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TowerRAID TR8M-B - 8 Bay SATA to eSATA

Hi.

I use the 4 bay version of this for one of the external drive chassis on my home server. I also have the Rosewill 5 bay, which is built much better.

That adapter you linked to doesn't say if it supports port multiplier, which you'll need on order to address the drives.

This one does:

http://www.addonics.com/products/io/aau2esa.asp

I don't know what the performance is going to be like pumping the throughput of 4 drives through one USB connection, though. It's going to be kind of noisy on your desk if you're going to fully populate the chassis with drives, too.

Good luck with your endeavor.

John
 
Thanks so much for your response. I currently have 9 HDs in external cases right now, hooked up to a USB hub that goes to my Airport extreme base-station and shares the HDs. Can I still do that with this case if I get two of those adaptors?

I have a iMac so I cant use the eSata cable or else I would. I understand the speed of USB is slower then eSata but thats what Im dealing with now I guess.

Thanks
 
Yeah, that's a good question. I don't know if the adapter requires drivers or something that might limit it to using with an actual computer.
 
If your trying to hook up a lot of drives and share them over the network why not just buy/build something that can hook into your network via Ethernet? I have and unRAID server that I built that just what I think you are trying to do. The server serves up the content to a modded original xbox but it works great for what it does.
 
You should check here for that.

You probably already know this, but just because your client machines are Macs doesn't mean your server needs to be, too.

I have three Macs on my home network being served by a homemade Windows Home Server with about 24TB of disk.
Maybe you want to hackintosh that machine so you can have an always on Mac on your network, but I'm guessing that getting 10.6.x to work on that machine would be a challenge.

If you don't want to get into the business of administrating a Windows server, then maybe you might want to look into a standalone NAS device like a Qnap or a disk array like a Drobo.

John
 
Unverrich said:
I was looking to purchase this for all my HDs (http://www.sansdigital.com/towerraid/tr8mb.html) I have for Apple TV, but the problem is on the back of it, 2 eSata ports come out. Can I use 2 of these adaptors and make it 2 USB cables to plug into my iMac? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816111&cm_re=esata_to_usb-_-12-816-111-_-Product

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Just for the record, I have owned this sansdigital unit for over a year and have it packed to the gills. It's a great unit, dependable, and requires an esata configuration. It's a cheap way to add huge storage and stream movies through your Apple TV.

For the original poster: I'd bet your suggested venture into hackintosh territory involves genuine technical knowledge. You'll likely need to do a considerable amount of research. I have no experience with that.
 
I was looking to purchase this for all my HDs http://www.sansdigital.com/towerraid/tr8mb.html I have for Apple TV, but the problem is on the back of it, 2 eSata ports come out. Can I use 2 of these adaptors and make it 2 USB cables to plug into my iMac? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812174001&cm_re=esata_to_usb-_-12-174-001-_-Product


I dont want to buy the USB version since its the same price and I want to future proof this incase I get a computer with eSata in the future.

Thanks!
 
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