Internal external storage drives?

[Catwalk_Tech]

Hello, Im working on a new PC for 3D Rendering in programs like Vectorworks and Autodesk AutoCad. The case I've chosen has 6 available 3.5 HDD slots and two 2.5 SSD slots built in along with 7 NVME M.2 SSD slots on the motherboard giving me plenty of SSD storage and I had theorized about using the HDD as a internal, external storage unit but was unsure how or if this was possible. Thanks for any advice you can offer. I'll list the build specs below.

 

**note: this is only a plan, I am waiting to purchase any items until chips become more readily available and prices lower from there current extravagant highs. Yes I know it's overkill but its meant to last and not need upgrades for a significant time span.

 

Motherboard: MSI TRX40 Creator

CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990x

GPU: 2x Nvidia Titan RTX with NVLink bridge

Case: Fractal designs Define R6

SSD: 10 TB NVME M.2 , split over 7 drives (seagate barracuda's)

HDD: 6x 12 TB Ironwolf Pro's NAS, for 72TB total

RAM: 128GB Corsair Dominator

 

 

**admin** if this is in wrong spot please remove and DM to let me know, thanks.

[Blue4130]

6 hours ago, Catwalk_Tech said:

Hello, Im working on a new PC for 3D Rendering in programs like Vectorworks and Autodesk AutoCad. The case I've chosen has 6 available 3.5 HDD slots and two 2.5 SSD slots built in along with 7 NVME M.2 SSD slots on the motherboard giving me plenty of SSD storage and I had theorized about using the HDD as a internal, external storage unit but was unsure how or if this was possible. Thanks for any advice you can offer. I'll list the build specs below.

 

**note: this is only a plan, I am waiting to purchase any items until chips become more readily available and prices lower from there current extravagant highs. Yes I know it's overkill but its meant to last and not need upgrades for a significant time span.

 

Motherboard: MSI TRX40 Creator

CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990x

GPU: 2x Nvidia Titan RTX with NVLink bridge

Case: Fractal designs Define R6

SSD: 10 TB NVME M.2 , split over 7 drives (seagate barracuda's)

HDD: 6x 12 TB Ironwolf Pro's NAS, for 72TB total

RAM: 128GB Corsair Dominator

 

 

**admin** if this is in wrong spot please remove and DM to let me know, thanks.

If you change cases to something with 5.25 drive bays in the front, you can get hotswapping drive sleds. That will give you a *sort of* internal/external solution. But if you have it as a 6 drive raid, I don't see this as a valid or safe solution. 

[TargetDron3]

Not sure what you are meaning by internal, external storage?  Are you wanting to be able to remove a drive to transport it?  Just get a USB 3.2 external drive for that and transfer a copy of data to it when you need it.

 

If you are planning on that much storage on your workstation, what is your backup plan?

[Catwalk_Tech]

17 hours ago, TargetDron3 said:

Not sure what you are meaning by internal, external storage?  Are you wanting to be able to remove a drive to transport it?  Just get a USB 3.2 external drive for that and transfer a copy of data to it when you need it.

 

If you are planning on that much storage on your workstation, what is your backup plan?

 

On 1/19/2021 at 7:33 PM, Blue4130 said:

If you change cases to something with 5.25 drive bays in the front, you can get hotswapping drive sleds. That will give you a *sort of* internal/external solution. But if you have it as a 6 drive raid, I don't see this as a valid or safe solution. 

Trying to use the built in (internal) HDD capacity as a built in storage unit. The HDD would be permanently installed as longterm storage that would be synced with a external cloud server for safety if this could be done. Any idea's of a raid like program that could work if raid is too risky?

[Blue4130]

2 hours ago, Catwalk_Tech said:

 

Trying to use the built in (internal) HDD capacity as a built in storage unit. The HDD would be permanently installed as longterm storage that would be synced with a external cloud server for safety if this could be done. Any idea's of a raid like program that could work if raid is too risky?

If it's permanently installed, that's just a regular hdd, isn't it? If so, raid is what it is. The risk is tied to what level of raid and how many drives you use. 

 

As for what raid software, I assume that you are using windows 10 for the os, so just use storage spaces to create the raid. 

 

However, i may not be understanding you correctly. 

[Catwalk_Tech]

@Blue4130 @TargetDron3 Thanks both for your advice and help. New post on something similiar for this attached below if your interested in answering.