External HDD storage using Windows Storage Space

[bonnie3195]

I currently use Windows Storage Spaces for some archival backups on my PC. I am looking for a way to expand the storage, but my PC case is maxed out on mountable drives.  I like the native Windows Storage Spaces solution and am not interested in any rants about why I shouldn't use it. The interface is easy to use and I already employ Unraid on a separate NAS as a copy of all these files and have cloud backup as well so risk of data loss is low.

 

Does anyone know of any external bay storage that can just integrate right into Windows Storage Spaces to run 4-6 3.5" drives? I looked on Amazon and saw many solutions that appear to come with their own software to manage storage and Amazon is kind of terrible for buying good PC stuff these days

 

EDIT: My current best option is to buy bigger HDD drives, but I would better future proof as this storage grows if I could mount more than just 2 disks. I want to transition from 2-way mirror to the Parity (RAID 5 I think?) option.

[bonnie3195]

My current best option is to buy bigger HDD drives, but I would better future proof as this storage grows if I could mount more than just 2 disks. I want to transition from 2-way mirror to the Parity (RAID 5 I think?) option.

[PDifolco]

8 minutes ago, bonnie3195 said:

I currently use Windows Storage Spaces for some archival backups on my PC. I am looking for a way to expand the storage, but my PC case is maxed out on mountable drives.  I like the native Windows Storage Spaces solution and am not interested in any rants about why I shouldn't use it. The interface is easy to use and I already employ Unraid on a separate NAS as a copy of all these files and have cloud backup as well so risk of data loss is low.

 

Does anyone know of any external bay storage that can just integrate right into Windows Storage Spaces to run 4-6 3.5" drives? I looked on Amazon and saw many solutions that appear to come with their own software to manage storage and Amazon is kind of terrible for buying good PC stuff these days

Or get bigger drives maybe ?

[manikyath]

the problem is windows needs to think they're internal drives, so essentially your solution here is to use a SAS card with external plugs, and a compatible bay.

 

or, ideally, if you're wanting lots of drives in your desktop, look towards a case that can hold more drives?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Storage spaces will work fine, the only issue Ive run into with similar setups if is it gets disconnected its unhappy it lost drivies. USB and other external interfaceas seem a lot more unlikely to get unplugged typically than a internal connections.

[bonnie3195]

7 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

Or get bigger drives maybe ?

 would better future proof as this storage grows if I could mount more than just 2 disks. I want to transition from 2-way mirror to the Parity (RAID 5 I think?) option.

[bonnie3195]

7 minutes ago, manikyath said:

the problem is windows needs to think they're internal drives, so essentially your solution here is to use a SAS card with external plugs, and a compatible bay.

 

or, ideally, if you're wanting lots of drives in your desktop, look towards a case that can hold more drives?

SAS card may be a good idea, I'll take a look. Aesthetically, I love my case - upgrading this is near the bottom of the list of solutions but yes it would work

[HanZie82]

Have a 3D printer? Print some HDD cages, glue them to existing case...

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, bonnie3195 said:

SAS card may be a good idea, I'll take a look. Aesthetically, I love my case - upgrading this is near the bottom of the list of solutions but yes it would work

there's also always the option to squeeze extra hard drive bays inside your case, given there is space.

 

my old home server (that's still running because i suck at migrating..) is a chassis from a prebuilt that's got 4 3.5" bays glued into it, and 4 2.5" bays dangling around because SSD's dont "need" to be mounted.

[PDifolco]

5 minutes ago, bonnie3195 said:

 would better future proof as this storage grows if I could mount more than just 2 disks. I want to transition from 2-way mirror to the Parity (RAID 5 I think?) option.

Then you could get a case with more HDD trays or a HDD "box" like this

 

https://www.amazon.fr/QB-35US3-6G-Boîtier-disques-externes-ventilateur/dp/B00ORENYJE/ref=sr_1_14?__mk_fr_FR=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=B9HGUEMEN02H&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.iL5WMRNbyQVJtK0t2hpFMOagf9--kpMVEQH_wpu8vpPdOGnyWpZwcwz_BKPC5_RaunkzJejJ7cGwxzTxI70d0ZM0KGEEql5S93F2506fLKrxQi7W3Pq9o4Ojx-B7b-0EEifzVdpKz2QN1ao_EfYXFNDUSRLzteOIMRY4T2zWcWT_1n2FMHf-z0I_L3tiRc3xgemnLe-lWQm9YNyPgKEDKUu7Ifjnp0ZMMP2bxjABJjHUI-Zb7oni3fidj2DMdx3B2lTgkFalPTnXriZfukhJvjNYLhZtrY-wflbeXH0msr4.rKW1gQHbOv1lFSksbRwLchBCo3BG82e4CLbfo8Bp_SU&dib_tag=se&keywords=hdd+rack&qid=1720291021&sprefix=hdd+rack%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-14&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.49fccda8-a887-4188-817b-b9a64bb30e43