External HDD enclosure connected to motherboard's SATA ports?

[Iltirtar]

I had in mind buying a DAS/NAS. However, I have a motherboard with 6 SATA ports (which I do not currently use) and RAID 0/1/5/10... Too bad not to use it, right? Unfortunately, the ATX case I have fits only two 3.5 inch hard disks, while I would need four. I have three options in my mind:

 

1.- Change the case for one with more HDD bays. But my current case is pretty new and nice...

2.- Just buy a DAS/NAS. But this can be expensive... option 1 might be better.

3.- Have an external enclosure for the HDDs that allows connection to the SATA ports of my PC's motherboard.

 

Somebody has an idea if option 3 is even possible? Does it make any sense at all? —I suspect it doesn't, since I have been looking online and found absolutly nothing... Anyway thanks in advance to whoever replies to this.

[Kilrah]

SATA is not meant to be external or have long cables (well unless it's eSATA) so you won't find boxes for the purpose, but you could always DIY something and have a bunch of cables between the main case and the DIY box...

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

6 minutes ago, Iltirtar said:

I had in mind buying a DAS/NAS. However, I have a motherboard with 6 SATA ports (which I do not currently use) and RAID 0/1/5/10... Too bad not to use it, right? Unfortunately, the ATX case I have fits only two 3.5 inch hard disks, while I would need four. I have three options in my mind:

 

1.- Change the case for one with more HDD bays. But my current case is pretty new and nice...

2.- Just buy a DAS/NAS. But this can be expensive... option 1 might be better.

3.- Have an external enclosure for the HDDs that allows connection to the SATA ports of my PC's motherboard.

 

Somebody has an idea if option 3 is even possible? Does it make any sense at all? —I suspect it doesn't, since I have been looking online and found absolutly nothing... Anyway thanks in advance to whoever replies to this.

Option 3 typically isn't a thing. There are eSATA drive enclosures but that is technically a different connector as eSATA provides both data and power. If your case has any 5.25" bays available, you could get a 3.5" hot swap drive bay like this: https://www.orico.me/product/orico-5-25-inch-bay-hard-drive-caddy-for-3-5-inch-sata-hdd/

 

[Iltirtar]

So it seems it is as I suspected: real options are getting a bigger case, or getting a DAS/NAS. The DIY would be too messy, not too elegant aestetically, I am afraid. And also, no 5.25'' bays in my system, unfortunately. Thanks for your comments.

[fonzz1e]

10 hours ago, Iltirtar said:

So it seems it is as I suspected: real options are getting a bigger case, or getting a DAS/NAS. The DIY would be too messy, not too elegant aestetically, I am afraid. And also, no 5.25'' bays in my system, unfortunately. Thanks for your comments.

p400a, p500a or meshify 2 can house more than 5 3.5" drives, just need to buy mounting brackets for them

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

20 hours ago, Iltirtar said:

So it seems it is as I suspected: real options are getting a bigger case, or getting a DAS/NAS. The DIY would be too messy, not too elegant aestetically, I am afraid. And also, no 5.25'' bays in my system, unfortunately. Thanks for your comments.

If you're looking for another case... don't be afraid to look for a second hand one that's maybe even ~10 years old. You should be able to find something like an Antec 300 for cheap and since those were back before 2.5"/M.2 SSDs or long graphics cards were popular, the entire front side of the case would be 3.5" mounts. 6 in the case of the Antec 300 plus the 120mm fans up front will directly cool those HDDs down.  

 

 

Since it's a NAS... who cares about a little cosmetic imperfection. 

[thrasher_565]

there also hdd to usb 3.0