Multiple Bay External Enclosure

Something like this?
http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?products_id=21014

EE-VD200SU.jpg
 
If you don't need portability, maybe consider a Linux file server for storage.

ClearOS (formerly ClarkConnect) is a free distro that is easy to install and manage.

Use a second hand machine (or even an Atom based machine, although a second hand Celeron machine would suffice) where all your drives are installed and networked to your Mac. I don't know much about Macs but I do believe it should work without any problems.

I have built 8Tb servers (using 1Tb drives) using this concept and ClarkConnect and it works well.
 
Mokusei said:
That sounds okay. And I actually have a spare PC for this, but it does not have a single SATA port on the motherboard. It's about 4 years old. And the power supply doesn't have any SATA power cables either. Now what? :D
Click to expand...
buy a PCI sata controller card & mollex to sata power converters. Note I have had 1 or 2 PCs that didn't Like it but it works for most.

:rolleyes:
 
Mokusei said:
Why is it that there's such a major price difference? Surely it's only a few extra square centimetres of plastic to build the thing.
Click to expand...
Maybe there is also more complex technology involved as the controller card internally needs to handle more drives. & they all need power too. . .
 
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Mokusei said:
That sounds okay. And I actually have a spare PC for this, but it does not have a single SATA port on the motherboard. It's about 4 years old. And the power supply doesn't have any SATA power cables either. Now what? :D
Click to expand...

Sorry I have not replied sooner.

Just use a SATA controller card in your old machine.

The Sunix SATA4000 card works very well under Linux. Its a 4 port card and 2 cards can co-exist in the same machine so you have a total of 8 SATA ports to use.

Just make sure when/if you buy the cards that your dealer flashes the card BIOS with the latest firmware to ensure large capacity drives are recognized. If the card does not see a 1Tb drive then you know straight away it needs the latest firmware.

I use mostly Seagate 1Tb drives (because they are silly cheap) on this card and to be honest I have not used larger than 1Tb drives on them yet so I am not sure if the 2 Tb drives will work but there is no harm in emailing Sunix and asking them. I have found their response (Sunix) normally quite good (I got the tip to use 2 cards in a system from one of their engineers).

As far as your concerns of the age of your spare computer, I have just configured an old A-Bit socket 478 board with a 2.53 Gb Celeron with 1Gb of RAM with one of these cards and 2 x 1Tb drives. Works great.

If the machine recognizes the SATA4000 card and the drives attached, then it will work.

Also as ChilliGirl mentioned you can get Molex to SATA power converters from just about anywhere.

Hope the info above helps :)
 
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Dan C said:
http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...a-hdd-3x-5-25-inch-bay-enclosure-4149629.html
Click to expand...

That device is not an external enclosure, it is an internal enclosure that needs to fit into an existing computer system (it uses 3 x 3 1/2" bays) and requires 4 available SATA ports.

Basically it is just a very expensive hard drive mounting frame. With the limited budget of the OP, this will not accomplish anything if he does not have 4 x SATA ports available.

Have a look at the manufacturer website http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=128 for a clearer explanation.

Not sure if his MAC has provision for this so my original suggestion of using a Linux distro on an old PC would/could still be a viable option.
 
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