Expanding current WHS system - advice please

P

praetorian

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 9, 2003
Messages
84
Hi all,

I've been banging around this thought in my head for a while and thought you all would be the best place to ask about this one.

I currently have a WHSv1 system that has 12 2tb disks which is rapidly approaching being full in a Coolermaster 330 case (primarily used for blu-ray storage and Virtual Machines (I work in IT Security so a large amount of these are required for testing tools, vulnerability development etc). Unfortunately swapping everything over to a larger case (such as a full ATX tower) is out of the question due to physical space constraints so my options are limited :(

What would you suggest be the best way to expand this system to include more HD space? I've been investigated things such as:

  • Adding a 2nd physical WHS system with additional hardware and more disks and splitting the duties of the system;
  • Expanding the current system to include an eSata tower - like the idea however would prefer to do this as a custom jobbie as its more practical that way rather than just buying a system. If I was to go this route, what kind of things am I looking at? Case isn't the problem more controllers and a way to power the 2nd system without requiring a motherboard etc. Supermicro have a JBOD ATX controller however I'm unsure how this would like back to the eSata cable etc (this is an area which I'm not an expert in even though I've read the HP Expanders thread;
  • Swap the case to something like a rackmount system (unfortunately over here in the UK we don't have the fantastic Norco cases yet however there is an alternative like the X-Case 24bay rackmount, swap the fans for quieter alternatives and stand it on it side .. looking at the dimensions it wouldn't be any taller than the current Coolermaster case I have
  • Another alternative which I've missed..

Budget wise I'm probably aiming for something along the lines of £1,000 UK pounds however under that would be nice (doesn't include costs for the physical drives as they'll come as and when I need them).

Any help would be appreciated even though I know that its a possible problem due to being in the UK.

Cheers
Dino
 
Last edited:
do you want single port connection for the hard drives, or are you willing to use port multiplier connection?

the SM JBOD card sounds interesting
where may it be purchased in the UK? (i'm also based in the UK)
 
Am willing to go with something like multilane eSATA if such a thing exists as I've heard some bad things with regards to port multipliers. Not sure where it can be purchased in the UK as its literally just a small board that takes an ATX power feed and powers on the system. It was mentioned somewhere on here however I can't seem to find it :(

@Asposium: Thanks for the link which is certainly interesting .. now if I can just figure out the site :p
 
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