Member Avatar for loganzz72

Got a question about multiple HDD enclosures...

I have 2-3 IDE HDD from dead computers. The drives worked fine when the comps gave out due to various MB failures. I dont like getting rid of drives due to personal info being on them and the fact that they are chock full of software goodies that I could still use.

That being said I went searching for multiple HDD enclosures and have constantly run into a RAID brick wall. All the info people give is on setting up RAIDs utilizing brand new or re-formatted drives. Sorry for the caps here but I would like to make it clear that I AM NOT LOOKING FOR A RAID SOLUTION. I am looking for 1 enclosure that I can slap my IDE drives into without reformatting them and hopefully connect them via USB or Firewire to my main computer so that I may have access to the data that is already stored on them and maybe even put more data on them seeing as how they are not full either.

Seems like RAIDs tend to take multiple drives and show them as one large piece of storage.
Personally I am fine with having multiple drives show up on my XP (i.e. Drive C, D, E) as long as I can access each drive and the content that is already on it.

Maybe this seems like a stretch and the technology isnt out there as a solution to my problem without it being a DIY Haxxor project with me dripping beads of sweat off my forehead and a soldering iron in one hand where one wrong move and oooops there goes my neighborhood.

-Noob Mad Scientist
(Tinkering with one eye closed since the 70s)

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Member Avatar for DimaYasny

if the enclosure is capable of both RAID and JBOD (and they usually are), you can use it to view multiple HDDs

Member Avatar for hughv

This device will certainly do the job, using JBOD:
http://www.datoptic.com/cgi-bin/web.cgi?product=eBOX-U&detail=yes
On the other hand, $265.00 is a lot of money to me.
At any given time I have at least 8-10 HDs lying around that I use for storage, or to replace HDs in dead machines.
Large drives are so cheap that it just plain isn't worth it to me to have these things hooked up all the time.
I have a USB/SATA/IDE/2.5" adapter that I can use to connect any of these drives at any time, and two external cases that I leave connected for current file storage.
You won't be able to use any of the software on these drives,as programs must be installed, and it's easy enough to wipe a drive if security is your concern.

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