Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Takes little floor space, open for cabling and ventilation, cheap $30
That's pretty close to what I need, thanks!
But it's about 3 times too big. I have like 8 drives, and this bookcase would be good if I had 30.
Also, I'm hoping for something to go on my existing side-table (actually, two tower case's boxs).
To restate: My problem was with EXTERIOR drives, anything that used docking bays or other organizational systems for raw drives won't help, as I dedicate each drive to a separate client, and hand it to them at the end of their work. So some get added and some get removed on a month-to-month basis. (xHDDs are CHEAP! and very useful for handing clients huge gobs of data, AND improving my credibility over data security and compartmentalization).
What I settled on was a desktop office organizer normally used to hold vertical files. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006HWTUG
$30 and holds 8 drives on their sides, with some space between for cooling airflow, power and cables.
It also allows me to arrange them so that I can see the various In-Use lights flicker, regardless if on top or front.
I put a USB3 hub and power-strip adjacent, to keep all the cables (mostly) in order, and to give me 1-point power switches. Then a 6" desktop fan behind, blowing into the backs, just to help with the cooling. I do have to dust them off pretty regularly, but adding and removing drives is pretty easy.
Why having a big and ugly box to house hard drives when you can have a USB-3 dock for SATA hard drives?
Sabrent has one with a cooling fan, but you may not need it. Buy yourself several 2TB SATA drives, save whatever you want into a hard drive (one at a time), and stack them out of the way: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...TA+hard+drives
Raw drives are NOT AN OPTION.
I do not keep these drives. they come and go, to clients who insist on EXTERIOR drives.
Thanks for trying to help, but please READ the thread.
I read your original post. Here:
Quote:
My home-consulting work requires me to have multiple external USB hard drives.
They're so cheap that for each new job I just get another USB-3, and add them to my huge USB-3 hub.
But I'm up to NINE external HDDs now, and it's getting pretty messy on my side-table next to my PC.
What I'm looking for is a way to arrange them, keep the cabling under control, and have a fan blow air on them, as they sometimes get hot.
Right now, I use a desktop organizer: wire-frame, file-folder separator that keeps them on their side, separated enough with an air-gap between them for a desk fan to blow through, but it's a cheap temporary solution.
I've searched and found several examples of racks, or frames, or enclosures that are external devices to hold multiple INternal HDDs, usually for a RAID system. But I'm looking for a way to organize multiple EXternal drives, not internal.
Amazon, NewEgg, etc searches just keep coming back with RAID boxes for internals.
Any suggestions?
Not trying to offend you; just responding with one solution.
Oh, I see... you found the solution on page 2 of this thread. I apologize.
I have several WD external hard drives that look similar to a book, and can be stacked side by side. But decided not to spend so much money on such hard drives and went the USB/SATA dock route, something that would not be the best idea for your customers since they would need a cable (dungle), or a powered USB dock.
My home-consulting work requires me to have multiple external USB hard drives.
They're so cheap that for each new job I just get another USB-3, and add them to my huge USB-3 hub.
But I'm up to NINE external HDDs now, and it's getting pretty messy on my side-table next to my PC.
What I'm looking for is a way to arrange them, keep the cabling under control, and have a fan blow air on them, as they sometimes get hot.
Right now, I use a desktop organizer: wire-frame, file-folder separator that keeps them on their side, separated enough with an air-gap between them for a desk fan to blow through, but it's a cheap temporary solution.
I've searched and found several examples of racks, or frames, or enclosures that are external devices to hold multiple INternal HDDs, usually for a RAID system. But I'm looking for a way to organize multiple EXternal drives, not internal.
Amazon, NewEgg, etc searches just keep coming back with RAID boxes for internals.
Any suggestions?
I have the same situation. You would have to custom build something. What I did was get a bookcase where I store them right next to my desk. I use them for my own personal stuff like movies and music so I got one big 8tb drive, moved the contents of all the drives to the big drive and use the individual drives as backup. That way, if my big drive takes a dump, I don't lose everything. I recently saw a 10tb WD at best buy for $180.
This would be a better way if you have them all plugged in at the same time. If you only plug in one at a time, then store them in a padded case/s. Take a look at this.
Thanks! This looks a lot like what I envisioned finding. I've seen some with a little more substantial construction, but the principal is identical--just hold the drives up, let air flow around them.
This would allow putting a power strip inside the box, plugging all the power bricks into it (they don't change between drive change-outs anyway), and reducing the number of bare coiled snakes in the area.
Again, thanks for getting me thinking about this and taking some action to clean up the mess of a bunch of loose drives, power bricks.
I thought of ways to organize the drives for a long time (months) before I came up with this (literally) out-of-the-box idea of the file folder-rack.
Powering them all was a challenge too. I ended up with a power strip by Belkin ($20). I chose it because it has a LOT of plugs, that are FAR apart.
I don't think I'd go with any kind of cable-management that also enclosed the actual brick parts, due to heat containment.
The Belkin has 3 outlets each side (with a wide enough 2.5" spacing) and 6 plugs in a row down the middle. The row down the middle I extended upwards with 2" tall 2-into-3 plug adapters, (white in the pic), enough that I could put 2 more drive plugs each end facing down the long axis, and had could get 2 more in the middle if I needed, but currently use one for a thinner power plug for my USB hub that serves these drives.
You can also see the desk fan, blowing into the back of the row of drives (not shown in pic).
Bottom Line: I have one power Cut-Off for all the drives & the hub. PS: the Belkin is plugged into my high-end UPS, so it's minor power filtering capability is moot. PPS: The USB cabling was getting pretty bad, but then I changed over to getting the USB3 drives that have 2 USB3 plugs themselves, (only $20 more, and my clients are happy to pay the extra), so I could daisy-chain them with 18" cables. Less of a 'wire monster'.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
