Fitting more HDD's in a computer.

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Gavin_Capacitor

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Ok, I have six 3.5" bays in my computer and five 5.25" bays. I have 6 HDD's currently and am looking at adding more. I know there are simple metal holders that will hold one 3.5" disk in one 5.25" slot, and that there are things like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332011 which hold five 3.5" drives in three 5.25" slots. However, I don't want to pay 120$ and i dont need all the hotswap/power buttons/etc. (though a fan would be nice). SO the question is this, is there a plain metal rack, at a resonable cost, that will hold 5 HDD's in three 5.25" (possibly with a fan)?
 
Why don't you just purchase a larger hard drive, slave the old ones to it and transfer any data you want to save?? Large hard drives are really cheap anymore.
 
sghiznaneck said:
Why don't you just purchase a larger hard drive, slave the old ones to it and transfer any data you want to save?? Large hard drives are really cheap anymore.
Click to expand...
Because, I have 6x500GB HDD's. Im considering buying a raid controller which would allow me to get more HDD's and add them to the array as needed. However, this would require me to have more space for HDD's, and I don't need a 120$ HDD holder thing.
 
yeah but thats 130$. All I want is a metal holder that will hold 5 HDD's in 3 5.25" bays. Like the holders that will hold 1 HDD in one 5.25" bay. Aiming for under 30$. Youd think that someone would make them - there bound to be people who have more HDD's than bays in their case.
 
Possible sollutions

You can put a removeable (Aluminum) case (with Fan) in a bay and switch drives.
But do you want to read them all at the same time ?
You need at least 1 bay for some type of Optical drive.
Sata board cables only have 1 connection, Master 1 and 2 on mbd.No Slave.
So 2 IDE's give you 4 connections.2 Masters,2 Slaves.
I'm not familiar with Promise cards for this.But read it added drives.
 
Adding extra hard drive controllers is not the issue. The issue here is where to physically put Gavin_Capacitor's 5 extra drives
 
I said i wasn't familiar with Promise.

No comment to me was necessary.You added nothing,but,
I have suggested ways to do this depending on the MBD,and cable
connections.Give him time to reply.
You can have 100 if you use a removeable bay.
 
You never bother to read the original posts. Gavin_Capacitor doesn't want to spend $100's on multiple drive bays. He wanted to use the old type simple metal brackets that adapted a 3 1/2 drive to fit in a 5 1/4 CDrom bay. In fact, I think I have a few if these brackets in my supply cabinets. Do you understand the issue now?
 
zipperman said:
No comment to me was necessary.You added nothing,but,
I have suggested ways to do this depending on the MBD,and cable
connections.Give him time to reply.
You can have 100 if you use a removeable bay.
Click to expand...


My advice... please stop making the useless posts.

Beside, Gavin_Capacitor, have you ever considered to build your own hard drive array ?
Really, you can just build it custom.

Here is my idea. All you need to get some metals and make some frame with slots, if you need to upgrade, unscrew it and pull it out.

The only problem is you need at least 1 foot of sata cables

http://i24.tinypic.com/b7ntef.jpg


This is just idea. JUST IDEA!~ :)
 
Tmagic650 said:
You never bother to read the original posts. Gavin_Capacitor doesn't want to spend $100's on multiple drive bays. He wanted to use the old type simple metal brackets that adapted a 3 1/2 drive to fit in a 5 1/4 CDrom bay. In fact, I think I have a few if these brackets in my supply cabinets. Do you understand the issue now?
Click to expand...

Thats almost what I'm looking for. What i want is just a metal rack/holder/bracket/whatever that will hold *five* 3.5" hard drives in *three* 5.25" bays. I don't want one of those hotswappable external drive bays though, there to expensive and any hard drives i put in there will be part of a raid 5 array so they will always be online. I have all the SATA ports and stuff, just need space to actually put the hard drives.

Edit: Im using XP x64, so the 2TB limit will *not* be a problem either.
 
Gavin_Capacitor said:
Thats almost what I'm looking for. What i want is just a metal rack/holder/bracket/whatever that will hold *five* 3.5" hard drives in *three* 5.25" bays. I don't want one of those hotswappable external drive bays though, there to expensive and any hard drives i put in there will be part of a raid 5 array so they will always be online. I have all the SATA ports and stuff, just need space to actually put the hard drives.

Edit: Im using XP x64, so the 2TB limit will *not* be a problem either.
Click to expand...

