Can software raid (storage spaces) work on external?

Pianist · 15th July 2012, 10:50 PM

Hi Guys,

I have a media pc and the case can only hold one hard disk. I would like to expand the storage but have all drives connected directly to that pc and not a central server (I dont have one). Rather than buy a new case, I would like to buy an external hard disk caddy that can hold a few (3-4) drives that connects via USB 3 or eSata.

What I eventually want to do is run some pooling software (drive bender, flexraid,windows 8 storage spaces) for some redundancy and so I can have 4 drives showing as one big one, for the media library.

Does anyone know if these software raids can work on hard drives that are connected via an external closure (USB 3 or Esata)? I have tested storage spaces just with sata hard disks going into the motherboard, but dont have any external things to test it with.

Or if anyone has any other ideas that would be great, but I require the media pc and storage to be next to eachother.

Thanks

Jim G · 15th July 2012, 11:00 PM

ZFS copes with software raid across multiple separate external drives fine; I don't have much to do with other OS' when it comes to storage servers these days but I would hope that if it can be done with one there's a chance the others will have a way of doing it too.

Re-reading your post, I see that they're drives behind an expander or something similar - that may make things more difficult. What's actually inside the enclosures in terms of hardware?

Pianist · 15th July 2012, 11:09 PM

thanks for the reply,

Right now I dont have any enclosures, but I would be trying to get one that does as little as possible in terms of processing. But yes I see what you mean about them being behind expanders if I want multiple drives from one port. Its just annoying I have 6 sata ports on my motherboard but my case can only hold 1 hard disk, so 5 sitting there wasted.

I might even end up just running cables from those ports to the outside of the case into a home made enclosure (disks piled ontop of eachother with cardboard inbetween lol) but that's not very attractive or portable... Unless theres something I can buy that I dont know about that connects into all the free sata ports and goes neatly to the outside of the case...

Stanza · 15th July 2012, 11:22 PM

Yes you can do it.

Something like an "Addonics" Esata case (holds 4 drives)
and an add in "Port Multiplier supporting Esata controller"

Just be careful picking the right ESata card, to make sure it supports Port Multipliers and you should be good to go.

But no, it won't use any of your "on motherboard free SATA ports" up.

Read up on port multipliers here
http://www.addonics.com/technologies/tutorial_pm.php

Examples of cases
http://www.webconnexxion.com/raid5/p...ata-black.html

.

broccoli · 15th July 2012, 11:47 PM

The Hotway box I bought off here (HF2-SU2S2) takes 4 disks and connects e-sata or usb. Yes, you need port multiplication for it to see all the drives when connected by e-sata, but it works ok with the sata card I've got. I don't know whether you can do raid on the drives as I've never tried, but there's another model HFR2-SU2S2 that says it does raid. I don't know where the user I bought it from got it or how much they are new, but maybe worth looking into?

Pianist · 17th July 2012, 12:51 AM

Thanks Stanza, that port multiplier + esata case look like just what I'm After, but its looking to be quite a bit more expensive then I originally thought. I will do some more reading and decide weather I go with it or just a new case.

broccoli - Yeah I think some can do its own raid, but that's specifically what I want to avoid, I want windows to take care of it completely.

broccoli · 17th July 2012, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pianist

broccoli - Yeah I think some can do its own raid, but that's specifically what I want to avoid, I want windows to take care of it completely.

When my system boots, it gives you a boot screen from the sata card (and you can go into a raid utility from there) and each of the drives in the enclosure connected to that card are listed, each drive is listed in windows explorer and computer management. I don't know how you set up raid because I never have (and I can't give it a whirl because there's stuff already on the drives I've put in there), but I think you could do it with the basic enclosure I've got and a (relatively) low-key sata/raid card. I was just thinking if you were looking at what to get the other enclosures with the specific raid feature might be worth looking into. You might not need a sata/raid card with those other units with the raid function? It does get expensive when you start factoring in other bits and pieces you need to get stuff working. Sometimes it's easier/cheaper to go the whole hog and get a server or another cheap pc to network up.

Stanza · 17th July 2012, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pianist

Thanks Stanza, that port multiplier + esata case look like just what I'm After, but its looking to be quite a bit more expensive then I originally thought. I will do some more reading and decide weather I go with it or just a new case.

broccoli - Yeah I think some can do its own raid, but that's specifically what I want to avoid, I want windows to take care of it completely.

Send me a PM

I have one here not needed.
Got it bundled with other stuff, and I mainly run SAS stuff now.

hdkhang · 18th July 2012, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pianist

Thanks Stanza, that port multiplier + esata case look like just what I'm After, but its looking to be quite a bit more expensive then I originally thought. I will do some more reading and decide weather I go with it or just a new case.

broccoli - Yeah I think some can do its own raid, but that's specifically what I want to avoid, I want windows to take care of it completely.

It might be cheaper to just get a case that can handle 6 drives instead.

