How to best use extra hard drives with Win8 Laptop

[LarryS2]

Hello,

How can I use extra laptop hard drives for additional external storage with my future Win 8 laptop?

I am getting a Win 8 laptop in the next few weeks (maybe after CES in January when new laptops are announced making some 2012 models less expensive).

I have about 12 laptop size 3.5" PATA (IDE) hard drives left over from various laptop projects. They are 5,400 rpm and 7,200 rpm; and 40 GB, 80 GB and 100 GB.

"Windows 8 can consolidate multiple hard disks and consider them one drive called a Storage Space. Pieces of your data are distributed among the different disks in the storage space, allowing your PC to write and read to multiple hard disks at the same time instead of just one.

Storage Spaces also lets you maintain completely redundant backups of your data. For example, you can set two drives to "mirror" each other. That way, even if one drive fails, the other one will continue working and retain access to your ever-important information."

How can I use the extra drives for additional external storage with my Win 8 laptop?

 

[COLGeek]

You would be better off stuffing that pile of drives into a server and using it for backup and file sharing. With a laptop, you can certainly add a couple at a time via USB adapters, but that will certainly limit your mobility.

 

[azathoth]

Some laptops have space for a second Hard Drive, but the vast majority of them do NOT support space for two full sized hard drives.

Unless you wish to remove the CD-Drive, and use an adapter such as http/www.ebay.com/itm/2-5-Laptop-SATA-HDD-ODD-CD-DVD-RW-BOX-Caddy-12-7mm-/260780207912?pt=PCC_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item3cb7b62f28

This only works for SATA interface Hard Drives, I have it in my laptop for I never use the CD-Drive any more, everything can be done (more conveniently) by USB.
It's a very easy and cheap way to add more storage space to a laptop.

 

[jaguarskx]

Hello,

"Windows 8 can consolidate multiple hard disks and consider them one drive called a Storage Space. Pieces of your data are distributed among the different disks in the storage space, allowing your PC to write and read to multiple hard disks at the same time instead of just one.

It is referred to as JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) and has been around for some time. The disk must be in some type of enclosure though like a NAS (Network Area Storage) that can accept 2.5" hard drives or you need to buy conversion kits from 3.5" to 2.5" drives. The problem with JBOD is that if one drive fails you can potentially loose everything because all files saved will have chunks of clustered data written to each drive. Even if one chunk is missing the file(s) is / are corrupted.

You might just want to take a few of the larger HDDs and use them as backup drives for very important data. You would need to buy an enclosure though like the following:

http/www.amazon.com/SANOXY-External-2-5-Inch-Enclosure-Laptop/dp/B000FNBYKW

 

[LarryS2]

It is referred to as JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) and has been around for some time. The disk must be in some type of enclosure though like a NAS (Network Area Storage) that can accept 2.5" hard drives or you need to buy conversion kits from 3.5" to 2.5" drives. The problem with JBOD is that if one drive fails you can potentially loose everything because all files saved will have chunks of clustered data written to each drive. Even if one chunk is missing the file(s) is / are corrupted.

You might just want to take a few of the larger HDDs and use them as backup drives for very important data. You would need to buy an enclosure though like the following:

http/www.amazon.com/SANOXY-External-2-5-Inch-Enclosure-Laptop/dp/B000FNBYKW

jaguarskx,

I like the idea of putting each one in a USB external 2.5-Inch case.

1) Since they would attach via USB, I can use a USB hub to connect several and daisy chain another hub or two for multi-drive access, right?


2) "The problem with JBOD is that if one drive fails you can potentially loose everything because all files saved will have chunks of clustered data written to each drive. Even if one chunk is missing the file(s) is / are corrupted."

a) So, by Win 8 seeing all the drives as one mass drive, bits of the same file may be spread over multiple disk?

b) If I have a 200 page word document, Win 8 may store pages 30-50 on disk 3, pages 1-29 on disk # 9 and pages 51-200 on disk # 5.

When disk # 3 dies, I lose pages 30-50. Then I wont be able to open 200 page word document becuase I have lost part of the file when disk # 3 dies. And even if I could get the 200 page word document to open it woud be corrupted by the missing pages.


3) If I use the drives as individual drives (not as one large combined drive), i.e. drives e, f, g, etc., I would avoid the issue mentioned in question 2, right?

4) Also, by having each drive as a separate drive letter, I could mirror like drives together (100 GB to 100 GB), right?