The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Can a tower case be used as an external HDD enclosure ?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by wearetheborg, Feb 20, 2009.

  1. wearetheborg

    wearetheborg Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,282
    Messages:
    3,122
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    wearetheborg, Feb 20, 2009
    #1
  2. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

    Reputations:
    2,962
    Messages:
    8,231
    Likes Received:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    216
    Well, I mean, how do you propose to implement this giant external drive? You can put a ton of drives in there, but how are you going to link them to your computer? Or power them? I could foresee using an old PSU with a jump-start short, but then you'll have to connect the drives somehow? You could use USB/SATA/PATA adapters, but you'd have one USB plug for each drive in the enclosure? You could jack the controller from a NAS, but at that point you might as well use the NAS in the first place? You kinda see what I'm getting at... it's definitely possible, but you have to be more specific as to what you're looking for...
     
    Commander Wolf, Feb 20, 2009
    #2
  3. wearetheborg

    wearetheborg Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,282
    Messages:
    3,122
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Yes, if thats the case then right, what I want cannot be done (easily)
    I was poking around to see if the tower itself has the required hardware to have the system be a daisy chained external HDD set.
     
    wearetheborg, Feb 20, 2009
    #3
  4. ashura

    ashura Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    120
    Messages:
    525
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Nope, sorry. A tower is essentially just a big metal or plastic box.
     
    ashura, Feb 20, 2009
    #4
  5. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

    Reputations:
    2,962
    Messages:
    8,231
    Likes Received:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    216
    Yeah, you definitely aren't going to find that kind of controller in an average tower. You could potentially get the tower, some cheap internals, and some free NAS software, but at that point a real NAS is probably cheaper. And both cases won't let you access the device with USB, which is kind of a downer. If you're still looking to have a go at it, maybe something with USB/PATA/IDE adapters and a USB hub?
     
    Commander Wolf, Feb 20, 2009
    #5