What case are you using, having only 1 HDD bay gives me the impression it will also be limited in the expansion slots department (but then 6 SATA ports means its more likely to be mATX instead of mITX as only a small number of mITX boards had 6 ports).

So lets assume you have a mATX case and you can spare say 2 of those expansion slots. There are adaptors that allow you to turn your internal sata ports to esata ports. I know my gigabyte motherboards of old came with them.

hdkhang · 18th July 2012, 1:01 PM

To answer the question posed in the OP.

Storage spaces in win8 can work with any drives that can be mounted in windows. So external SATA drives, USB drives, thunderbolt drives etc. should all work.

Pianist · 18th July 2012, 9:45 PM

hdkhang - Yeah it seems that way currently, the case is a Lian Li PC-C37B for an amd micro ATX mobo that had blu ray decoding on the onboard gpu, so blu rays play through it without much cpu access (even though it was a 9500 quad core). Now I want to go straight mkv. The case has a blu ray reader (not writer) so that's all fine, but the other space just holds 1 hard disk. The sata to esata sounds possible, I could even just run Esata cables from the ports and to outside of the case (I have some 60-75cm ones). And great it seems like I will have no problem with storage spaces doing this... now to just organize My storage spaces lol

Stanza - PMd thanks.

15th July 2012, 10:50 PM	#1
Pianist Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 664	Can software raid (storage spaces) work on external? Hi Guys, I have a media pc and the case can only hold one hard disk. I would like to expand the storage but have all drives connected directly to that pc and not a central server (I dont have one). Rather than buy a new case, I would like to buy an external hard disk caddy that can hold a few (3-4) drives that connects via USB 3 or eSata. What I eventually want to do is run some pooling software (drive bender, flexraid,windows 8 storage spaces) for some redundancy and so I can have 4 drives showing as one big one, for the media library. Does anyone know if these software raids can work on hard drives that are connected via an external closure (USB 3 or Esata)? I have tested storage spaces just with sata hard disks going into the motherboard, but dont have any external things to test it with. Or if anyone has any other ideas that would be great, but I require the media pc and storage to be next to eachother. Thanks

15th July 2012, 11:00 PM	#2
Jim G Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Newcastle Posts: 733	ZFS copes with software raid across multiple separate external drives fine; I don't have much to do with other OS' when it comes to storage servers these days but I would hope that if it can be done with one there's a chance the others will have a way of doing it too. Re-reading your post, I see that they're drives behind an expander or something similar - that may make things more difficult. What's actually inside the enclosures in terms of hardware? __________________ Newcastle-based wedding photographer Trades

15th July 2012, 11:09 PM	#3
Pianist Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 664	thanks for the reply, Right now I dont have any enclosures, but I would be trying to get one that does as little as possible in terms of processing. But yes I see what you mean about them being behind expanders if I want multiple drives from one port. Its just annoying I have 6 sata ports on my motherboard but my case can only hold 1 hard disk, so 5 sitting there wasted. I might even end up just running cables from those ports to the outside of the case into a home made enclosure (disks piled ontop of eachother with cardboard inbetween lol) but that's not very attractive or portable... Unless theres something I can buy that I dont know about that connects into all the free sata ports and goes neatly to the outside of the case...

15th July 2012, 11:47 PM	#5
broccoli (Taking a Break) Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Perth Posts: 6,312	The Hotway box I bought off here (HF2-SU2S2) takes 4 disks and connects e-sata or usb. Yes, you need port multiplication for it to see all the drives when connected by e-sata, but it works ok with the sata card I've got. I don't know whether you can do raid on the drives as I've never tried, but there's another model HFR2-SU2S2 that says it does raid. I don't know where the user I bought it from got it or how much they are new, but maybe worth looking into?

17th July 2012, 12:51 AM	#6
Pianist Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 664	Thanks Stanza, that port multiplier + esata case look like just what I'm After, but its looking to be quite a bit more expensive then I originally thought. I will do some more reading and decide weather I go with it or just a new case. broccoli - Yeah I think some can do its own raid, but that's specifically what I want to avoid, I want windows to take care of it completely.

18th July 2012, 1:01 PM	#10
hdkhang Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,084	To answer the question posed in the OP. Storage spaces in win8 can work with any drives that can be mounted in windows. So external SATA drives, USB drives, thunderbolt drives etc. should all work.

18th July 2012, 9:45 PM	#11
Pianist Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 664	hdkhang - Yeah it seems that way currently, the case is a Lian Li PC-C37B for an amd micro ATX mobo that had blu ray decoding on the onboard gpu, so blu rays play through it without much cpu access (even though it was a 9500 quad core). Now I want to go straight mkv. The case has a blu ray reader (not writer) so that's all fine, but the other space just holds 1 hard disk. The sata to esata sounds possible, I could even just run Esata cables from the ports and to outside of the case (I have some 60-75cm ones). And great it seems like I will have no problem with storage spaces doing this... now to just organize My storage spaces lol Stanza - PMd thanks.