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Looking for 4 bay external stoaage

I

imported_Irse

Senior member
I'm looking for a 4 bay external storage for some backup hard drives. I would like it to be able to turn each bay on and off separately. Connect to PC with USB. Can anybody point me to some options? Thanks
 
There are some devices on Newegg, though I've looked and the market is tough. It seems you can find plenty of complete NAS solutions with four drive capacity but just a simple box with four drive bays -- if you find a good one let me know.
 
imported_Irse said:
I'm looking for a 4 bay external storage for some backup hard drives. I would like it to be able to turn each bay on and off separately. Connect to PC with USB. Can anybody point me to some options? Thanks
Click to expand...

Hmm, if you want dedicated power key/switch for each, then you are looking at a hot-swap rack type of unit.
How much you looking to spend? Why 4 bay, and not 2? Are you planning on doing RAID 1 or something?

Would something like this work?
http://www.kingwin.com/storage/docking-stations/pd-2537u3-power-dock/
PD_2537_Side_Angle_View.png

Or are you looking for units with fans and or more protection?
 
Elixer said:
Hmm, if you want dedicated power key/switch for each, then you are looking at a hot-swap rack type of unit.
How much you looking to spend? Why 4 bay, and not 2? Are you planning on doing RAID 1 or something?

Would something like this work?
http://www.kingwin.com/storage/docking-stations/pd-2537u3-power-dock/
PD_2537_Side_Angle_View.png

Or are you looking for units with fans and or more protection?
Click to expand...
I wanted more protection from dust. I think I'll go with a couple of 4 TB portables that they sell at Costco instead of 4 2TB drives. They are part of my backup system so I will have other backups.
I do have a 2 bay dock. But have 4 drives. Didn't want to always be swapping them out.
 
Mediasonic has a handsome 2-bay unit that might work. Two of those would be better than four.
 
imported_Irse said:
I wanted more protection from dust. I think I'll go with a couple of 4 TB portables that they sell at Costco instead of 4 2TB drives. They are part of my backup system so I will have other backups.
I do have a 2 bay dock. But have 4 drives. Didn't want to always be swapping them out.
Click to expand...

Be VERY careful on which external unit you get, some have always on encryption, and you will be SOL if the external's interface dies on you.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=38378410&postcount=11
 
I think Addonics has units for an e-SATA or USB connection with power-supply. Some of them may include a port-multiplier if the HDD-controller feeding the e-SATA connection provides it.

Too tired to do your shopping for you, but lemme see if there's a link . . . well, here's an example:

http://www.addonics.com/products/nasms4hpm.php

IT would seem, without buying the ancillary adapters for USB, that you could just hook it up to an e-SATA port.

Some other colleagues may chime in on this. Addonics has been around a long, long time, but I've hardly investigated the pros and cons of their NAS products compared to MediaSonic or other sources.

Also, you'd need a controller that accommodates hardware-port-multiplier to take advantage of that feature. A Startech PEXSAT34RH has just that feature, and is quite inexpensive.

Good luck.
 
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