HDD Enclosure, NAS or ???

[Orbs]

Hi.

I have three hard drives from an old PC that I was primarily using as a backup machine but it's on its last legs (CPU and motherboard are from 2006 and I've already replaced the PSU once...).

Ideally, I'd like to continue to use those hard disks as one of them is a new, 3TB and the other isn't that old either and is at least 1TB.

My router is an Asus RT-AC68U router (it's awesome!) which has a USB 3.0 port as well as a spare Gigabit Ethernet port.

What is the best way to turn those disks into a single drive on my network? Should I get a HDD enclosure (I don't think that will appear as one disk to my Windows PCs)? If I buy an expensive NAS 4-bay enclosure, will that work (and if so, is Ethernet the fastest way to connect it)? Should I buy a new CPU and MoBo and just leave the PC in a closet??

I'd like to spend as little as possible and have as small a footprint as possible and I don't want to lose those drives.

Thanks!
Jared

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You can't really take three drives of different sizes and present them as a single disk to computers on your network. It's theoretically possible, but it's not practical.

 

[Orbs]

You can't really take three drives of different sizes and present them as a single disk to computers on your network. It's theoretically possible, but it's not practical.

Thanks, Dave. How would I do it theoretically?

Also, any suggestions for a good enclosure that's USB powered if I just kept the 3 TB drive?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks, Dave. How would I do it theoretically?

Also, any suggestions for a good enclosure that's USB powered if I just kept the 3 TB drive?

Using a server with some goofy almost-RAID setup like unRAID. But that means building a new box, not just buying an off-the-shelf NAS unit.

But even then, you lose the capacity of the largest drive. (It stores parity information for the other two drives instead.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

You can't really take three drives of different sizes and present them as a single disk to computers on your network. It's theoretically possible, but it's not practical.

There exist USB (2.0-era?) dual 3.5" HDD enclosures, that support both RAID and JBOD (concatenation). In fact, I think that I have one in storage somewhere.

Edit: I think that they max out at 1TB or 2TB per each HDD though. Don't think that they support 3TB or larger HDDs.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

There exist USB (2.0-era?) dual 3.5" HDD enclosures, that support both RAID and JBOD (concatenation). In fact, I think that I have one in storage somewhere.

Edit: I think that they max out at 1TB or 2TB per each HDD though. Don't think that they support 3TB or larger HDDs.

typically those are just dumb enclosures that come with a software raid "wizard." Disks gotta be the same size.

 

[simas]

How much are you willing to spend on 'enclosure' and how important as "extras" to you? There are single HDD NAS units from key providers (Synology, QNAP) which are barely $100 without a drive and give you a lot for it in set and forget category.

 

[Orbs]

Thanks, everyone. At this point, I'm resigned to using just the largest HDD in an enclosure, I guess. Are there any enclosures you recommend that are USB 3.0 and USB powered so I don't need another plug into the wall?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks, everyone. At this point, I'm resigned to using just the largest HDD in an enclosure, I guess. Are there any enclosures you recommend that are USB 3.0 and USB powered so I don't need another plug into the wall?

Not for 3.5" drives - USB is the wrong voltage, and wouldn't provide enough amperage to work even with a step-up converter. (Yes, even USB "High Power.")

 

[Orbs]

OK, thank you again!

 

[tweakboy]

NAS ? The old rapper from way back ?