Have you considers to build your own?

have you look at my picture designs?
 
I don't think i could build my own, or one that I would trust anyway. Plus I don't exactly have sheet metal and the tools to work with it in my dorm lol
 
Gavin_Capacitor,
Are you studying drafting or movie making? Why so many drives in a dorm room environment computer? Are you competing with others that have a a "mine is bigger than yours" mentality?
 
I'm a pack rat. I torrent alot of stuff (also DC++ now that im in college). Plus i hate optical media - it gets scratched and then your ****ed, so i have images of any cd's I buy. And I dont plan on getting more HDD's right away, I'm getting a Highpoint RocketRaid 2200 (and possibly another one later since you have an array with disks from up to 4 controllers) and they allow you to add drives to a raid array w/o deleting and remaking the array, so I can just pickup a 500GB HDD and add it as i need too. Anyway after looking into all this (wanted to be sure - 250$ for a raid controller seems like alot) there was one problem, I could have max 10 HDD's (6x 3.5" bays and 4x 5.25" bays using one 3.5" in one 5.25" holders) or end up spending 120$ (more than a HDD) just to have a place to put them. I searched for a metal rack like that but couldn't find any, so i asked here.
 
Gavin_Capacitor said:
I'm a pack rat. I torrent alot of stuff (also DC++ now that im in college). Plus i hate optical media - it gets scratched and then your ****ed, so i have images of any cd's I buy. And I dont plan on getting more HDD's right away, I'm getting a Highpoint RocketRaid 2200 (and possibly another one later since you have an array with disks from up to 4 controllers) and they allow you to add drives to a raid array w/o deleting and remaking the array, so I can just pickup a 500GB HDD and add it as i need too. Anyway after looking into all this (wanted to be sure - 250$ for a raid controller seems like alot) there was one problem, I could have max 10 HDD's (6x 3.5" bays and 4x 5.25" bays using one 3.5" in one 5.25" holders) or end up spending 120$ (more than a HDD) just to have a place to put them. I searched for a metal rack like that but couldn't find any, so i asked here.
Click to expand...

I understand. I could use more hard drive space too. I have 5 hard drives totalling 350GB. 100GB is solely for OS back up. I am the webmaster for 2 local bands here, and I collect a lot of music on my system. I'm also into movies.

You could back up many files on DVD. That's what I do now, to keep my drives clear

Nodsu's link is sweet. I'd like to have something like it, but $$ is tight for me as well
 
Nodsu said:
Maybe something like this:

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/SearchDetail.asp?productID=14694&ta=detail_img&pi=Y&st=8
Click to expand...

I don't want to be rude but i have a link to the exact same thing in my first post on newegg saying that i want something like that just not 120$ because i don't need/want the hotswap/powerbutton/fan/etc.

I want a simple metal rack that holds FIVE HARD DISKS in THREE FIVE AND ONE QUARTER DRIVE BAYS for less than 40$.

Tmagic650 said:
You could back up many files on DVD. That's what I do now, to keep my drives clear
Click to expand...

Those are optical media, and plus i would have to keep buying more and it would be such a pain in the *** - i'd rather use that $ for more HDD space in a raid5 array which is fault tolerant so i dont have to worry about backing stuff up.
 
I don't think what you are asking for is avaiable for cheap, which is why nobody has given you a good answer.

I'm not going to come down on you or question your motives because I've ran 5 hard drives in a system before, and I've got a bunch of computers in my apt now for not too much more reason than I just like having them and having lots of space.

Anyway, I'm sure you probably know, but hard drives don't care what angle they run at, all they care about is not getting bumped while they are running. So you could make something out of epoxy and metal or plastic to just hold a couple drives upright in the bottom of your case. Or hang them from the top or something. If you don't have the money to buy a 'proper' container for one then just rig something up.
 
Use big tie-wraps to secure the hard drive in a group secured to the case. DVD's don't have to be accessed that often, and with a little care, they can last a long time. The proper RAID setup will safeguard data to a point
 
thats OEM by the looks
min. order of 100.00 shipping charge ????????????
but looks like I can use this info myself MMMMMMMMM
 
Samstoned said:
thats OEM by the looks
min. order of 100.00 shipping charge ????????????
but looks like I can use this info myself MMMMMMMMM
Click to expand...
I sent them an email so we will see what they say when they get back to me.
 
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