Suggestions on adding more hard drives

[gear02]

I want to add more storage space in my PC. The problem is that I already have 5 hard drives taking up all my internal slots, as well as power plugs. I want a solution that I can keep increasing the number of drives I can add. I also need to worry about IDE slots as well.

Considering that hard drives are cheap nowadays, I want to be able to get larger hard drives while putting my old 20GB drives to use.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[rajatQ2]

you can always buy a cheap machine and make it a blind machine on your lan. I have this for my MP3 server. Its an old P3 that just has a ton of storage space, and nothing connected to its video out. i use remote desktop connector to control the machine.
I also stripped out all unnescessary cards to minimize power comsumption. If you do that, another cool option you can do is to give it a vid card with TV-Out, plug it in behind your entertainment center, and use if for a jukebox with winamp visualizations.

Other than that, sorry man not too many more ideas. You will start taxing your power supply too much. They make certain server power supplies that will give you more flexibility for power plugs, but that can be risky. If you're bent on keeping the hard drives you hsould go with a blind machine :)

[seqiro]

You could consider removable storage, such as buying a firewire or usb 2.0 enclosure. Obviously this would require firewire or usb 2.0 ports.

If you go firewire, the best enclosures use the Oxford 911 chipset.

[gear02]

Yeah I figured as much. I guess I was hoping for a miracle or something.

As for firewire/USB2.0 enclosures, don't those require the use of the power supply or do they come with their own?

rajatQ2, is it possible to take that second machine, add an ethernet card to it, add a second ethernet card to the primary computer, and directly connect to that second machine while still connected to the internet?

[seqiro]

Originally posted by gear02
As for firewire/USB2.0 enclosures, don't those require the use of the power supply or do they come with their own?

They come with their own.

[Tommy Boomfiger]

Originally posted by gear02
rajatQ2, is it possible to take that second machine, add an ethernet card to it, add a second ethernet card to the primary computer, and directly connect to that second machine while still connected to the internet? ive had huge problems with putting 2 NICs in one computer. ive done this recently and one card gave me lots of blue screens and the other one wouldnt install properly with another NIC in the box. this wont happen to everyone but its something to look out for.

i suggest using a switch instead.

[billxp]

Well if you have 5 20GB drive. 1 120GB drive should solve all your problems and you will still have more storage space than you started.

What to do with the 20gb drive? Hmmmm paperweight :) Ebay Donate to a less fortunate friend

[gear02]

Originally posted by Tommy Boomfiger
i suggest using a switch instead.

That would be the easy solution, but I don't want to have the traffic between my primary machine and the hard drive machine going on the same network as my incoming/outgoing internet traffic. It would slow everything down.


Well if you have 5 20GB drive. 1 120GB drive should solve all your problems and you will still have more storage space than you started.

What to do with the 20gb drive? Hmmmm paperweight Ebay Donate to a less fortunate friend

Well, that's my point. I have all these drives, why not use them to some capacity. I hate to see space go to waste when I can use it somehow.

[Tommy Boomfiger]

Originally posted by gear02
That would be the easy solution, but I don't want to have the traffic between my primary machine and the hard drive machine going on the same network as my incoming/outgoing internet traffic. It would slow everything down.
how fast is your web connection and what are you going to be using the extra hard drive for? your web connection shouldnt be more than 4Mbps. with a switch you will be getting a theoretical throughput of 100Mbps to each port, realistically you will get less because your system cant handle those speeds and stuff doesnt work theorectically. chances you will max out at around 50Mbps for data transmission. so all added up you will be maxing out at 55Mbps.

now there is a chance with 2 nics in your box that if they work, they will work intermittantly so that will be even slower because you can only send or recieve out of one nic at a time.

here is some good info for using 2 NICs at once: http://www.practicallynetworked.com/support/twonichelp.htm

[gear02]

Originally posted by Tommy Boomfiger
how fast is your web connection and what are you going to be using the extra hard drive for? your web connection shouldnt be more than 4Mbps. with a switch you will be getting a theoretical throughput of 100Mbps to each port, realistically you will get less because your system cant handle those speeds and stuff doesnt work theorectically. chances you will max out at around 50Mbps for data transmission. so all added up you will be maxing out at 55Mbps.

now there is a chance with 2 nics in your box that if they work, they will work intermittantly so that will be even slower because you can only send or recieve out of one nic at a time.

here is some good info for using 2 NICs at once: http://www.practicallynetworked.com/support/twonichelp.htm

Ah ok. So you're saying that the two nics idea is very unreliable while going through a switch or router wouldn't decrease the throughput. Ok that makes sense. Thanks!

[MasterRecca]

you could always just buy another controller card and the Y-splitters for the power connectors ... thats what i did :p

[rajatQ2]

actually a network switch would be your best bet. they are Intelligent networking devices (different from hubs and repeaters) so they only send the nescessary packets to the proper destinations. They wont clog up your network at all. However you will need to have some sort of internal lan, like a broadband router or something.

what do you have?

about the 2 nic's idea... I've only seen it work properly if you are running XP Pro, using internet connection sharing. It can slow down the primary machine significantly, though. I would suggest spending $50 on a broadband router intead.

hth

[gear02]

Originally posted by MasterRecca
you could always just buy another controller card and the Y-splitters for the power connectors ... thats what i did :p

The problem with that is that my system is already overloaded with devices. 5 HD, 1 DVD, 1 burner, 5 fans, etc. I'm afraid the system will become unstable, especially when I use all the devices at once.

I went with the second computer approach with the second computer connected to a switch. I have a Linksys BEFSR41 router and I believe it has 4 switches built in so I'm good. I already have an extra case with a power supply so all I need is a cheap mobo, CPU, and memory and I'm good. I figure I can install the computer by taking my current video card and sticking it in there while I install my OS and stuff and then remove it and use remote desktop.

Now I need to find more deals on hard drives =)

Thanks guys!

[MasterRecca]

i have more devices on mine then yours ... 5 fans, 6 hds, dvd rom, cd burner, etc etc ... it depends how good your ps is really

[gear02]

Originally posted by MasterRecca
i have more devices on mine then yours ... 5 fans, 6 hds, dvd rom, cd burner, etc etc ... it depends how good your ps is really

True...I also don't have any more bays...so this solution works.

[bachviet]

I would say second computer with home networking (broadband router) is your best bet. I'm running 3 computers with a SMC7004ABR and it works great. My old 700Mhz serves as my data server with all my stuffs in there!

[Windsor]

I have the 2 ethernet with crossover dealie going on and the internet share works all the time, but I can't even see the other comp anymore, it worked intermittently and I've given up since I don't really have that much need for controlling that machine.

[gear02]

OK...so I bought a ECS K7S5A mobo and over at fatwallet they're saying this board is a hit or miss, that it can be rock stable or crappy and you really don't know which you'll get. I'm getting really worried about this and I'm finally thinking if this is worth it. Should I just replace my harddrives with something bigger (i.e. my small 20GB for a 80Gb) or should I build this hard drive server machine?

Here's the link to the mobo on newegg where I bought it.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=13-135-102&DEPA=1

I also got myself a Tbird 1.33Ghz for this machine. So if I return it all I'll save myself $160 - 15% restocking fee. If I do return it, does anyone know how well Newegg does returns?

[billxp]

Forget the 80gb drives. Get min 120gb.