How to stash HDD's?

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Mustkunstn1k

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I moved from storing my files on DVD to storing them on 1TB HDD's a few years ago. There were many obvious benefits with this.

But here is the thing... my PC has slots for 7 HDD's. And now I am about to buy an 8th one. So obviously I need to take one out. I have already accepted this and made sure I have all the files that I don't need on a daily-basis on the drive.

I have also figured that I should get a HDD dock so I can access the files easily if I need to.

The problem is tho... where do I put the HDD? They never came in any actual boxes, just randomly sized cardboard boxes that had a lot of padding inside of them. Do I just put them on the shelf... gathering dust?

Maybe [Hard]|Forum knows the solution... What do you guys do? :)
 
I used these http://www.casesbypelican.com/hdrives.htm

slip the drive in an antistatic bag, then stash it away in the comfy anti-static foam.

They also have handles for easy moving. Depending on how important the stuff is you should consider off site backup, or a fire/water proof solution.
 
Holy Hell is correct. For that, I could get a whole chassis (and the required parts) to keep it 'online' all the time.
 
You know, I've never thought about keeping extra drives in a separate storage area. I have 5 or 6 newegg boxes for drives still in my closet. When you order a large number of drives from the same manufacturer from newegg they sometimes just ship them in the original packaging that it comes in. So I think I have 5 or 6 boxes which each hold 20 or 25 drives. If they were good enough for the manufacturer to ship them out in, they should be plenty good enough for storage. And they are naturally perfect fits, with the exact foam size for each drive and shock resistance.

Of course those aftermarket would cost more, but for free... they are plenty good enough. They don't have handles like those listed, but then again, I don't see a reason unless you plan on dragging them around with you. Looking pretty isn't useful if it's just going to sit in storage.

I wonder if other outlets would let you have these boxes. If you were to ask microcenter/frys. Or if newegg would send purchased drives in these boxes even if you only purchased a smaller quantity if asked.
 
Pelican cases are extremely durable, and watertight. They are well worth their price if you are banging around sensitive electronics. If you just want to store them at home, it's not really worth the cost.

Right now I am storing hard drives in a cheap $20 fire chest inside the clear plastic clamshells Hitachi sends their drives in. Works great. I did however find a company that sells nice plastic cases that look kind of like VHS cases (remember those) from the video stores. I think they are like $5 each, and they also make them for 2.5" drives. Can't remember the link right now, though.
 
$240 seemed pretty cheap to me. I figure each 2Tb drive was $100 at the time. $30 a drive for storage seemed reasonable. They were off site backups of live disks that had some somewhat important data on them. I would bring them onsite, sync up the data weekly and store them at another location in the pelican case.

I have since moved to S3 which costs more, but offers better piece of mind.
 
I use the Wiebetech Drivebox. They are around $50 for a 10 pack, and are basically like VHS cases. They don't offer much padding protection, but if you just store your extra HDDs on a shelf, they're fine for storage and keep your drives organized vs just bare drives.
 
I use these. You can get bunches of them from China on fleebay for a couple/few bucks+/- shipped a piece. Takes a week or two, but once you got em, you got em. :) Just buy a few more than you think you need.

Then toss them in a Firesafe.

 
I went to an army surplus store and bought a 50 cal ammo box. Then to the craft store for foam. Had antistatic bags lying around. I had over nine slots for under 20 bucks.
 
Personally I have kind of the same problem but more advanced, as I experienced losing data a few years ago (Maxtor drives that overheated like hell), I started backing up all my drives on other drives, so I have a bunch of drives on the shelf. I have to use them regularly for backups, sometimes several at a time on the same computer, so the perfect solution for me are silicone casings that you can let on the drives when you use them, and are stackable. I buy them on dealextreme as I didn't find them cheaper elsewhere : http://www.dealextreme.com/p/silico...-5-inch-hard-disk-drives-color-assorted-14270

If dust is a worry, you could put them in a box, with the silicone casings it's easy.

The solution is not compatible with what is usually called "docks", I use bare cables : eSATA to SATA, SATA power from the PSU (I don't trust cheap power adapters). I have two to three eSATA ports on my two main computers (thanks to this : http://www.dealextreme.com/p/2-port-pc-internal-to-external-sata-data-power-pc-expansion-card-10308 ). Another advantage of this set-up is that it's not really eSATA, meaning there is no additional controller chip between the drives and the motherboard.

From the same website, you could also go for those hard casings http://www.dealextreme.com/p/protective-plastic-case-for-3-5-sata-hdd-translucent-25631 , I just ordered a few to test them. Here, you take the drive out, so it's compatible with a dock.

If you don't know dealextreme, prices go down with numbers ordered, and (slow) shipping is free.
 
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