Custom external storage build, need research help

[shizzzon]

I am trying to learn and since i have nothing to tell me whether i am understanding anything i "Assume" to be true or not, i need guidance, hehe.

We all know what a disk array is, a backplane, etc....I want to build my own and have the edge that it will be cheaper compared to it's expandability potential.

I need it to be standalone so lets start from scratch and fill me in on anything here.

I will acquire a case with many 5.25 external bays for the purpose of using backplanes.
Found an awesome deal for a backplane that uses 3 bays for 4 SATA drives for under $100 with great reviews so it's sold me on that.

Now, without a motherboard required, i install a PSU that is strong enough to power as many drives as i want. I do the PSU wire trick so i can turn on and off the system via kill switch on the PSU itself.

Question #1-
Is it safe to power off all the drives via the PSU switch when i am done with the drives? I do not know what's different when it comes to doing a hard shutdown(kill switch) or when using an OS and letting it shut down

Now, i have the backplane installed with all proper wires feeding into it...
Let's say i have 4 drives, for example.

Can I do the following with success?
Run 4 sata cables from the backplane into this-

Please read description

Then run them out of that case via that bracket into a real computer using the SAME bracket? Then take it's 4 internal ports directly down to the motherboard?

Or use that bracket and run all 4 cables out of it into this-

SATA External Port Multiplier Official Website

Then from there.. into an esata to internal SATA bracket that would run directly to sata port on motherboard.


Remember, if you forget or do not know, this is to NOT require a motherboard in the external storage system and NO PCI RAID controllers of any kind in a pc that it connects to. Any pc it connects to will have RAID support on the motherboard.

Also note - ALL drives will always be ran JBOD and JBOD only so if i list any type of wiring configuration that may make that impossible, let me know.

[BipolarBill]

SATA drives are hot-pluggable, so a power switch will work fine.

You did not provide any details or links for your backplane ports. Please do so. I can tell you that mixing a "port multiplier" and discrete 4-in-1 backplanes is a bad idea. You are better off with 2 separate 4-in1 SATA backplanes that connect 4 discrete SATA cables between the two boxes. In other words, you should run 1 cable path for each drive the whole way from the PC to each drive. I say this because SATA port multipliers are outside the published spec for SATA and may be unreliable.

[shizzzon]

ops, i did forget the links.

Here is link to the bracket that i would attempt to run the sata cables from the backplane to this so i can get it out of the case-

Internal to External eSATA 4 Port PCI Bracket

Next, i have 2 options.

1-
Use this same bracket to get all 4 drives data cables into a real pc via the same bracket( i do not know if data flows both ways on this bracket...)

or 2-

Use this external port multiplier -


Here is their website-
eSATA SATA II Port MUltiplier SATA Port Multiplier Internal and External BridgeBoard by CoolGear

[BipolarBill]

If you already have 4 available SATA ports, get two backplanes and the cables. You will need 8 internal SATA cables and 4 eSATA cables.

The only real reason that you would need the multiplier is if you were limited to one motherboard SATA port. It would allow 4 drives to share that port, but they would all have to share it - limiting bandwidth. There is also the extra cost. You would still need a single port backplane anyway and another eSATA cable to go from the PC to the multiplier.

[shizzzon]

if each backplane has 4 drives and i use 8 internal cables..., how would i only need 4 esata cables using the bracket shown provided by that link?

4 plugs internal, 4 plugs external. I'm looking at this as if this is strictly just to get the data cable out of the case. So, for 2 backplanes, i would need 2 of those brackets which would equal 8 esata connections... thats why i was looking at this external multiplier.

Is this correct, i would need 8 and if not why?

Also, i know that multipliers limit bandwidth but i do not know what the speed limit is, would you know? It also may not matter because the sole purpose for this is storage so only 1 drive would be used at a time.

[BipolarBill]

You only need 4 eSATA cables to connect the two boxes. Each eSATA cable has two ends, right? That's 2x4=8 connectors.

[shizzzon]

man, you just confused me to death.

Here is a pic of a esata cable -


it's one cable, one connector on each end.

Maybe you are missing what i am trying to do?

Backplane inside of stand alone case. i need the sata data cables to be able to run out of this case and into any pc case onto the motherboard's sata port(s) so i can make this custom built external storage device portable and usable on any pc as long as it has sata port(s) and it has that bracket to allow esata cabling to be converted into sata inside.
So, 1 backplane, 4 drives, 4 sata outputs to 1 bracket that allows 4 sata ports. The outside of the bracket has 4 esata jacks that would run out of this case into a pc that has the same bracket, making these 4 esata cables plug into 4 esata ports on the back of a pc then converts to 4 sata ports on the inside.

So, for 2 backplanes, that's 8 esata cables that are ran outside.

[BipolarBill]

There are two types of eSATA cable. One has eSATA on both ends and the other is a hybrid with a standard connector on one end for the motherboard. The picture you posted has a standard connector on the right. You must get cables with eSATA on both ends.

The backplanes you describe have standard connectors inside the case and eSATA outside.

You're thinking about this way too much. If you don't understand what I've posted, I'm sorry. I cannot think of a way to clarify it more.