[SOLVED] Devices that can connect multiple external drives to network ?

[videogamingtown]

I do a lot of editing and have multiple external powered hard drives for storage . Recently had to move my PC to another room for work but i don't have enough power sockets for the external drives in the new room. Is there a device that would allow me to plug in multiple drives from their original location and have them available as network drives ?

 

[USAFRet]

Yes. Specifically, a NAS.
Network Attached Storage.

2 bay, 4 bay. Attached via ethernet to the router. Data accessible from any PC in the house.
I have a QNAP TS-453a that does exactly this.

 

[Barty1884]

but i don't have enough power sockets for the external drives in the new room

A power bar would probably be your simplest solution.

Is there a device that would allow me to plug in multiple drives from their original location and have them available as network drives ?

To continue using a multitude of external HDDs, you'd need a host device.
Any system that can communicate with the external HDDs and the network should be workable.
Laptop, Desktop etc. I'm assuming they're all USB connected? So you'd need a system with an appropriate number of USB ports and an ethernet port.


Realistically though, now might be the time to consider upgrading your storage solution.
A NAS could be an all-in-one solution here.

 

[USAFRet]

And for a slighly less expensive thing, a 4 bay MediaSonic box.
Connected via USB to your PC.

I have one of these as well.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4


Less expensive, but far less capable than a real NAS box.

 

[SamirD]

The best thing for something like this is another computer that can share the drives via the network, but it still won't be faster than 100MB/sec so if you're doing video editing you may notice the speed difference.

Or a nas unit with a usb 3.0 port as these can share external drives really well. It's how we plan to connect all our external drives.

 

[USAFRet]

Or a nas unit with a usb 3.0 port as these can share external drives really well. It's how we plan to connect all our external drives.

Exactly as my TS-453a does.

4 drives internal, and a 4bay TR-004, and 4 bay MediaSonic...attached via USB.
12 drives, ~51TB available space.

The TR-004, also being QNAP, works natively with the QNAP OS.

 

[SamirD]

Nice!

Yeah, the nas units really do a solid job of sharing external drives. You would think that they wouldn't since they want to have drives in the nas, but I've found that the externals work really well in most units.