Cheap Way to fill Server

[OLd_Timer_Fart]

after the great advice this forum has given me i went for a server pc in the house. using Linux Mint 18 which although is a desktop environment in the laptop server testing has been fine for my needs.

all in i am about £120 in
HP8000 SFF ( Laugh away ) as i upgraded a fair bit after finding a bios that allows features
Q8400 - 3ghz OC Re did the thermal paste
16gb ddr3 1333mhz ( 32gb max )
PCI1 x1 x2 USB3 Ports
AMD 5450 1gb ddr3 re did the thermal paste
PCI 4Port SATA raid Card
ICyBox 5.25" 4x 2.5" drive caddy

Updated my Router to a ASUS VDSL (68 down 19 up) and added a gigabit switch as well so everything is running fast .
Now my grandson said that you can use external hardrives just like normal drives, and was wondering if this is correct?

I have been looking up prices and want to fill up the Icy Box and was looking at Maxtor 2TB 2.5" hard drives as these are cheaper than a 1tb hard drive on amazon.

Ideally i was sort of hoping i could get a Toshiba Hdd that is 5TB on ebuyer for £100 x2 as the normal pc drives as there is room for 2 in the case.

I am basically using it for Samaba File Server / Plex Media Server / Hosting 2 websites ( after going crazy with DDNS ) and a mail server.

so i guess that should give me say 4tb of backed up space for important data and 10tbish of space for my dvds and such

I really need to stop coming on this forum as i end up going off on ebay buying all sorts but this forum has made computers fun again.

Thanks In advance and curse you for an addictive hobbie

The Old Timer Fart

 

[USAFRet]

Now my grandson said that you can use external hardrives just like normal drives, and was wondering if this is correct?

Sure. It will be a bit slower, going through the USB interface. But you can use externals no problem.
On my HTPC/house server, there is 1 x 1TB USB external, and a 4 bay Mediasonic box. Currently populated by a single 8TB Seagate, but more drives to go in there soon.

 

[OLd_Timer_Fart]

sorry lol i wasnt clear, if i break out the Hard drives from the external cases and use them as normal hard drives i didnt have my glasses on ( dont tell nanna )

they have benefit from the internal cooling fans of the pc then as well

 

[USAFRet]

sorry lol i wasnt clear, if i break out the Hard drives from the external cases and use them as normal hard drives i didnt have my glasses on ( dont tell nanna )

Ah, OK.

Sometimes. Usually. But not always.
Some external drives and their cases have the USB-SATA bridge on the actual drive PCB. Those need to stay in their enclosure.

 

[OLd_Timer_Fart]

no way of finding out like some sort of list which drives as basics just pluged into a PCB

sorry for the questions i just want to fill up the drive bays without spending £1000 when £200 the external route could get me 4x2TB 2.5" drives for the IcyBox and £200 could get me 2x5TB 3.5" drives for the case.

 

[USAFRet]

no way of finding out like some sort of list which drives as basics just pluged into a PCB

sorry for the questions i just want to fill up the drive bays without spending £1000 when £200 the external route could get me 4x2TB 2.5" drives for the IcyBox and £200 could get me 2x5TB 3.5" drives for the case.

I am not aware of any definitive list showing which can and which cannot.

 

[13thmonkey]

there was a rumour that the 5TB seagate(?) externals were actually 5TB heliums for about 1/2 the price that they should be, but that might have been an early batch etc.

 

[OLd_Timer_Fart]

Just looking on ebuyer
http://www.ebuyer.com/632162-toshiba-5tb-canvio-desktop-hard-drive-hdwc250ek3j1

cheap as chips per TB its a con they can charge so much for internal drives yet so little for external

this is basically what i am trying to fill with the 2.5" drives the problem i have is even at my age i still run off with myself oh i could do this and oh i could do that...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00WBEZYVI/ref=s9_simh_gw_g147_i5_r?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=SK1EPD9X754ZZZFP4XK1&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=16f14aeb-bd11-4e9e-8c26-9ca0139074ee&pf_rd_i=desktop

 

[13thmonkey]

http://thesavvytechs.com/2014/10/06/toshiba-canvio-desk-5tb-usb-3-0-external-hard-drive/

Some info in the last paragraphs here: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/storage/toshiba-4tb-canvio-usb-3-0-external-hard-drive-1261227/review

 

[OLd_Timer_Fart]

Thank you both. The support this forum offers is second to none even for an old ah heck like me

Now just need to find out when the wife will be out next week Bingo has its uses

 

[OLd_Timer_Fart]

just in case someone looking for the same information comes to this post

:

I bought one for harvesting. The product box says it's made in China. The drive inside is a Toshiba MD04ACA500 made in the Philippines.

Bare drive is a standard SATA, and the system reports it as 7200 RPM. Blackmagic disk test benches it at 209-213 MB/s at beginning of drive. Read and write both.

All the case electronics are on a miniboard that mounts to the SATA connector. Then there's a metal shield/heat spreader that covers the drive underside, connections, and enclosure board. Finally, 4 rubber bushings between drive assembly and plastic outer case. No fan.

I tried it before disassembly, made sure it worked before breaking the warranty. Seemed average for drive noise from a ventilated case. The case snaps together, no screws. If you know exactly where each catch is, you can probably open it invisibly. Otherwise, expect to rough up the catches.

Edit: I rebenched to confirm the figures. Original figures were from memory, when I opened it a week ago. A fresh test came up lower - turned out I had to use the storagereview trick to create small (10GB) partitions at beginning and end of drive to force writing at the proper locations.

Start of drive: 190-210 MB/s, read & write, tended to average ~200 MB/s. Confirmed with file copies to/from a RAID 0 array.

End of drive: 101-113 MB/s, read & write, tended to settle ~108 MB/s.

All speed tests were done via internal 3G port in a Mac Pro. I don't have a USB 3 port to test in the enclosure.

 

[13thmonkey]

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