External storage backplane device with no controller or logic?

[dkulprit]

Hey all,

I have a bunch of SSDs (8+) of varying sizes that I would like to put into an external housing of some sort. Due to the varying sizes and also wanting to just play around with storage spaces in a non-production environment, I'm looking for a housing that is just pretty much a backplane and provides power, no controller or logic built into the device that connect via esata or even type c.

So far outside of rack mounted with QSFP+ or MiniSAS or something along those lines I haven't been able to find anything.

I really didn't think finding an external housing that's pretty much just backplanes with power and some sort of connection would be this difficult.

Any ideas on any hardware I could use?

Also, the reason I want something that simple is cost. As I said, I'm just looking to play around with some spare SSDs that I have, as soon as I get into something with a controller I immediately jump into the 300+ range. For 200 I could just buy one of those rack mounted backplane devices, and I have spare MiniSAS cables and and PCIe cards I could throw in my computer.

 

[mcnumpty23]

any thing over 4 drives the price shoots up because they usually feature raid etc--plus with ssds you probably wouldnt get the max out of them in an external enclosure

i mess around with storage spaces with a load of old 3.5 mechanical drives -storage spaces is a pretty useful often overlooked thing

but i made sure to get a motherboard with 10 sata 3 ports and that actually worked out cheaper probably than an 8 bay device will for you unless you get

lucky on ebay

 

[USAFRet]

If you're not opposed to USB 3 or eSATA, one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4

4 bay, $100.

I have one, it works great.
Will probably add another in for the HTPC.

 

[mcnumpty23]

If you're not opposed to USB 3 or eSATA, one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4

4 bay, $100.

I have one, it works great.
Will probably add another in for the HTPC.

does that only support 3.5 drives? or can put ssds in it?

 

[mcnumpty23]

this would house them all and would only need a very low watt psu to power them

but would still leave the problem of how to connect them

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/8-bay-silverstone-sst-ds380b-premium-small-form-factor-nas-case-with-3-fans-35-25-hdd-ssd-sata-sas-w

 

[USAFRet]

If you're not opposed to USB 3 or eSATA, one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4

4 bay, $100.

I have one, it works great.
Will probably add another in for the HTPC.

does that only support 3.5 drives? or can put ssds in it?

It doesn't take 2.5" drives directly, but some mount adapter can be rigged up.
And in the near future, I will find out exactly how...

 

[dkulprit]

If you're not opposed to USB 3 or eSATA, one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4

4 bay, $100.

I have one, it works great.
Will probably add another in for the HTPC.

I like. I am fine with USB 3 or eSATA. I was just under the assumption that it would not work due to data limitations on each type of cable which is why I could not find any enclosures with 2+ drives that didn't come w/o a raid controller built in.

Edit: Thank you!

 

[USAFRet]

If you're not opposed to USB 3 or eSATA, one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4

4 bay, $100.

I have one, it works great.
Will probably add another in for the HTPC.

I like. I am fine with USB 3 or eSATA. I was just under the assumption that it would not work due to data limitations on each type of cable which is why I could not find any enclosures with 2+ drives that didn't come w/o a raid controller built in.

Edit: Thank you!

Right now I have just a single 8TB Seagate in it. But soon, I will be transferring all the drives from the HTPC into two of these.
6 drives total, 20+TB.

 

[Sleepy3103]

Are you going to try and set them up with like a JBOD array or something. You might have to find a bare bones server chassis that just has the back planes in it and no mobo and controllers. I have seen a few cheap server chassis on ebay that have 2.5 inch drives for pretty cheap. You could then just use whatever controller and such you want and run it to the back plane.