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how to extend my current setup

T

TeleFragger

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 10, 2005
Messages
1,292
**************edited
Sometimes I need to pay attention. I took all my machines down (8) and swapped stuff, replaced stuff, etc... so it isn't a Dell T5810 but an HP grrrr

Ok so I am not great with this stuff and have a computer running a few drives. I have few drives on hand and want to add them to my current setup but need some guidance.

Machine:
HP Z420
Server 2016 Standard with Essentials Role installed
Xeon E5-1620 @ 3.60ghz
Nvidia Quatro 410
16gb ECC unbuffered DDR3 1600 MHz;
128gb ssd - OS drive
4 x 2tb drives installed for a total of 5 sata drives

from specs sheet
3 external 5.25-inch bays, 3 internal 3.5-inch HDD bays (4 total when using 5.25-inch bay converters); up to 4 eSATA

I shut down a few other machines and getting rid of them and have 4x 2tb black drives on hand and would like to add them to my current drive pool. What would be the best way without buying a new machine/case?

I could remove DVD drive and use that space. There is one SATA port left open but no SATA power plugs left. Even if I added a SATA card, I do not have any power adapters left.

so I am wondering external cage? connected via eSATA (never played around with that)?

I have 4tb left now on my current space and have a DVR setup for live tv thus wouldnt mine having extra space.

hopefully someone can point me in a good direction.

Machine use is:
  • PC Backups (via Essentials connector)
  • mp3 storage
  • plex media storage of tv shows and movies
  • software/os installs and isos
  • family pics and movies
so i am not in the storage area here for speed. just simplicity and quantity.
 
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Personally, I'd recommend upgrading the case and power supply to keep everything in one case.

Aside from that, you would likely need to look at a NAS/external storage solution. But it's likely cheaper (and keeps everything in one case) to simply upgrade as noted above.
 
I see two options:
1. Get rid of the DVD an use the three 5,25" bays with something like a Raidsonic IB-565SSK
Those drive cages do need molex power, there are SATA-to-Molex adapters available.
You'd need additional SATA ports, for which I'd go the SAS-HBA route: SAS2 HBAs with 2TB+ support are available very cheaply (~ €50) and they are much more reliable than ultra-cheap SATA HBAs.
Since you machine is HP branded, I'd go for a P410.

2. A 4-5 bay NAS. Synology would be my favorite, because they are very flexible and well supported. Any halfway recent Synology DS will saturate Gigabit Ethernet.
 
Add in PCI-E eSATA controller that supports port multiplication (if your motherboard doesn't already) and then an external hard drive bay that supports port multiplication. You can then access the drives independently and retain the full functionality of SATA. As opposed to using USB, even though USB3 has the possibility to be faster then eSATA port multiplication.

I use a cheap eSATA card and then a $100 Mediasonic HF7-SU3S3. Gives access to 4 additional drives. Zero issues with ZFS.

You can of course rely on the harddrive enclosure to provide RAID1/0, I just trust the OS to do the job better.
 
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