No RAID/JBOD hard drive docking station.

[MoonDog610]

I have 8 hard drives in 4 dual docking stations connected via USB3, that is 4 power supplies and 4 USB3 taking slots in my server. I'm looking for a 2U 8-bay rack-mountable hard drive enclosure with built-in power supply, fans, and Thunderbolt2 connection. I need access to all individual drives, no RAID or JBOD needed, so since not much compute power is needed I’m expecting to save on cost as well. Does such a device exist?

[Slayerking92]

yes

[Electronics Wizardy]

Thunderbolt 2 stuff isn't cheap, esp since its eol

 

Id use usb 3 if you can, its normally much cheaper.

 

Something like this has a jbod mode(jbod means just give access to each drive) https://www.newegg.com/p/14P-0027-00005?Description=thunderbolt RAID enclosure&cm_re=thunderbolt_RAID enclosure-_-9SIABGCAJ49092-_-Product

[guillepunx]

Why not a second hand 8 bay server, and use it over ethernet? It's going to be far away less expensive, more upgradable and really easy to repair, you even can put a 10gb nic on it. Even on a brand new server to use only as nas, you should expend less money than on some TB2 overpriced crap.

[MoonDog610]

19 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Thunderbolt 2 stuff isn't cheap, esp since its eol

 

Id use usb 3 if you can, its normally much cheaper.

 

Something like this has a jbod mode(jbod means just give access to each drive) https://www.newegg.com/p/14P-0027-00005?Description=thunderbolt RAID enclosure&cm_re=thunderbolt_RAID enclosure-_-9SIABGCAJ49092-_-Product

Normally I won't be accessing all 8 drives at the same time but I'm concerned USB3 might be a bit slow on edge cases.  
However, I'm OK with 2 separate 1U 4 drive enclosures with USB3 but I'm still yet to find a rack-mountable option. 

Look at this Sabrent 4-Bay USB3 Docking Station at just $80: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H11KXCL

A rack version with a couple of built-in fans shouldn't cost more than $200. Don't you think?

[Electronics Wizardy]

53 minutes ago, MoonDog610 said:

Normally I won't be accessing all 8 drives at the same time but I'm concerned USB3 might be a bit slow on edge cases.  
However, I'm OK with 2 separate 1U 4 drive enclosures with USB3 but I'm still yet to find a rack-mountable option. 

Look at this Sabrent 4-Bay USB3 Docking Station at just $80: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H11KXCL

A rack version with a couple of built-in fans shouldn't cost more than $200. Don't you think?

I don't think usb 3 will cause a major speed issue, but they really just aren't that cheap.

 

Here is a qnap 4 bay 1u usb enclosure https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/tr-004u

 

Still like 300 bucks. People just don't make acheap ones.

 

You can get sas das boxes pretty chepa, but then you need sas

 

[guillepunx]

You have cases like this, but then you need to add a mobo+cpu+ram. If you have some hardware from old pc, you can do it an save lot of money.