Question Efficient way to hook up many HDDs (10+)

[zantaff]

So I have 20-something 2.5" SATA 500gb hard drives procured from various reclaimed PCs. Right now they're just collecting dust. I want to put them to use in some kind of home server/ NAS. What's an efficient (cheap) way to hook them up? For any ground-up build I would need to get a case, mobo, power, etc.

• Cheap PC case with a mobo that has a billion SATA slots? Like this x16 one or this x10 one?
• Link up a bunch of SAS cards to 4x SATA to SAS cables? Like This and This?
• Buy a bunch of PCIe SATA cards?
• Get some kind of rack mount server? (16 Bays / 25 Bays)
• Something else that's probably really simple but I'm missing?

My goal is to save money and use the HDDs I have.
If I need to go out and buy $$$$ worth of equipment when I could instead, spend less and buy larger drives and cheaper equipment... Then it defeats the whole project.

Thanks!

 

[hang-the-9]

Those rack servers don't seem to include drive caddies so you would have to buy those separate. What you get depends on what you have already. If you have a case that can fit a bunch of drives then you can use a few of the PCIe SATA cards to add the drivers, or RAID cards.

 

[USAFRet]

What specific type drives are these?
SAS, SATA, other...

 

[zantaff]

Those rack servers don't seem to include drive caddies so you would have to buy those separate. What you get depends on what you have already. If you have a case that can fit a bunch of drives then you can use a few of the PCIe SATA cards to add the drivers, or RAID cards.

I'd be building this pretty much from scratch. I have an old Gpu and some cables lying around but that's about it.
I've never messed with a rack server, but if I got one, I'd be treating it pretty much like a standalone tower.

What specific type drives are these?
SAS, SATA, other...

They are 2.5" SATA III drives.

 

[USAFRet]

They are 2.5" SATA III drives.

1 or 2 of these 8 bay enclosures:
https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-H82-SU3S2-ProBox-External-Enclosure/dp/B005GYDMYG

I have the 4 bay version.

 

[zantaff]

1 or 2 of these 8 bay enclosures:
https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-H82-SU3S2-ProBox-External-Enclosure/dp/B005GYDMYG

I have the 4 bay version.

Thanks, I'll take a look.

 

[unknownerrors]

If you have two open PCI slots in your current system you can get yourself a raid card and an expander. then get a couple of these
ICY DOCK 6 x 2.5 SSD to 5.25 Drive Bay.
or if you really want to put them into their own system, get a case with plenty of 5.25 drive bays and slap a server board in. since your drives are 2.5's the reduced power draw is a nice perk for an always on nas box