Managing Multiple External HDD’s
August 8th, 2016
I’ve been accumulating films, pdf’s and music files at a prodigious rate now for some 5 years, and, in that time, I’ve managed to accumulate 5 external HDD’s almost full to brimming. I’m now on the verge of exhausting the capacity of a fifth 2TB HDD and, hence, am in the market for a new HDD. My query is this: as I already have 5 external HDD’s, swapping them around via a USB connection to my PC is becoming a pain. For instance, when I see a new HD version of a film I like, I have so many films spread across my HDD’s, that it becomes a bit of challenge tracking down exactly where my original copy of the film is to compare them. Ideally, I’d like to be able to access all of the HDD’s and any future HDD’s instantly from my PC without having to unplug USB cables and reconnect PSU’s, but I’m pretty sure that such a solution, if it existed (i.e. in the form of a PC case-like HDD cabinet), would be prohibitively expensive. Therefore, I was wondering if members could outline some of their solutions to what must be a common problem (I mean this site has thousands, if not millions, of visitors, who all must be faced at some stage with the problem of storage capacity and convenience)?
One solution that I’ve considered, and this may well be a common solution for all I know, is to invest in a 3.5″ HDD external/internal ‘case mounted’ dock and use ‘internal’ HDD’s as the storage medium. The ability to ‘plug and play’ HDD’s seems to be an issue for some dock solutions, from what I’ve read, but this does seem to present, from my perspective, a relatively affordable and convenient solution. If anyone has any ideas or solutions that they’d be willing to post, then I’d very much appreciate it.
Many thanks in advance!
That’s the problem with external hdds, There is no fault tolerance and no disk spanning so all your files are on different volumes. And constantly lifting/dropping them into a usb dock cant help the life expediency.
In short you need to build another computer add a RAID card and put it in a case with as much 3.5 inch bays as you can find. Throw Server 2012 on it and create some file shares then access all the files from anywhere in your network using \\Server\\Files
For the RAID card don’t bother looking at new ones targeted at consumers which are prohibitively expensive and crap when there are perfectly good 2008 era enterprise cards available for 80 bucks online complete with 512MB of battery backed cache.
My favourite at the moment is the HP P800 (80 bucks online) but it might be too big for a tower case make sure you measure before you buy any of these RAID cards.
Oh and the connectors will look odd to consumers because their SAS not SATA you just need to use a SAS > Sata cable for every 4 drives http://www.satacables.com/12312312312.jpg
Once its all connected and powered up the ui is fairly idiot proof just create a RAID 5 array.
Well, There are two solutions I can think of:
1. Get a USB hub, Then you’d be able to have em all connected at the same time!
The bandwidth would be shared of course (But as long as you’re not gonna use em all at once, It’s all good!)
Do keep in mind however that most USB hubs only provide 4 ports, So you’d probably have to get two of em.
Just make sure you get powered ones (That come with a power cord) so you wouldn’t have any
issues in that department. Also, If any if your externals is USB 3.0 (And your computer has it too) then you should make sure your hubs are USB 3.0 compliant before buying.
2. Get a NAS unit (Network Attached Storage)
Basically, It’s a multi-hdd bay that connects via Ethernet to your router. But this will be much more expensive.
Now that I’ve answered your question, I’m gonna provide my own perspective on this.
I think that your overlooking the obvious here, You seem to have a hoarding problem!
Most people would see a movie/episode once or twice and be done with it, Which makes a lot
of sense really as it’s quite boring and pointless watching it again when you already know exactly what’s gonna happen! Why won’t you just do yourself a favor and just delete some of em? Or are you keeping em for the next generation? Also, If you’re downloading these in excess, Think about this: Are you doing it because you enjoy it, Or are you doing it to fill some kind of void in your life? Hope you don’t take offend by this, I’m just trying to help!
Much obliged, ! This seems to be the ‘PC case-like HDD cabinet’ solution that I’d envisaged. I’ll do some more research on this, cost it and we’ll see. Thanks a lot for your valuable input!
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Many thanks, ! I like the sound of both of your solutions. A NAS unit is a complete mystery to me, but it sounds like a ready-to-buy version of the ‘HDD server’ (?) solution suggested by above. You’ve certainly given me food for thought. Thank you.
With regards to my ‘hoarding’ problem, you may well be right; I should just delete a whole bunch of the films/pdf’s/music files I have and be done with it. However, I don’t believe there’s a film/pdf/music file that I possess, which I wouldn’t watch/read/listen to at least once more in my life. Moreover, the pdf’s are especially important because they amount to a research library on an expansive topic connected to my day-to-day work and interests – I’d not readily delete any of these books/pamphlets/documents as I might never be able to find/access them again. To cut a long story short, for me, the only thing better than having a Bodleian/British Library/Library of Congress-size library in your house/back garden, is to have one that sits next to your desk
Well, There are two solutions I can think of:What an excellent answer! Was thinking almost the same thing myself.
1. Get a USB hub, Then you'd be able to have em all connected at the same time!
The bandwidth would be shared of course (But as long as you're not gonna use em all at once, It's all good!)
Do keep in mind however that most USB hubs only provide 4 ports, So you'd probably have to get two of em.
