How Would I Manage To Have 5 Hard Drives... Outside of My Computer?

[Leonne]

The title may be misleading, or it may not even be clear at all, so let me elaborate:

I'm tired of Windows and Windows hardware. So I want to buy an iMac. The main thing that prevents from getting a iMac is the fact that I have years of data in my 5 hard drives I have inside my Windows PC... You really can't fit 5 standard-sized hard drives inside an iMac. But I really want to have that data once I make the move.

As possible solutions, I thought of getting 5 external hard drives, but that has it's problems: It's not a cheap solution, and I don't want to have 5 albatrosses on my desk surrounding my iMac.

Another solution was to somehow get a network "container" for all my hard drives: I would stash all my hard drives in this "container", plug it in into the network, and be able to access all my data through all my computers. In that way I could access my data without filling my iMac with data that can be kept somewhere else (somewhere that would fit, too!).

My question is, do these kind of containers exist? If so, what are they called and what's an estimate of their cost?

 

[johnlgalt]

Research Network Attached Storage (NAS)

 

[johnlgalt]

Another thought - just how large are these drives to begin with?

 

[mikedt]

Drobo Home
Not particularly cheap but I've heard good things about them.

 

[Vehtemas]

Drobo Home
Not particularly cheap but I've heard good things about them.

I am currently saving up my peanuts to buy one of these bad boys, they are amazingly sweet devices...

 

[Leonne]

Another thought - just how large are these drives to begin with?

A total of 5 hard drives which have around 4 TBs.

Thanks for the help guys! Sadly those Drobos are a bit expensive but I will look into the NAS route for now.

 

[karandpr]

Maybe you can check this TurnKey appliance .

http://www.turnkeylinux.org/fileserver

 

[CodeMonkey]

I've always heard good things about FreeNAS builds myself - it's an approach that has a lower cost of entry.

**EDIT**
Note I've not tried this approach myself as I went Windows Home Server + Thecus NAS - not a cheap approach unfortunately.

 

[mrspeedmaster]

I have over 40 drives.

I use a docking station to solve that problem you have.

Other World Computing Quad Interface Firewire 800/400/USB 3.0

You can get a cheap $30 by searching for SATA USB-docking

 

[SUroot]

Not sure what you mean by Windows hardware, but macs are built on the same Intel architecture nowadays.

Personally id save a grand or two and install Linux on your existing system. Or buy more "windows hardware" at half the price of the MAC with the same hardware and stick Linux on that. MAC OS is based on Linux anyway.

Basically I see buying a mac like this. Same hardware but twice the price with an expensive OS that's more restricted than the free OS its based on.

Putting it like that, I'm surprised how many people buy macs.

Disclaimer, slight technical omissions acknowledged

 

[Martimus]

I can't speak for non-Windows architecture as I currently use Windows Home Servers. In my current WHS box I think I've got 7TB of available storage. In my mind the only downside to this is that I'd like to find a better long term backup solution to support the NAS. Till I come up with a better long term backup solution I use RAID where appropriate. Expensive... yes but trying to recover data from crashed drives isn't one of my favorite pastimes!

 

[richphitzwell]

May i make a suggestion. Mac hardware is pc hardware. In fact it tends to be outdated pc hardware and overpriced at that so you really are paying for an os aka mac tax. Personally i dont care what you do but at least try ubuntu with wine. A) mac and linux are related...both unix based. B) ubuntu is pretty darn stable and finds most all drivers on its own. C) wine makes it possible to run windows based programs on linux if you have something that cant convert over. D) its hard to go back to win or mac after using linux for some time

 

[Vehtemas]

May i make a suggestion. Mac hardware is pc hardware. In fact it tends to be outdated pc hardware and overpriced at that so you really are paying for an os aka mac tax. Personally i dont care what you do but at least try ubuntu with wine. A) mac and linux are related...both unix based. B) ubuntu is pretty darn stable and finds most all drivers on its own. C) wine makes it possible to run windows based programs on linux if you have something that cant convert over. D) its hard to go back to win or mac after using linux for some time

I agree with Rich, use Linux or Windows if you ask me...

Mac's charge you an extra 500-1000 depending on the model just for the OS, the hardware is the same if not less than what you can get on any windows based machine.

In fact my $750 laptop came with the second gen i5 processor, 540M nVidia card, and 6 gigs of RAM. I believe that a similar mac would be around $1,999 or some such pricing.

