Need to Bridge Hard Disks for External Use

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ahmedwaqas92

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Nov 16, 2013
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I have 3 Hard Disks available.

1. Hitachi (500 GB) Sata 7200 RPM
2. Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 (80 GB) IDE interface
3. Western Digital WD400 (40 GB) IDE interface

What I want to do is to somehow bridge the storage of all these three drives together and make them external storage devices via a USB interface. My preference would be to just plug all three with one USB port and I should have 620 GB available an external space. It doesn't matter if the storage is distributed into three specific drives as long as they are available to me externally via a single USB connection. I also do not care whether the media transfer is fast or slow. I just want them to work this way?

I understand the noobistic nature of the question but I am no expert when it comes to technology all I want to know is whether Is it possible to get this done. With all the technology around us available I would be disappointed if something like this cannot be solved
 
Solution
USAFRet
You can get a USB SATA or IDE enclosures for all of those. Add a USB hub, and plug into one USB port.

The enclosures will require plugging in to 110v though. You can't power those through the USB.

But...for the 40GB and 80GB. You can get a 1TB external drive for about the same price as the external enclosures for those would cost. Those are old, slow, noisier, and far more likely to fail sooner rather than later.
Look into a 1 or 2 TB external, and double/triple your space and increased reliability for the same price.

Sometimes old drives need to die and go away.
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ahmedwaqas92

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Nov 16, 2013
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Just out of curiosity, in theory won't hard disks operate in a way similar to a USB? if they are externally added to a computer. A friend of mine has a SATA hard disk that he uses as an external storage via a USB interface. Since I have 3 of these would I need to write a firmware program to make them compatible and then connect them externally. Could this work? If I can find someone who can write and develop something like this ?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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You can get a USB SATA or IDE enclosures for all of those. Add a USB hub, and plug into one USB port.

The enclosures will require plugging in to 110v though. You can't power those through the USB.

But...for the 40GB and 80GB. You can get a 1TB external drive for about the same price as the external enclosures for those would cost. Those are old, slow, noisier, and far more likely to fail sooner rather than later.
Look into a 1 or 2 TB external, and double/triple your space and increased reliability for the same price.

Sometimes old drives need to die and go away.
 
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Solution
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ahmedwaqas92

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Nov 16, 2013
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How would I be able to power those via a wall socket. Do I need to customize the USB Hub that connects it to the computer or do these come with power sockets as well ?


 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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3 individual external drive enclosures, 1 for each drive. They come with the necessary power connections.

As said, though....$25 or $30 each for the IDE drives, and that equals just buying a larger, newer, faster external drive.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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I have one of these. Works well for temp use in reading stuff off an old drive.
41YdcnUvX7L._SX425_.jpg


Doesn't look 'pretty' though.
 
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ahmedwaqas92

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Nov 16, 2013
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Then if I buy a new external Hard Disk what do I do with these old ones ? They are perfectly fine and and in great working condition? Could I make them as cheap backup resources or find a way to dispose them in a 'greener way' than what usually happens with these resources
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Yes, you could use them as backup repositories. Get a cable as I linked above, connect once a week or so to copy over specific files.

Again, though...being old drives they are far more likely to fail. And just when you need them.

I have a 2 foot tall stack of old drives, all working, ranging from 2GB IDE laptop drives up to about 160GB SATA. A few of them are sooo noisy as to be unusable. When turned on, they are by far the loudest thing, in a room full of electronics.
And the old drives are far less power efficient than a new drive. Another factor in the 'green' concept.

The old non-working drives turned into fridge magnet donors. Recycle the rest of it.
 
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