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(2016-11-18, 18:44)AMv8(1day) Wrote: Any word yet on whether this "has" to use the supplied WD HDD?
Yes, I realize that you need the SATA/Power = USB component before you can just connect any bare hard drive, but what if you simply took apart an external hard drive like Seagates new 5TB 2.5" model?
Is there any sort of proprietary magic being used here that would prevent you connecting to your own hard drive, or a higher than 1TB capacity? I currently have a 4TB 2.5" external drive sitting around doing nothing, and I would much prefer to use it rather than go buying more storage at a lower capacity.
Plus, if I wanted to set this up as a home media center KODI/PLEX solution for a family member for Christmas or something, I don't want to be limited to 1TB.
The USB to SATA bridge is actually embedded inside the 2.5 HDD. It would require soldering to reuse the interface for any other SATA drive, and wouldn't be worth the effort compared to just buying a normal USB-SATA interface.
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Depending on the drive and whatever else you may be using on the USB ports a powered hub would be a sensible investment too.
I can't see what you need a PiDrive for though - just use the existing drive and an adaptor cable or case as you mentioned if you want something larger than the PiDrives, or a portable solution like a MyPassport or equivalent.
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(2016-11-18, 23:48)AMv8(1day) Wrote: I wouldn't be trying to reuse the USB to SATA bridge from the Pi Drive, I would be buying something like the Foundation model and using my own drive, probably with the USB to SATA bridge built into an external hard drive enclosure. Or something like the stand alone Sabrent USB to SATA adapter I have laying around somewhere not doing me any good.
Outside of the Y-cable to power the drive and Pi at the same time, there wouldn't be much point in using the WD kit. The two WD enclosures look very tight and would likely need to be modified/shaven to fit a USB to SATA connection.
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It wouldn't take up much more space than it's already using, the USB to SATA adapter I own takes up about the amount of space the male SATA to female USB portion of this "http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/m43VfWEJ1XQYNHqUMNUOvVg.jpg" adapter, while the built in bare logic boards that do the job inside external drives are even smaller.
Sent from my Nexus 6
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I'm more checking to make sure that there isn't any software or firmware voodoo involved in the PiDrive HDD's that obviously wouldn't be present in a random off the shelf drive. I'm trying to maintain the seemless hand off of OS storage duties. The last thing I want is to have to deal with some janky software hiccup that doesn't always pickup the hard drive as the native storage drive, or requires some sort of discovery prompt everytime I disco-reco the power.
Sent from my Nexus 6
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No software voodoo :)
I've used tons of USB-SATA drives on Pi's. I've even used USB-PATA on Pi's. Both have worked long before WD Pi products have ever existed.