In fact the 15" screen would auto make it atleast $1,799 regardless of specs.

Looking at apple's site, the one advantage is the i7 processor... nearly $1,000 for a processor upgrade and a slight increase on the video card... No where near worth it.

 

[richphitzwell]

veh i have a new gen i7 laptop. all other specs are pretty good and i spent less than a grand. the only issue i have is the 6g ram that came with it and if it pis...err annoys me then ill spend 80 bucks max to upgrade. anyways u mentioned i7 but plenty of laptops have i7 on them

 

[Vehtemas]

veh i have a new gen i7 laptop. all other specs are pretty good and i spent less than a grand. the only issue i have is the 6g ram that came with it and if it pis...err annoys me then ill spend 80 bucks max to upgrade. anyways u mentioned i7 but plenty of laptops have i7 on them

Oh no, I know that a lot of laptops come with i7, I mentioned that my laptop (price point I was using) was an i5 so I couldn't rightly say I got what the Mac had with my $749.99 price.

i7 usually adds around $100-150 to the price of a laptop.

 

[SUroot]

I got the laptop in my signature slightly second hand for £200. Beat that

 

[johnlgalt]

There's different Core i7s out there - don' be confused that just because you have n i7 labeled CPU that you have the best of the best.

While it's true that Intel rates i3s at 3 stars, i5s at 4 stars and i7s at 5 stars in terms of processor ratings, there's a lot of differences between the lowest of the i7s an the best ones out there.

This sums it up quite nicely....
Intel Core - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[9to5cynic]

I can't speak for non-Windows architecture as I currently use Windows Home Servers. In my current WHS box I think I've got 7TB of available storage. In my mind the only downside to this is that I'd like to find a better long term backup solution to support the NAS. Till I come up with a better long term backup solution I use RAID where appropriate. Expensive... yes but trying to recover data from crashed drives isn't one of my favorite pastimes!

Not really into file carving?

There's different Core i7s out there - don' be confused that just because you have n i7 labeled CPU that you have the best of the best.

While it's true that Intel rates i3s at 3 stars, i5s at 4 stars and i7s at 5 stars in terms of processor ratings, there's a lot of differences between the lowest of the i7s an the best ones out there.

This sums it up quite nicely....
Intel Core - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ohh.. Looks like it's time to upgrade my Centrino....

 

[SUroot]

Not really into file carving?



Ohh.. Looks like it's time to upgrade my Centrino....

Depends what you mean by centrino. I'm a bit pedantic, but centrino isn't a CPU.

Centrino is a name given to a laptop that has one of a few specific CPUs, one of a few specific chipsets and one of a few wireless LAN cards. Centrino is a standard of power consumption and this is still used today.

 

[richphitzwell]

john definitely know the differences in the i's of course intel kinda messed things up in the i series as depending on what you do and so forth. my only point was mac tax and there are plenty of great laptops in a sub grand range new.

 

[Leonne]

I make iOS apps. Making Ubuntu or another Linux distro (or continue with Windows for long...) is a BIG no-no.

I currently own a Mac Book Pro which I use for my App Development but sadly it isn't too powerful compared to today's standards (although I bought it just last year...).

Building a Hackint0sh is also a no-no because they are too unstable.

That aside, I will try building my own NAS server (or at least buy a cheap one, heh).
Thanks guys.

 

[SUroot]

Ha ha.

 

[9to5cynic]

Depends what you mean by centrino. I'm a bit pedantic, but centrino isn't a CPU.

Centrino is a name given to a laptop that has one of a few specific CPUs, one of a few specific chipsets and one of a few wireless LAN cards. Centrino is a standard of power consumption and this is still used today.

D'oh! My bad >.> <.< I stupidly just went with the sticker lol.

Further investigation is showing a Core 2 Duo T8300....

 

[SUroot]

D'oh! My bad &gt;.&gt; &lt;.&lt; I stupidly just went with the sticker lol.

Further investigation is showing a Core 2 Duo T8300....

I'm definitely loving my I5. Even though its first gen, beats my old core 2 duo by a million miles

 

[darkestred]

A total of 5 hard drives which have around 4 TBs.

Thanks for the help guys! Sadly those Drobos are a bit expensive but I will look into the NAS route for now.

Buy 2, 2tb hard drives. and then buy a rosewill R2. Thank me later. Or go with what someone else said. Buy a cheap NAS. 60-70 bucks.