the name, however I have seen some that will read the discs and store the filenames in a automatic mode.

[alegator]

I use Whereisit software to index my hard drives and create a searchable catalog of all my files. Great little program.

[rallynavvie]

Just make sure to get a nice, static-free container to store the drives in.

I put this in my very first reply :P

The hot-swap trays afford some protection, especially if you're using rubber grommets to mount the hard drives.

I simply use a double-walled corrugated box and stack the drives (in their trays) in there seperated by foam I salvage from computer parts being shipped to me. This has worked for me for over 4 years.

I did offer an archiving service for customers at an exorbitant price. Otherwise my policy was that any files from projects were deleted from my systems after one month. This wasn't a guarantee though, only a warning. I did archive most projects and that's what is on most of those HDDs, but because of my warning I cannot be held responsible if the HDD is damaged and I can't recover the data. I also archive the glass masters of each DVD project I sourced out. These, as well as duplicate copies of the associated files, are stored at a local archival firm (thus the exorbitant price up front).

I don't think archicing to DVD is any safer than leaving the data on a HDD. DVDs can be just as vulnerable if not stored properly. Besides, large-capacity HDDs take up less room than the amount of DVDs needed to backup that amount of data.

[TBoneit]

I guess the point I had in mind and did not make clear was put the drives on a shelf somewhere else. Use the DVDs for daily access. a DVD is more immune to damage from being dropped than a drive and if damaged only lost part of what would be lost from a drive.