Multi drive external enclosures?

[alizee]

I have kind of a tossup question, in the end, would I be better served getting a new PSU or external drives?

But, the reason I'm posting here is this:
My PSU is struggling to keep up with how many drives I have installed (along with a power hungry video card), and I was thinking I might go external. I don't need/want RAID. I was looking at eSATA and/or FireWire 800 because I record and mix audio in ProTools.

I was looking at enclosures that hold multiple drives (like this & these), but they're more expensive than I my current budget allows.

Does anybody know of a good enclosure for a good price? I'd like to spend about $100, but I could go up from there.

Otherwise I might upgrade my PSU. How much power do some of these drives take? I have a 1TB hitachi (one of the most power hungry of the 1TBs), but I'm also looking at getting a pair of the 1.5TB Seagates.

Thanks

 

[abaez]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817392024

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817332011

 

[Binky]

I went the lazy way and it worked out pretty well.

Cavalry Storage CADA-SA2 Series 2 TB USB / eSATA 2-bay RAID ($239 shipped)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Pros - already built, may be cheaper than the combined parts cost, super easy raid 0/1, fast enough in raid 0

Cons - already built, limited to 2TB total (I think), not useful if you already have drives, mine has a fan that is a bit noisy but not terrible

Edit: similar technology to the Vantec unit linked by abaez. Both are based on the Steelvine chips. Newegg has it for $200AR. The mixed reviews are partilly due to the very minimal documentation that comes with it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822101091

 

[alizee]

Originally posted by: abaez
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817392024

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817332011

Thanks! That Vantec looks pretty close to what I was thinking.

The other fooled me last night when I was looking, it's a multiple bay enclosure that fits in you're 5.25 bays and draws power from the computer's PSU. I wish I could find that' externally for that price!

I went the lazy way and it worked out pretty well.

Cavalry Storage CADA-SA2 Series 2 TB USB / eSATA 2-bay RAID ($239 shipped)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Pros - already built, may be cheaper than the combined parts cost, super easy raid 0/1, fast enough in raid 0

Cons - already built, limited to 2TB total (I think), not useful if you already have drives, mine has a fan that is a bit noisy but not terrible

Edit: similar technology to the Vantec unit linked by abaez. Both are based on the Steelvine chips. Newegg has it for $200AR. The mixed reviews are partilly due to the very minimal documentation that comes with it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822101091

Thanks for this suggestion as well. I am planning on purchasing more drives, and I could sure repurpose the ones I already have. My only caveat is the noise factor, I use my machine to mix music and need my room as quiet as I can get it...