Need Help for Multi-Drive Computer Case Enclosure Setup

[anifan115]

Hi everyone,

I need advice for building a case to hold all my IDE drives. I have
about 12 hard drives in external enclosures. To make space and save
power outlets I think it would be better to buy a computer case
dedicated to hold and store the hard drives. I will put about 7 hard
drives inside the case to start off... The supplies I would use are:

A computer case like this one (Rosewill R-9859 Black SGCC Steel ATX Mid
Tower Computer Case PL-300 Power Power Supply - Retail):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811147027
and install 3-4 additional 80 mm for HD cooling.

I would connect the two cables on the power supply mobo connector so it
will power the drives without needing a motherboard to give it the an
on signal. My friend says he knows how to set this part up (any advise
on doing this would help).

I would use a molex splitter (Converts one 4-pin Molex power connector
into four
http://www.microbarn.com/Power_Adapters_ADA-POWYX2--18-161-100881.html
) in order to have enough molex connections from the power supply for
all the hard drives and some fans.

For the IDE interface I would use seven of these USB 2.0 to IDE
adapters.
http://www.microbarn.com/ADA-UIDE--18-162-101149.html
I would connect the adapters to one USB 2.0 hub that will connect to my
computer.

With this procedure, I free up seven power outlets and turn them into
only one for the power supply. Additionally, I will only need to
connect one usb 2.0 port in order to have access to all seven drives.
And I will be able to carry all seven drives to someone elses house
with ease.

My concerns:
Will using the 300W power supply only for the hard drives via the molex
connectors push too much power to the drives causing damage to the
drives? Do I need a power supply with less watts or will it not matter?
Does anyone else think this can work? Is there anything I overlooked?

Any advise or corrections would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Carlos

 

[Rod Speed]

I need advice for building a case to hold all my IDE drives.
I have about 12 hard drives in external enclosures. To make
space and save power outlets I think it would be better to
buy a computer case dedicated to hold and store the hard
drives. I will put about 7 hard drives inside the case to start off...

Why do you need so many drives ?

You'd be better replacing most of them with bigger drives,
say getting drives 5 times bigger than the current drives.

The supplies I would use are:

A computer case like this one (Rosewill R-9859 Black SGCC Steel ATX
Mid Tower Computer Case PL-300 Power Power Supply - Retail):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811147027

You'd be better off with true server cases with a lot more internal
3.5" drive bays if you want to have all the drives internal.

and install 3-4 additional 80 mm for HD cooling.

You shouldnt need that many.

I would connect the two cables on the power supply mobo
connector so it will power the drives without needing a
motherboard to give it the an on signal. My friend says he
knows how to set this part up (any advise on doing this would help).

It would be a lot better to replace the drives with bigger ones.

I would use a molex splitter (Converts
one 4-pin Molex power connector into four
http://www.microbarn.com/Power_Adapters_ADA-POWYX2--18-161-100881.html
) in order to have enough molex connections from
the power supply for all the hard drives and some fans.

For the IDE interface I would use seven of these USB 2.0 to IDE adapters.
http://www.microbarn.com/ADA-UIDE--18-162-101149.html
I would connect the adapters to one USB 2.0 hub that will connect to my
computer.

You'd be better going to eSATA when you replace the drives with much bigger
ones.

With this procedure, I free up seven power outlets and
turn them into only one for the power supply. Additionally,
I will only need to connect one usb 2.0 port in order to have
access to all seven drives. And I will be able to carry all
seven drives to someone elses house with ease.

True in spades of a couple of decent eSATA drives to replace them all.

My concerns:
Will using the 300W power supply only for the hard
drives via the molex connectors push too much power
to the drives causing damage to the drives?

Not if its done properly.

Do I need a power supply with less watts
Nope.

or will it not matter?

It doesnt matter.

Does anyone else think this can work?

It will certainly work if done properly.

Is there anything I overlooked?

Yep, replacing all those drives with a couple of much bigger ones.

 

[anifan115]

lol thanks for your help... unfortunately, replacing them with bigger
ones will cost me too much money... they are all mostly 200-300 GB
drives... when you say "if done properly" what do you mean exactly? Are
there any tips you may have to help me set this up properly?

Thanks,
Carlos

 

[Rod Speed]

lol thanks for your help... unfortunately, replacing them with bigger
ones
will cost me too much money... they are all mostly 200-300 GB drives...

What do you have on 12 drives of that size ?

You can get some cases designed to do what you want, a large number
of physical drives in a case with a number of IDE/USB2 converters.

when you say "if done properly" what do you mean exactly?

Just ensure that what you do to jumper the power supply
to startup properly without a motherboard is done properly.

You basically just connect the green to any black,
jumper pins 14 and 15
http://www.duxcw.com/faq/ps/ps4.htm

Are there any tips you may have to help me set this up properly?

Just that one at the top concerning a case designed
specifically for what you want to do, a number of
drives in a case with a USB2 connection to the PC.

I'd personally have a cheap motherboard in it myself
and use a lan connection to the PC instead of USB2.

 

[anifan115]

http://www.gideontech.com/content/articles/196/1

This is a good guide for the PSU switch.

 

[Rod Speed]

http://www.gideontech.com/content/articles/196/1

This is a good guide for the PSU switch.

Dunno, dont like the idea of bare wires into the atx connector.

It makes more sense to solder the proper pins onto the switch wires
instead.

 

[Carlos / anifan115]

Or I could just cut the two cables, strip them, put them together with
electrical tape and use the switch on the psu for on/off...

 

[Rod Speed]

Or I could just cut the two cables, strip them, put them together
with electrical tape and use the switch on the psu for on/off...

Too crude in my opinion.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Or I could just cut the two cables, strip them, put them together with
electrical tape and use the switch on the psu for on/off...

Might work.

Arno

 

[Eric Gisin]

No, you want to set up a server with RAID 5 and Gb ethernet.
You desktop only need the OS drives maybe extras for A/V editing.

 

[chrisv]

Too crude in my opinion.

And coming from someone as crude as Ron, that's pretty bad.

 

[Carlos / anifan115]

It works for sure. I friend did it with an old PSU and a fan.

 

[Carlos / anifan115]

This would cost too much.

 

[Carlos / anifan115]

FrozenCPU 20-pin Power Supply Jump Start Connector
http://www.frozencpu.com/psu-173.html

 

[Rod Speed]

FrozenCPU 20-pin Power Supply Jump Start Connector
http://www.frozencpu.com/psu-173.html

Yep, much better way to do it.

 

[Arno Wagner]

FrozenCPU 20-pin Power Supply Jump Start Connector
http://www.frozencpu.com/psu-173.html

Good device. Use this.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

This would cost too much.

Some people have trouble understanding low-cost. There is nothing
inherently bad about low-cost, as long as you know and understand
the limitations.

Arno