[tsk1979]

It has nothing to do with P3, but motherboard which may not have SATA.
So first check if your motherboard supports SATA.

If it does not, get a SATA PCI controller, and plug your HDD there.
Bingo, for a few hundred Rs more you have made your motherboard modern.

If you want redundancy, you can put RAID card, and setup 2 HDDs mirroring each other(fault tolerance).


PS: I your existing HDDs are IDE ATA 133, then there is actually no issues!

[mmmjgm]

Originally Posted by Bass&Trouble

With my music and other media collection getting out of hand, I am in dire need of a device that I can use as a one-stop storage centre.

Right now, I use a laptop, and my data is divided over the hard drives of three machines - the laptop, an adjoining office comp , and a third, personal P3 machine.

The most practical solution for me would be to have added the largest possible 3 hard drives to the P3 and used it just as a storage device. I could set up a small wireless network and access all the data that I need over it, thus storing temporarily very small amounts on my laptop drives.

But I am pretty sure that a P3 will not work with the newer and larger hard drives.

Can anyone suggest any solution? Additional hardware over and above the multiple hard drives should ideally be as minimal as possible. Total storage expectation is about 3TB, keeping a little download activity in the future in mind. And will a wireless network be the best option to speedily access and/ or transfer data?

Hello B&T,

Here's what I do. I use a SATA converter (this is a box) which when you put a SATA drive into it and it then connects to a USB port on your laptop/desktop/ audio system etc etc.

This runs off 220 volts, therefore you will need to be near an electric socket whenever you want to use it.

It costs 800 rupees for the box alone, the HDD you can choose, 500GB/1TB/250 GB, the beauty is that if you are running XP, it will run it. REGARDLESS OF HOW THE HDD HAS BEEN FORMATTED !

I.e. If you use this system on an older pc no issues, it will run. Mine's formatted on NTFS and i've filled it up already at 500GB !.

You need not worry about the capacity as the drive is not controlled by the chipset (therefore P3 could have a problem) however if you use this drive, it runs off the USB controller.

Best part is that you can use it on anything which has a USB socket. (think of it as a large capacity pen drive). Car may not work without 220 v AC supply, if you want without AC supply go for LaCie drives, it would cost a bit more but you can use it in a car/PS2 etc etc etc.

P M if you need anything further.

Cheers

M M M

[Spitfire]

Now i know why Consultants have a bad name.

[Bass&Trouble]

Lol @ spitfire - that was really hilarious.

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful ideas!

Anyway, I have found the best solution for this i.e have someone build it for me - and who better than our friendly neighbourhood geek, Amey!cheers:

He first said he will build me a storage server. Slowly, as he started handing out the specs and the equipment that will go in, I realize that this will actually turn out to be a PC. And a very powerful PC at that. More powerful than anything I have ever touched. And yes, budget has gone ballistic. But I'm taking it in the spirit of the forum - I have also been guilty of inducing this on many occassions.

My solemn request to Amey to please post details of what he is going to do, for everyone's information. Post that, mods could kindly close the thread.

[mmmjgm]

Hi B&T,

In continuation, for larger storage or Network Area Storage devices you can use NAS devices, these have a raid box, (data security with the same information on two or more discs thereby helping you protect data in case of a disc failure).

Here's some reading, Network-Attached Storage (NAS) - Reviews and Price Comparisons ? from PC Magazine
This is a 3TB networked storage device. RNDP6310 - ReadyNAS Pro Business Edition 3 TB NAS (3 X 1000 GB)

Iomega networked storage device Iomega StorCenter Pro NAS 250d : Network Storage

These connect to a network. You can also connect to a USB port with these.

Cheers

M M

on edit - posted simultaneously with your posting above.

[shuvc]

Just wanted to put a thought in before the thread is closed.

Why not rent online storage? One can possibly rent out as much space as required, with all fault tolerance et al provided by the service provider.

Now say have a PC/Laptop with a 500GB/1TB local/USB storage, connected over broadband with unlimited download/upload. Keep the most frequently used stuff on the local disk and overall master files online.

This way, if you have access to broadband, you could access your whole collection anywhere in the world.

[Amey]

This is what is being done for apna B&T ,

Asus M2N32 SLI Deluxe Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
ATI Radeon HD3450 256MB GPU
1GB x 2 DDR2 800 RAM
Hunt Key 500W PSU
Full ATX Chassis
DVD-RW

Mostly we will stick with the following HDD config,

1 x 500GB - OS, softwares etc. and sort of a buffer disk
3 x 1TB Western Digital SATA HDD for purely storage purposes.

This decision will be B&T's

This board has onboard Wifi so he can use for easier access to the music collection from the laptop and since it will also have a decent GPU in 3450, it will be connected to a TV and also used as HTPC to watch movies. Since the 3450 is capable of decoding HD content well, its an added bonus.

So basically its going to becomes his multipurpose server sort of thing, Storage server+HTPC+Wifi hub or whatever

Hope he likes it

[Bass&Trouble]

Originally Posted by shuvc

Why not rent online storage? One can possibly rent out as much space as required, with all fault tolerance et al provided by the service provider.

Nice idea. However, my max upload speed is 20-25kbps. I'll be greying by the time I get everything online. Retrieving it will have to be assigned to someone in my will.

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by Amey

This is what is being done for apna B&T ,

Asus M2N32 SLI Deluxe Motherboard

What is the price of M2N32 ? I got mine for 10k.

[Amey]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

What is the price of M2N32 ? I got mine for 10k.

Its mine, giving to ajay for cheap.I had got mine for 12k

[Bass&Trouble]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

What is the price of M2N32 ? I got mine for 10k.

he he.

That was in fact one of the most important part of the sales pitch he made to me, the deal clincher - "LBM also uses the same board".

[mmmjgm]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

What is the price of M2N32 ? I got mine for 10k.

Same here I too have an Asus board M2N32SLI Deluxe
Bought it for 12k in 2006

However for a networked storage device a standalone is the best thing.

Cheers
M M

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by Bass&Trouble

he he.

That was in fact one of the most important part of the sales pitch he made to me, the deal clincher - "LBM also uses the same board".

Hmm

Brand value of "LBM" is raising day by day. I think I need to get the name registered.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

And what is the OS/software running here?

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by Amey

Its mine, giving to ajay for cheap.I had got mine for 12k

Is it the same board I got for you?