Custom home-brew external SATA drive array

[Terracode]

Hi,

I am nearing the completion of my home built SATA drive array. The enclosure is made of oak and houses 3 drives. The unit hooks to the computer via a 4 channel infiniband cable to a host and enclosure infiniband connectors. You can checkout the progress at
http://www.terracode.com/SATA_...ATA_Array_Project.html

The drive array will be attached to a custom PC running Windows Home Server:
http://www.terracode.com/Book_...ok_Server_Project.html

Enjoy...

VasR

 

[Old Hippie]

Nice! You wanna make me one of them external arrays?

 

[ForumMaster]

you know, as for your problem with the PATA cable blocking the fan, you could just get a cheap rounded cable. could solve your problem.

 

[ViRGE]

Now the custom case I understand, but using Infiniband?

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Now the custom case I understand, but using Infiniband?

Geez ow wheeze Virge, that and the power relay, were two of my favorite features. Combined with the wood case and digital readout, it's a class act. :thumbsup:

 

[Terracode]

I actually did some mods on the book server since the post. The IDE cable was replaced by a short 6" cable from Mini-Box that cured the fan blocking longer flat IDE cable. I tried the rounded cable, but couldn't find a short enough cable that would still make the innards look nice when the Book Server was opened.

 

[Terracode]

The infiniband apdapters and cable allows one to feed the drive array using a single cable solution rather than mutliple SATA cables or eSATA cables. The adapters for host and external enclosure can accomodate 4 SATA II (3 gbps max) drives using one cable over a 6' distance.

 

[Terracode]

The SATA Drive Array project is finally done. You can view it at
http://www.terracode.com/SATA_...ATA_Array_Project.html

Originally posted by: Terracode
Hi,

I am nearing the completion of my home built SATA drive array. The enclosure is made of oak and houses 3 drives. The unit hooks to the computer via a 4 channel infiniband cable to a host and enclosure infiniband connectors. You can checkout the progress at
http://www.terracode.com/SATA_...ATA_Array_Project.html

The drive array will be attached to a custom PC running Windows Home Server:
http://www.terracode.com/Book_...ok_Server_Project.html

Enjoy...

VasR

 

[Old Hippie]

When you build mine, I'd like the case a little deeper to cover everything.

Nice Job! :thumbsup:

 

[Throckmorton]

Are the drives going to park the heads before shutdown?

 

[Terracode]

You got it! I was too eager to make it compact. The case was fairly easy to put together and wouldn't be too hard to design one that is deeper by 2". Thanks for all your nice posts.

Thanks,
Vas

 

[Terracode]

Hi Throckmorton,

The drives will shutdown as it would using a standard internal SATA drive in a PC as far as I know. When the computer shuts down, the OS should prompt the write of any open data to the drives and then power-off. This will then in turn power off the drive array. So far it has been working fine. Not sure if this answers your question.....