USB Hard Drive Bay Setup

KevinF · Post by **KevinF** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 2:19 pm

I was looking around and saw hard drive bays where you could install multiple hard drives into one tower or minitower depending on capacity selected.

I have couple or hard drives I would like to do this with. The only thing is 99% of the ones I see are Firewire and I want USB.

Is there anywhere I could get parts to build my own? I know I would need the drives, some type of enclosure, a power supply. That stuff would not be a big deal I believe. The part I have no idea about would be the board/card that would tie them all together and make them work via USB.

Can anyone help me or point me in the right direction?

BaLa · Post by **BaLa** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 5:43 pm

dunno about the parts..

but if this is what you're talking about you may not need to build one

http://www.newegg.com/app/Listproduct.a ... rchFor=usb

KevinF · Post by **KevinF** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 12:55 am

Those will do one drive. I want something that will house multiple drives.

BaLa · Post by **BaLa** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 12:57 am

oops missed that...

KevinF · Post by **KevinF** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 12:59 am

I am looking for something like this, but USB not firewire.

http://www.cooldrives.com/qubayredk1st.html

KevinF · Post by **KevinF** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 12:59 am

They don't have to be quick release like those though.

BaLa · Post by **BaLa** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 1:04 am

uh..

why not just get a firewire PCI card?

KevinF · Post by **KevinF** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 1:04 am

Looking around on that site they two of them but they are alot of money I think for what they are. Again I do not need something as fancy as those. I am not going to be swapping them around all the time.

I want to put the drives in and hook them up to Linksys new file server and put them on my wireless network.

The Linksys file server only has USB ports.

zooner · Post by **zooner** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 1:57 am

USB enclosures are pretty cheap and they have daisy chain capability.

Plus, it'd probably be cheaper to buy 4 of them then one of those towers. sometimes people sell them in multiple quanities on ebay. Buy 4 of them from the same seller and save a bundle!

zooner · Post by **zooner** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 2:15 am

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 314&depa=1

those can be daisy-chained and cost $31 (free shipping)

zooner · Post by **zooner** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 2:16 am

nevermind, can't be daisy chained.

you could use a hub though.

KevinF · Post by **KevinF** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 4:03 am

I thought about a hub and multiple drives. Then I got different pieces and parts. If I could get it all in one nice neat package that would be great.

I could make a frame to hold all the drives and the power supply and I would mount some fans to keep them cool. Once I got the frame built I could make the enclosure. The only part I don't know about is getting a board/card that could tie them all together and make them work.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 6:23 am

just a thought on doing this, those drive are going to be slow, i ran a hard drive on USB2 for about 2 days and realized it was not for me, swapped a cd burner in the encloser i have instead.

you could buy 4 of those enclosers and take the guts out of them and then make a tower your self, the circuit board in them is pretty small.

would be an intersting project.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 9:29 am

Got an old PC sitting around? Could put a USB 2.0 card in it for usb2.0 support if you needed and just toss all the HDDs in there.

KevinF · Post by **KevinF** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 3:23 pm

On the speed comment, would they be faster if they were installed in a computer that was networked?

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 4:02 pm

KevinF wrote:On the speed comment, would they be faster if they were installed in a computer that was networked?

They should, they'd be running at ata whatever 66/100 but from other computers they would be limited to the USB speed unless you could hook up an ethernet connection.