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General discussion

multiple external hard drives?

May 1, 2005 10:43AM PDT

hey, im trying to use some of my old parts (prolly mostly 40g hard drives) to give me more storage/free up the main one, ive been reasearching some online and see single enclosures and one double enclosure to put my old hds in, i also have some old pc boxes(not right word i know) laying around,and was wondering if i could make a box with like 3-4 hard drives in it, i know id need a power source, got some of those laying around too, ill need some way to connect it, id like it to be at least fast enough to have this thing hooked up to my laptop(box probaly stashed under the desk with a couple cooling fans)and be able to have my itunes library on the box and be able to listen to it, is this possible?(firewire?) i dont have lotsa cash but have a bunch of parts, i know they make cables to connect to ide from firewire, can i use one of those to fasten up multiple drives simultaneously? thanks alot, i dont know if trading is allowed on here but i have a bunch of 386/486(vintage lol...) parts i would trade for one of those cables, also looking for a firewire/usb2.0 card, i dont know if someone on here could manufacture a cable to do what i need if they dont exist, im open to suggestions, thanks alot!

Discussion is locked

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Just trying to evision what you are trying to do
May 2, 2005 10:54AM PDT

When you say "boxes" do you mean old PC cases? If so, these will not do as you intend. External cases have a controller which interfaces with the hard drive just as a motherboard does. The firewire or USB just ports data from one place to another. But, if you have enough parts to make an entire old computer you can network it with your laptop and use it just for storage. Otherwise, you will need enclosures for your drives. There are "server" type externals as well but these get pricy.

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thanks
May 2, 2005 1:26PM PDT

i was kinda getting more ideas as the whole thing progressed lol, i have enough stuff to put together a new system, however i only have win 3.0 on them, will that work? (laptop has xp pro), how many hds could i have this way (no cd drives)(actually with the vintage of the parts im working with, no 5 1/4 and no 3.5 lol)
could i make it a linux box? would that be compatible with xp pro for a file server?
would i connect the two via a cat 5? do they make splitters so i could have my internet and the network storage thing? thanks alot!

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"A scheme for all reasons"
May 3, 2005 12:33AM PDT

Here is a scheme that I cobbled together some time ago in response to a persons cry that most cases did not have enough Bay space.

I decided to cobble together a solution for his problem, and possibly many others that feel that they do not have enough bays to install all of the drives that the newer RAID mother boards allow, including the ability of SCSI.

Take two standard ATX cases with power supplies. One case holds the mother board and cards, along with what ever drives that will install into that case. The second case holds the over flow of drives.

Note: The power supply solution can be used in a case that does not have enough power to operate all the installed components. In other words dual power supply. Just connect the extra connectors to some of the components.

The two power supplies can be fed from the same power strip if desired, but it is not necessary. The key to making two power supplies work as one and turn on with the "Soft On" feature is to jumper the green leads of the main connector (pin 14 PS-ON) together. This will allow both power supplies to turn on when the power button on the mother board case is pushed.

Take a piece of 20 gage. wire, about 18 inches long. Strip a 3/4 inch bare tail on each end. Shove the bare tail into the top of the connector where the green wire goes in, making sure that the wire is shoved all of the way down beside the crimp. Tie the wire together above the connector with a small "Ty-wrap"and a small dab of hot glue into the power connector hole will make the connection safe. Do the same for the other connector. When the mother board power connector is in place, then both power supplies will answer to the "Soft Switch Signal" from the mother board switch. Tie the other mother board power connector up out of the way, and use the power connectors off of the other power supply to power the extra bays of the second case. An insulated quick connect from "RADIO SHACK" can be placed in the middle of the jumper wire to facilitate easy removal.

Leave the inside sides of the cases off and slide the two cases together. A small bolt and nut through one of the opportunity holes in the side by side cases will hold things together.

You can purchase IDE cables that are longer than the standard 18 inches if desired and they work just as well if you do not go overboard with the length.. SCSI cables can be even longer.

Note that you can use two cheap 250 watt supplies cobbled together like above to increase the load value up to 500 watts.

My two cases from Computer Gate cost $60 plus shipping, the jumper wire was stripped from a short piece of phone station wire, and the quick connect was a package of six $1.55.

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thanks
May 3, 2005 4:38AM PDT

sounds like a good idea except im going for extra space for my laptop, looks like im going to build a linux system and use that as a server, i think i have everything i need at home excpet maybe an extra cat 5 cable and a switch so i can have the laptop and the linux box online, i think i have an old gateway tower with a network card and a pII(233 i think) not the best, but better then the 486s i have laying around, i think this is going to work after all maybe, with mostly scrap parts!
thanks all for helping me find out hwat i was really trying to do!