"External" Internal Hard Drives

R-TYPE · 8 Mar 2015 at 22:13

Does anyone use internal hard drives in an external enclosure but connected using direct SATA connections instead of USB connections? Presumably this is as fast as a normal direct connection to motherboard?

Can anyone recommend an interface card for this, and/or advice? The aim would be to minimise the amount of kit inside the case to maximise clear space.

Thanks

pepp77 · 8 Mar 2015 at 22:20

For about 12 quid you can buy a two port PCI Express e-sata card. You can then connect e-sata devices to this which operate at Sata speeds.

I have one with a 5 bay DAS connected to each and see no difference in speeds copying to or from them to my main rig as to or from the internal drives.

This is my current setup.

Microserver bottom left, DAS 1 middle right, DAS 2 top left.

[/IMG]

Raggy · 9 Mar 2015 at 10:17

Cool setup.

Justintime · 9 Mar 2015 at 10:57

Sharkoon in the middle? Converted mine to be powered by Molex

, psu was just too noisy.

pepp77 · 9 Mar 2015 at 11:05

Justintime said:
Sharkoon in the middle? Converted mine to be powered by Molex , psu was just too noisy.

Nope its a Tera Store - managed to pick it up second hand but unused for £70. The top left one I have just realised has been replaced as it was a 4 bay unit that annoyingly would power down if you even so much as rebooted the main PC it was connected to. It is now an Edge Store DAS501T - basically exactly the same as the Tera Store (which is basically the same as the Sharkoon) but without individual HDD status lights.

McGraw · 9 Mar 2015 at 11:27

I considered this but usb 3.0 turned out well enough for my needs.

I have internal ssd for os and games, internal 7200 for libraries and the external for backup and storage.

R-TYPE · 9 Mar 2015 at 23:43

Thanks Pepp77.

I can't seem to find a decent 3.5 enclosure with 6gbs sata port. All seem to be usb 3.0. Anyone know of a product with 6gbs sata in the form of an external enclosure? I want to put my hdd data drive outside the main case if possible, but not in a bigger multi-drive enclosure.

Thanks

ShiWarrior · 10 Mar 2015 at 10:01

I was just about to ask this very same question !!
Except , I was thinking of having my 3 internal hard drives that are currently not connected, put inside some sort of box that is then connected to the computer via USB

is that possible ? any ideas please? Thanks

Justintime · 10 Mar 2015 at 10:19

R-TYPE said:
Thanks Pepp77.

I can't seem to find a decent 3.5 enclosure with 6gbs sata port. All seem to be usb 3.0. Anyone know of a product with 6gbs sata in the form of an external enclosure? I want to put my hdd data drive outside the main case if possible, but not in a bigger multi-drive enclosure.

Thanks

USB is just more convenient. With eSATA unless it has some sort of RAID implementation you need either a multiplier aware eSATA port on the motherboard or PCIe multiplier card in your PC for multiple single drives.

Edit : is it for a single drive or multiple? Theres plenty of single eSATA enclosures on the market.

R-TYPE · 11 Mar 2015 at 00:18

Single, didn't see too many eSATA enclosure units until I used the term "eSATA".... thanks! Simply wanted to put my internal HDD data drive outside the case (free up airflow) but maintain the data speed.