Extra PATA drives = extra storage….but how???

[Scriber]

NAS, Multi-bay External USB/FW enclosure; dedicated PC???


Want to put my old drives to some use for video or even just extra centralized storage. Currently, I’ve got 2 dedicated Client boxes and a Sage “server” in the basement in an otherwise mixed PC/Mac environment. Trying to decide which way to go. Separate NAS is workable but seems costly w/an extra PC lying around - could use the extra PC for NAS using software though. Picking up a Multi-bay External USB/FW enclosure o connect to my my Sage server seems simple enough t – any drawbacks? Or perhaps dusting off and adding drives to an old P4 1.8G box running XP Pro then sharing the drives is the way to go.

I guess I don't see how NAS (via a separate box of an old PC) is better than my other 2 options but perhaps I'm wrong. Multibay USB/FW are simple, small, and don't require another PC at all so that seems a good idea too. Finally, adding a PC simply for drives seems a bit over the top but OTOH its the cheapest option.

Recommendations? Pros/Cons?

[bhyman1]

I use two external USB 2.0 enclosure for some of me TV recording hard drives and they work great.

My Dad has his entire DVD library on a bunch of Lcaie USB 2.0 drives and they work great too.

External USB and firewire drives are a great way to add external storage at a low cost. I'd go that way and just plug them right into your server.

[tmiranda]

If you have some old hardware laying around you could use this NAS.(http://www.serverelements.com). It's cheap, easy, very fast and very reliable.

[teknubic]

I just bought a NexStar NAS HD Enclosure. I'll let you know how it goes after I put it through it's paces.

[teknubic]

Okay. It works as advertised. Installation and configuration is very Linksys-y. Transfer speeds are about what I expected (24Mb/s) over a switched LAN. It's pretty quiet and has a configuration option to spin-down the drive after a pre-determined length of inactivity. I've got a 250GB Seagate in it right now but it says it can handle up to a 500GB drive.

[Scriber]

OK, forgive my ignorance here, and perhaps this is my specific question, but how is NAS (either on a PC or its own box) better than simply plugging an my old PC into the network and sharing the drives (assuming portability is a non-issue)?

[dvd_maniac]

Not entirely sure but I think a NAS dedicated PC does not require a full-blown OS to be installed. Less maintanence and overhead and just needs barebone low-end hardware...
Let me know if I got this wrong because I am thinking of going on a similair path with an old PC?

[teknubic]

I'm going the free-standing NAS route because I don't want yet another PC on all the time. Plus, we're talking PATA drives here and my old computer only has 1 IDE connector on the motherboard. That limits me to 2 drives unless I get a controller card and good ones aren't cheap. That's just me though.

[GKusnick]

Here's a completely different approach, assuming you still have some unused SATA connectors in your existing PCs:

Sell the old PATA drives and use that money plus what you would have spent on NAS or USB enclosures to buy new, high-capacity SATA drives. You may not break even in terms of up-front costs, but in terms of power consumed per GB, you'll probably come out ahead, so your long-term operating costs should be lower.

[dvd_maniac]

I am think of doing just that.
I am getting ready to upgrade and sell off my 4*250GB Seagate Sata drives with a 3Ware 9500s-8 Raid-5 card. Right now I have 2 3Ware cards one in the Sage Server and another in a full PC acting as a SageClient and a NAS.
I am gearing up for the HD extender so I want to rid myself of the Client and the Raid-5 setup and use that money to offset the purchase of 4 750GB drives...
The 4*400GB drives in the Sage server will go into USB enclosures for backups.

[lobosrul]

Well you could get something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816124001

Thats a PCI card with 2 IDE connectors (buy 2 for 4 HDD's). If you dont have room in your server case for more pc's buy a new case. I know Antech sells a case that can house 6 HDD's, i know because I have one.

Personally, I'm waiting for 1 TB drives to fall to about $250 then I'm building a 5 disk raid-5 array. Yeah I know that could be 1-2 years away.

Antec case I have: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129025

[bhyman1]

Originally Posted by lobosrul

Well you could get something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816124001

Thats a PCI card with 2 IDE connectors (buy 2 for 4 HDD's). If you dont have room in your server case for more pc's buy a new case. I know Antech sells a case that can house 6 HDD's, i know because I have one.

Personally, I'm waiting for 1 TB drives to fall to about $250 then I'm building a 5 disk raid-5 array. Yeah I know that could be 1-2 years away.

Antec case I have: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129025

Thats a regular IDE controller card. Each port will support two drives. So one card for 4 drives.

[lobosrul]

Originally Posted by bhyman1

Thats a regular IDE controller card. Each port will support two drives. So one card for 4 drives.

Oh yeah, your right, one card would support 4 devices. I forgot that whole master/slave thing.

[stevech]

beware: some old/cheap IDE controller cards have a < 128GB limit.
As I recall, you need to ensure it supports 48 bit LBA (logical block addresses)

[reggie14]

It had to be pretty old for it to not support LBA. I have a Promise Ultra 100TX2 that I think I bought around 2002. I'm pretty sure the model was released a couple years before that. It supports LBA in a bios/driver release in 2003.

There's a new version of the card on newegg for about $30.