Cheap multiple external harddrive case?

[askara]

i have a 3 or 5 external Harddrive laying around from 2 TB to 500GB, i only used them to backup files but it start to get annoying and messy since each of the have it own USB and power cables so it taking up alot of spaces. Is there any cheap External HDD case with 3-5 bay where i just can plug in all my HDD into? i dont care about raid or whatever as long as it can transfer file by a usb2/3

whats the proper term for such case so i can google myself?

 

[Solandri]

The proper term is a RAID enclosure. The configuration you're describing (just stick in a bunch of different-sized drives) is called JBOD - just a bunch of disks.

Unfortunately they're not exactly cheap. The 4-bay I have cost $130.

 

[askara]

I have no idea why they are so expensive, i mean a single external case is only £10-15 for a 4 bay one is like £80plus here.

is there any cheaper DIY way around this? say if i can build a case to hold the HDDs, is there any wire i could be to link them in, so only have 1 power supply and usb wire?

 

[Solandri]

They are expensive because there's no way to multiplex the multiple HDD access signals over a single SATA interface. Power is simple - you can crimp multiple connectors onto the same power leads and plug them into all the drives. But each drive needs its own SATA interface. Multiplexing these so they appear as a single drive to the computer basically requires another computer. Which is what these devices are - a simple Linux computer which interfaces with all the drives, and runs RAID software to virtually combine them into one.

It would be possible to make a box with a separate USB interface for each drive, since USB is designed to be multiplexed with a USB hub. But that means each drive has to have its own SATA to USB interface, so you don't really save that much in cost.

There's also economies of scale. A lot of single-drive USB enclosures are made and sold. Very few of these multi-drive enclosures are sold. So the engineering costs to design them has to be amortized over fewer units sold, leading to a higher price.