I'm looking for some practical advice before making any purchases. I recently came into possession of three used 4TB Toshiba MG04ACA400N drives and my intention is to store old game ISOs, ROM sets, PDFs, and other general cold storage data. The issue I'm facing is that my desktop motherboard only has two SATA ports. Currently, I have a 1TB 2.5" WD HDD in use and one of the 4TB drives installed, while the other two 4TB drives are unused. I'm trying to figure out how to maximize my storage without wasting these extra drives. I've considered buying one 2.5" USB enclosure and one 3.5" USB enclosure to externalize some drives. However, I'm also contemplating a NAS solution, but I'm unsure about the costs and whether it would be overkill for my needs. Ideally, I am looking for a budget-friendly yet reliable solution. Any tips or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
Before you buy anything, what's the brand and model of your motherboard? If you do decide to use a NAS, keep in mind that you'd have to format the drives first, so you would need to back up your data temporarily.
Have you considered getting a SATA controller? They can add extra ports to your motherboard, allowing you to connect all your drives internally without needing to rely on USB. It's a relatively simple solution if you have space in your case!
I hadn't thought about that before. I'll definitely check it out, thanks!
I personally use a USB docking station and it's been reliable for me. A good one can transfer at around 10Gbps via USB-C, which is pretty fast and avoids the hassle of opening up the case. But if you only have USB-A ports, you might want to consider other options or look for a good USB-A docking station.
My PC has only USB-A, and I’m a bit skeptical about the stability of using USB. I'll need to weigh my options.
It's a GIGABYTE B760M. Fortunately, the drives will already be formatted when I get them.