Just make sure you get powered ones (That come with a power cord) so you wouldn't have any
issues in that department. Also, If any if your externals is USB 3.0 (And your computer has it too) then you should make sure your hubs are USB 3.0 compliant before buying.
2. Get a NAS unit (Network Attached Storage)
Basically, It's a multi-hdd bay that connects via Ethernet to your router. But this will be much more expensive.
Now that I've answered your question, I'm gonna provide my own perspective on this.
I think that your overlooking the obvious here, You seem to have a hoarding problem!
Most people would see a movie/episode once or twice and be done with it, Which makes a lot
of sense really as it's quite boring and pointless watching it again when you already know exactly what's gonna happen! Why won't you just do yourself a favor and just delete some of em? Or are you keeping em for the next generation? Also, If you're downloading these in excess, Think about this: Are you doing it because you enjoy it, Or are you doing it to fill some kind of void in your life? Hope you don't take offend by this, I'm just trying to help!
In addition though, maybe you could consider turning a Raspberry Pi into a NAS-like-enclosure or mini-server. That’d be quite cheap and effective.
EDIT: At least it’s only digital hoarding, which doesn’t cost local councils a penny and doesn’t really affect anyone else! Although if it’s all pirated material, I’d be hoping to god nobody stumbled across it
Thanks, . I like the Raspberry Pi solution. I have just about heard of them, and often see them appear whilst shopping at Amazon, but I’ve never understood what people use them for…
Thanks, . I like the Raspberry Pi solution. I have just about heard of them, and often see them appear whilst shopping at Amazon, but I've never understood what people use them for...No probs. There a nice solution for all sorts of things. They were brought out to help get kids into programming and understanding computing, etc. but I’ve used one as an XBMC media centre. Not the best HTPC set up out there, but for the money you can’t go far wrong!
You could easily just plug all your drives into the Pi and set up a file server for your network. If you’re any good at programming you could probably knock up a nice front end for it with relative ease as well.
If you're any good at programming you could probably knock up a nice front end for it with relative ease as well.
Come again, fella? I can’t program for toffee…what’s a ‘front end’?
Come again, fella? I can't program for toffee...what's a 'front end'? Point taken. A ‘front-end’ is what you see, as opposed to the ‘back-end’ which is the code and inner-workings of something. So in your case a nice front end might be a ‘mini-website’ that allows you to search your collection of files and view the meta-data/details for selected files without clicking around everywhere, etc.
Would offer to whip one up for you but I’m too busy at the moment, sorry
A 'front-end' is what you see, as opposed to the 'back-end' which is the code and inner-workings of something. So in your case a nice front end might be a 'mini-website' that allows you to search your collection of files and view the meta-data/details for selected files without clicking around everywhere, etc.
Well, that explains it. Thanks!
I store all my films on numbered DVD’s
after I burn the DVD I do a “directory” to a text file, then name the file the same number as the disc
i put all these fles in the same folder on my C:\ drive
then I do a text search of all files in the folder for the film when needed
from a command prompt off the root folder of a storage drive the command is
dir /s /a-d /b > <drive ID’er>.txt
example output using my “F34bios” folder output to “test.txt”
C:\F34bios\test.txt
C:\F34bios\SP52477\30CFF34A.WPH
C:\F34bios\SP52477\30CFF34B.WPH
C:\F34bios\SP52477\AUTORUN.SET
C:\F34bios\SP52477\BIOSOLD.bat
C:\F34bios\SP52477\delay.exe
C:\F34bios\SP52477\DELLOG.bat
C:\F34bios\SP52477\EXITCODE.exe
C:\F34bios\SP52477\FLASH32.BAT
C:\F34bios\SP52477\FLASH64.BAT
C:\F34bios\SP52477\IDERR.bat
C:\F34bios\SP52477\LOOP.BAT
C:\F34bios\SP52477\NOTADMIN.bat
C:\F34bios\SP52477\QUANTA.vbe
C:\F34bios\SP52477\showmsg1.exe
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\bios.bak
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\BIOS.WPH
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\mfc42.dll
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\msvcp60.dll
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\msvcrt.dll
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\PHLASH.AUT
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\PHLASH.INI
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\PHLASH.LOG
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\PHLASH.NOR
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\Phlash9X.vxd
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\PhlashLc.dll
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\PhlashNT.sys
C:\F34bios\SP52477\SWinFlash\SWinFlash.exe
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\mfc42.dll
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\msvcp60.dll
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\msvcrt.dll
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\PHLASH.AUT
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\PHLASH.INI
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\PHLASH.LOG
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\PHLASH.NOR
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\PhlashLc.dll
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\PhlashNT.sys
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\PHLASH_.INI
C:\F34bios\SP52477\Winphlash64\WinPhlash64.exe
this method eliminates the need to keep all drives on line all the time
Thanks for your input, !
I store all my films on numbered DVD's
Aaargh! That sounds really cumbersome. The reason I first opted for HDD’s was to do away with the need to change DVD’s. That said, at least with DVD’s you’re unlikely to lose more than one at a time (easily replaceable) through bad luck or wear and tear; with an HDD, you stand to lose thousands of files if you’re really unlucky.
I really like your directory file solution though. Many thanks for your contribution!