Hi there ladies and gents, I'm in a bit of a quandry... Due to my job, I have a large amount of RAW files floating around on various HDDs, and am currently running a rig with three different SATA external enclosures connecting to a now full USB hub and onto my laptop, and post-christmas, I've finally got a little spare cash with which to sort this out (darned student lifestyle!) Ultimately, I'm looking for an external enclosure that can accomodate at least 4 drives and can connect via USB (eSATA is not an option as Dell didn't have the foresight to include this in their higher end laptops!). While I know that there are proponents of eSATA on here, I want to be able to simply plug the new acquisition into the hubs that I already use (bearing in mind that speed isn't much of an issue). Also as many of the files stored on the drives are irreplaceable, RAID 1 is a bonus, otherwise I will need to set up some form of automated software-based backup. I am in two minds about whether or not to simply do an ultra-cheap build and bung a few PCI SATA cards in there, or to get a dedicated enclosure. Priorities are in this order: Cost (e.g. if 2 x 2 drive enclosures will be significantly cheaper than 1 x 4) 4+ drives USB Connectivity RAID options Network connectivity (May need to access files from other machines in the house from time-to time, but not a priority) I have looked around quite a bit, and it seems like the Edge10 DAS 400 fits the bill, however, I am somewhat tempted by it's cousin the Edge10 DAS 401 which I could buy for the same price as the DAS400 alongside an eSATA to USB 2.0 adapter, and still have change for a night out. Has anyone used either of these two products, and how did they measure up? P.S. please forgive the slightly rambling nature of this post, caffeine crash and sleep deprivation are both catching up with me!
can't really recommend an enclosure.. but I can say esata is night and day better than usb when it comes to storage (obviously).. so the 401 would be the wtg (between the two) if your planning an upgrade
just a small question but why look for an external usb/esata enclosure? you can just as well assemble a small and cheap AMD computer which can act as a fileserver once you place all your hard disks in it. -> your disks -> a cheap but decent processor: f.e. an AMD Phenom 2 or so -> a cheap motherboard; having an gigabit ethernet port -> some cheap value memory Then just hook up your laptop to the same network (f.e. using a switch) and start storing I found myself in the same place you were, and after checking out all kinds of NAS enclosures, I opted for a small fileserver that houses my 5 hard disks... it all of course depends on what kind of money you want to spend and which functionality you want in terms of speed, storage,... But that enclosure you list there is decent and if it fits your needs, you should go for it I'd go for the bigger brother; eSATA > USB2.0
