Question Cheapest way to use 4 sata hard drives outside the case

AdrianVaughan

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Jan 6, 2016
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Hi all , i have 4 spare sata HDD drives there range from 250GB to 2TB and am looking for a way to add them to my system , i cant put them in the case as there is no room for them , is a there a cheap and simple way to add them ?

Thanks.
 

Aeacus

Titan
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If given that your MoBo has the extra 4x SATA ports free and your PSU also has 4x SATA power connectors free then just lay the HDDs on the table, next to the PC (or stack them) and connect SATA data and power cables to them. This is the easiest and cheapest way.

But if given that your MoBo doesn't have enough free SATA ports, you'd be looking at PCI-E based SATA expansion card,
amazon: https://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-Controller-Non-Raid-SI-PEX40064/dp/B00AZ9T3OU

And/or if your PSU doesn't have enough free SATA power connectors, then you'd be looking towards power cable extension as well,
cablemod: https://cablemod.com/product-category/cable-extensions/molex-to-4-sata-power/

If you want some order with your external HDDs + some cooling as well, then you can put them into HDD cage, like this one,
amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-RSV-3-5-Inch-Cage-RASA-11001/dp/B005FHHOXE
 

R_1

Expert
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an external docking station.
single bay
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dual bay
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or quad bay
61Rp-FiYLvL._AC_UL320_.jpg
 
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