[dafonso]

hi, im looking for a external storage and need advices! the only propose is just to fill it up with media data (already have a 2TB full).
i need a enclosure with 4 or 5 bay slots, with support for sata I and II, III (should be great). Its no big deal if it doesnt have Ethernet, USB2 or 3 or eSATA its enough i think. Doesnt need to be a NAS, a DAS should be ok. And im looking for Diskless solutions only...

i found a few that i like:
drobo or drobo s, friendly use doesnt need to configure (beyondraid 5), very expenssive
mediasonic pro have a nice price no JBOD or RAID and i dont find it for sell in europe online shops

1st of all im not familiar with raid or jbod, and i want to use the disk that is full (dont want to lose data) in a future external storage

any help of past experience or tips should be great, because this is a big investment and should last for many years.

big thks

[User 77203]

pay the extra cash and get a nas!

[rulemaker]

Hi

I'm also building up my new HTPC and i'm looking for a cheap and low power consumption storage solution. Actually i have the Sharkoon 5-Bay RAID Box on my list (http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/content/5-bay-raid-box).

Features:

* External RAID case with five mounting bays for 3.5" SATA HDDs
* RAID modes: Standard, 0, 1/10, 3, 5 and Combined (JBOD)
* Easy RAID mode selection
* No additional software required
* Fast Swap mechanism for easy HDD handling
* Premium quality craftsmanship
* On/off button
* LED indications for power, HDD activity and RAID mode
* Two pre-installed 60 mm fans
* Supported operating systems: Win XP/Vista/7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

It can be easily connected via USB3.0 or eSATA and RAID-modes are set through rear switches - no software needed. if there is no action on your raid this thing goes into sleep mode and lowers power consumption.

a friend of mine bought it yesterday and i will check his setup when the box is delivered.

[dafonso]

hi rulemaker, nice to hear from you

that system sounds nice, and have a good thing for me, "2. Clear RAID mode (= Standard mode): The HDDs are addressed separately." until i learn more about the RAID, eheh

The question is that i have already a 2TB HDD sata full of data (movies, music, photos ...) and i will buy a new HDD 2TB, the both HDD are going to the New enclosure. Is it possible with the RAID version (maybe RAID 5 or other RAID mode) connect the 2 HDDs (one empty and the other with data) and dont lose any data? and in the future is it possible to fill it up with more HDDs (when needed more empty space) without losing data?

let me ear from you the feedback about the sharkoon case

regards

[dafonso]

btw check out the http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/ it have NAS reviews, comparison charts, etc

[Digital Vortex]

Hey Dafonso,
I recently got a HP N36L Microserver.. it's a 4 bay solution, with room for at least 5 drives in it.

It has a USB port on the motherboard, so you run a USB key and a Freenas/linux/whatever OS on it too, and not fear about it getting bent/removed by being external.

It's much faster transfers than my Synology NAS, and it's a great little footprint.

Here's a link to a bunch of useful links to help you decide if it's for you.. videos/reviews/driver links etc.
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showth...p?t=958208

And there's been a thread here covering it too: (pictures included)
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...light=n36l

HP have just released a N40L version.. so depending on your preference, you can still get the 36L for cheap, or go for the slightly faster, fully priced 40L

The N36L should go for around $200 (depending on the deal and where you are in the world) which is not bad for essentially 5 bay NAS box

You get a 250gig drive with it too BTW

Put it this way.. my 2 bay Synology was $250 last year, this HP 5 bay box is $200

The top bay is meant for a 5.25" CD/DVD drive, but I bought a bracket, shoved the included 250 gig (3.5" Seagate) as my OS drive, and have 4 bays still ready for use.

Now to answer some specifics from your post:
* It's got 6 external USB 2.0 ports that you could use for further external storage, plus an ESata port.
* It's got 2 HALF HEIGHT PCI slots to add SATA 3/USB 3 expansion if you need/want.
* Has a gigabit ethernet port..
* The 4 bay port supports SATA 2 drives, if you want to use the internal sata port, it's recommended you install the hacked bios as HP crippled that port to IDE speed.. the hacked bios gives you full SATA 2 speeds.. (I installed the hacked bios, otherwise my OS drive would be transferring at old IDE speed!)

And I highly recommend putting a double layer of duct tape over the HP LED light to dim it.. it's really bright!

I'm running Windows 7 64-bit on it, installed 8 gig of ram and it works great.

[Digital Vortex]

This looks Portugese to me!!
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pt/pt/sm/...48009.html

250 Euros ? Have a look around, I'm sure you can get better.
But I think this is actually for the N40L processor (which is 1.5 ghz dual core, the old model was 1.3 ghz.)

[poofyhairguy]

Something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6816132015

[dafonso]

Hi DigitalVortex, thks for sharing! you really have a great product and i will be looking to this one or similar for the future system upgrade
For now i have a HTPC Asrock Atom 330HT, just need the extra HDD space...

poofyhairguy you are on the money, thats the kind of stuff im looking for! that Rosewill product is very similar to the Sharkoon one but unfortunately i dont find it on Portugal or Europe... The Sharkoon 5-bay RAID is around 40€ expenssive but i can get it on a sell store near by ...

[Digital Vortex]

I like the look of Poofy's Rosewill box too.
Unfortunately I checked Rosewill don't have Australian (or Portugese) distribution.
You make it sound like i work for HP !! haha

It seems to be available at Amazon. But they won't ship to Australia either. However, you might want to try the UK Amazon ?

Here is the Amazon US link anyway:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00552P...29QT0IENFR

The only other thing I can suggest are the Postal Freight forwarders that exist.. there are a number of services which you can ship to a U.S address, and they forward internationally.
I haven't used these services, but you could try one like http://www.viaddress.com/
I tried their shipping calculator, put in 12 pounds, and it's an extra $88 USD to the total cost..

Good luck!

[dafonso]

I think im going to the Sharkoon one... im happy with that and its the only one available for sale in Portugal, i cant find any other similar product here

Thks! and... wish me luck