Satellite A105 Salvage, Raid Card?

I have an old A105 that was largely destroyed (case, keyboard, hard drive, usb ports). After some work, it functions and I've turned it into a portable media center.

The only limitation is storage. I would like to add hard drives to it for my kids. After throwing away about every scratched DVD a kid could have, I thought I could put them on a HD instead. Again, there just isn't enough storage.

The ports are shot so there is no chance for an external drive. Are there any add-on Raid controllers that can be put on an A105?

If not, are there any other suggestions?

PS, power supply is not an issue. The case was destroyed and I built a box that not even three boys can destroy. I can run a seperate power supply for any new drives.

 

Are all your external ports dead? If it's just USB, the best thing I could think of in this situation would be a PCMCIA or ExpressCard eSATA (you'll have to find the appropriate eSATA to internal SATA cables) device, but that'll get you two extra drives at most. If you're looking for something like a mini PCI/PCIe device, I doubt such a thing exists.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...er=BESTMATCH&Description=pcmcia+esata&x=0&y=0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...STMATCH&Description=expresscard+esata&x=0&y=0

 

If you have an onboard PATA or SATA port, you can make this work
If you have a SATA based laptop, you can just use a sata male to female power cable and data cable, and attach it to any harddrive you like.
If you want to have two harddrives, you can physically piggyback the wires and solder them to the hub, to get two SATA connections.

If you have PATA (has 39 pins) you can either buy an adaptor to go from mini PATA to standard PATA, or you can physically buy an IDE cable, and cut one end off, than trace each wire back to the connector and solder every wire to the right connector. This will take a good steady hand, and a few hours.
So good luck

K-TRON

 

Soldering is unfortunately a skill that alludes me.

PCMCIA slot? I'm not sure exactly what that is but I'll understand it to be the compartment on the side with a spring hinge that keeps it shut with an ejection button that I've never used. Of course, none of that (except the socket in which to plug it) is still on the laptop.

First question, how can I test the slot without buying an express card?

Second, does the express card eSata function about the same as a Raid card would?

Lastly, if I use the eSata setup, what HDD limitations would I have? In other words, since I am using a seperate power source for added components, can I use a standard PC HDD?

You guys are the best. Local computer stores all gave me the same message, buy a new, bigger HDD and replace the old. Thanks.