[SOLVED] No more storage space, upgrading case, no more space to add ssd/hdd

[Richard7991]

Hi everyone, I have 4 hard drives and an SSD plugged into my SATA ports, and my current case could hold, 5 trays (HD store family videos, vlogs, photos and cant be deleted, SSD is my OS). There are two things with this question, first is I'm running out of storage with the hard drives, 2TB each (I know I could just change the hard drives to store more) but let's put that aside for now, the second thing is I really want to build a new PC, but if I do, new cases that I'm looking at, wouldn't hold that many HD trays in the case (Ex. Corsair 4000d).

At first, I was thinking maybe buy larger capacities to store more in one drive, but maybe it would be more reasonable to put those hard drives into an external thing and plug it into my PC saving all the SATA ports and trays. Then I could get just get new hard drive, to store the new stuff connected through SATA. Oh that's one more thing, the old hard drives currently holding the family stuff, are preferably staying as separate drives.


I'm for some reason "stuck".

If someone has ideas, please LOL I'm stuck

Thanks in advance!

 

[JoshRC]

I guess your asking for solutions aside from buying new drives right? If so the first thought in my mind is a cloud storage service, there are heaps of great options, i would recommend iDrive. Cloud storage is super reliable and your guaranteed to never loose your data, however you are limited by your internet speed and when storing large amounts of data cloud storage can get expensive quickly.

Personally i like to use network attached storage. You could build one yourself, even use 2nd hand parts doesnt require anything that powerful. You more or less just build a lowend PC with a bunch a drives and good networking. This option can be really cheap and i guess fun if your into that kinda thing. Its also the option that provides best expansion options in the future.
There is NAS options for less tech savvy people like this :https://www.amazon.com.au/Synology-DiskStation-DS220j-Diskless-2-Bay/dp/B0855LMP81. They are set up with ease of use in mind and are largley plug and play, but tend to be quite expensive.
Also if you have important data your storing you might not want to totally rely on a NAS, its important to think about potential losses of data like a fire or waterdamage ect.

 

[Richard7991]

I guess your asking for solutions aside from buying new drives right? If so the first thought in my mind is a cloud storage service, there are heaps of great options, i would recommend iDrive. Cloud storage is super reliable and your guaranteed to never loose your data, however you are limited by your internet speed and when storing large amounts of data cloud storage can get expensive quickly.

Personally i like to use network attached storage. You could build one yourself, even use 2nd hand parts doesnt require anything that powerful. You more or less just build a lowend PC with a bunch a drives and good networking. This option can be really cheap and i guess fun if your into that kinda thing. Its also the option that provides best expansion options in the future.
There is NAS options for less tech savvy people like this :https://www.amazon.com.au/Synology-DiskStation-DS220j-Diskless-2-Bay/dp/B0855LMP81. They are set up with ease of use in mind and are largley plug and play, but tend to be quite expensive.
Also if you have important data your storing you might not want to totally rely on a NAS, its important to think about potential losses of data like a fire or waterdamage ect.

Oh that is right! I could technically just use my old PC with all the old drives plugged in normally but run it as a NAS?

Would it be efficient? wouldn't matter right?

 

[JoshRC]

Oh that is right! I could technically just use my old PC with all the old drives plugged in normally but run it as a NAS?

Would it be efficient? wouldn't matter right?

Absolutley you could. Definatley the cheapest option, you would have to put in a bit of time setting it up though. I would suggest looking into how to use the software FreeNAS/TrueNAS (its pretty simple) and maybe have a look at other people diy NAS (heaps of really good walkthroughs on youtube). As far as power effiency goes i couldn't comment i would need to see the set up but if the pc has been build with professional or gaming applications in mind then your power efficiency may be pretty bad, definitely somthing to consider as NAS's useually are always running. Also to that point, the drives you have are probably the normal ones, this isnt always an issue it just meaning they havent been design to be constantly running so they will die quicker than other drive like this one built of a NAS https://www.amazon.com.au/Seagate-IronWolf-SATA-64MB-Cache1/dp/B07H289S79.

 

[Richard7991]

Absolutley you could. Definatley the cheapest option, you would have to put in a bit of time setting it up though. I would suggest looking into how to use the software FreeNAS/TrueNAS (its pretty simple) and maybe have a look at other people diy NAS (heaps of really good walkthroughs on youtube). As far as power effiency goes i couldn't comment i would need to see the set up but if the pc has been build with professional or gaming applications in mind then your power efficiency may be pretty bad, definitely somthing to consider as NAS's useually are always running. Also to that point, the drives you have are probably the normal ones, this isnt always an issue it just meaning they havent been design to be constantly running so they will die quicker than other drive like this one built of a NAS https://www.amazon.com.au/Seagate-IronWolf-SATA-64MB-Cache1/dp/B07H289S79.

Yes, the build is a i5 4690k, cooled by Corsair H60, GTX960ssc, Corsair 550x power supply, the hard drives are 2 x Western Digital Green 2TB, Some random 1TB Toshiba hd from a old laptop (this holds games I sometimes play). For the green WD drives, currently, they stay low powered or shutdown, when I access files they start to spin. Not sure if that helps?

 

[USAFRet]

4 bay external device. USB connected.
I have an earlier version of this, works quite well:
https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B078YQHWYW

In constant use since Aug 2016. The ONLY complaint I have with it is the brightness of the blue LEDs.

 

[USAFRet]

And of course, a commercial NAS would do the trick.

My QNAP TS-453a has been flawless since Jan 2017.

The above MediaSonic is currently connected to it.

 

[JoshRC]

Yes, the build is a i5 4690k, cooled by Corsair H60, GTX960ssc, Corsair 550x power supply, the hard drives are 2 x Western Digital Green 2TB, Some random 1TB Toshiba hd from a old laptop (this holds games I sometimes play). For the green WD drives, currently, they stay low powered or shutdown, when I access files they start to spin. Not sure if that helps?

The cpu is fine although maybe change the aio cooler for the stock one because the pumps in them dont last long if used alot. Power supply should be plenty and if power efficiency is a consideration then take out the gpu all together and use the intergrated graphics on the cpu, if you did want a dedicated gpu use somthing like a GT 710 (anything low power really). The drives will definiety be fine for a while but just may be unreliable into the future. If in a standby/shutdown they will last longer and yes they will do this on windows anyway but perhaps you may choose to use a linux based OS (highly recommended) in which case it may or may not support this or you might have to manually enable it.

4 bay external device. USB connected.
I have an earlier version of this, works quite well:
https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B078YQHWYW

Its worth considering this i think. Would be much easier to set up and perfect for the amount of space you want. You could just take your current hdds and put them in this. It not a NAS so wont be accessable through your local network, instead through a usb c connection but it is possible to set it up to be connected to LAN.