External hard drive enclosure?

[Buchanan0204]

I'm looking for an external hard drive enclosure. One that can hold a minimum of 4 drives, I don't need any raid facilities or networking.

I'm looking to have four 2TB drives and have it attached to my media pc. I'm currently using an external drive, but it's already full and I don't want to keep adding desktop external drives and using up extra sockets etc.

So is there such a thing. Or would it be better to build a cheap pc from second hand parts, bang in the drives and install windows server... link it with a gigabit crossover cable?

I'd like to avoid the expensive prices of these NAS boxes. It's so expensive for what it is, I'm sure I could build a pc for the same price. Energy saving isn't really a priority for me.

Any suggestions on how to sort out my dilemma?

 

[Werewolf]

If you need 4+ drives in an external box I suspect that a mini ATX system with a smalish case would probably do it as cheaply as any NAS, and more neatly than a bunch of external drives, whilst also allowing for more potential expansion.

I think Asus do a barebones machine that could be ready for 4-6 drives for about £120ish, otherwise pick up a motherboard/cpu/ram cheap and bung it in a case with enough drive bays for what you want.

You could probably even use a linux varient to reduce the need to pay for a suitable OS.

[edit]
Next time I upgrade my main machine i'm going for a full tower...I figure something like a Fractal XL and a 4-6 port SATA card will probably cost me less than mucking around with external drives

 

[Buchanan0204]

If you need 4+ drives in an external box I suspect that a mini ATX system with a smalish case would probably do it as cheaply as any NAS, and more neatly than a bunch of external drives, whilst also allowing for more potential expansion.

I think Asus do a barebones machine that could be ready for 4-6 drives for about £120ish, otherwise pick up a motherboard/cpu/ram cheap and bung it in a case with enough drive bays for what you want.

You could probably even use a linux varient to reduce the need to pay for a suitable OS.

[edit]
Next time I upgrade my main machine i'm going for a full tower...I figure something like a Fractal XL and a 4-6 port SATA card will probably cost me less than mucking around with external drives

I was sort of hoping to keep the size to a minimum. It sort of defeats the purpose of having an acer revo for my htpc and then adding a m-atx case next to it for storage. Where as some small enclosure would have kept the size right down. What about these small Lian-Li HTPC cases. I take it they only hold 1-2 drives?

However, doing as you suggested and then hiding the server/case in another room and linking it with a gigabit crossover cable might be an idea. Any idea if the acer revo's ethernet adapter would allow for a crossover connection, or would it only work with a straight thru?

Cheers for the advice.