- Apr 7, 2014
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I am building a data sanitisation rig on a low budget.
The intention is to connect 8 Hard drives upto a computer (lets call it HOST) via usb 3.0, running data wiping software which is capable of running asyncronously (all at the same time). The software is Active@ KillDisk (linux version).
The first part of my build is a separarate PC case with a power supply supplying 8 HDDs with power only.
Each hdd will be connected to the HOST using a SATA-to-USB 3.0 adapter along 8 separate usb 3.0 cables.
The types, size and speeds of each hdd may all be different depending on how old the hdd is.
The reason for using usb to connect and not directly to the onboard SATA ports is so I can have a sealed HOST box without fingers being poked around in it, and so the separate power supply can be switched off safely without having to power down the host pc.
The host pc is not acquired yet, but might be cheap new kit or might be second hand kit.
I think I want a mobo with 2 PCI Express x1 2.0 slots so I can insert 2 cards of 4 port USB 3.0 PCI Express x1 card. The pc will be running a free operating system probably linux mint.
CPU unknown.
Each hdd will be wiped using 3 passes by the host software. The time taken to complete a 3 pass operation on a 500gb hdd will be multiple hours each pass.
The project will have many hundreds of hard drives to process.
Question: Where will be the limiting speed factor ? will it be..
1. The hdd interface
2. The USB 3.0 pci express card slot (coping with 4 seperate data streams)
3. The cpu
4. The motherboard
5. something else
Your thoughts are welcome on configuration, alternate suggestions. Thanks
The intention is to connect 8 Hard drives upto a computer (lets call it HOST) via usb 3.0, running data wiping software which is capable of running asyncronously (all at the same time). The software is Active@ KillDisk (linux version).
The first part of my build is a separarate PC case with a power supply supplying 8 HDDs with power only.
Each hdd will be connected to the HOST using a SATA-to-USB 3.0 adapter along 8 separate usb 3.0 cables.
The types, size and speeds of each hdd may all be different depending on how old the hdd is.
The reason for using usb to connect and not directly to the onboard SATA ports is so I can have a sealed HOST box without fingers being poked around in it, and so the separate power supply can be switched off safely without having to power down the host pc.
The host pc is not acquired yet, but might be cheap new kit or might be second hand kit.
I think I want a mobo with 2 PCI Express x1 2.0 slots so I can insert 2 cards of 4 port USB 3.0 PCI Express x1 card. The pc will be running a free operating system probably linux mint.
CPU unknown.
Each hdd will be wiped using 3 passes by the host software. The time taken to complete a 3 pass operation on a 500gb hdd will be multiple hours each pass.
The project will have many hundreds of hard drives to process.
Question: Where will be the limiting speed factor ? will it be..
1. The hdd interface
2. The USB 3.0 pci express card slot (coping with 4 seperate data streams)
3. The cpu
4. The motherboard
5. something else
Your thoughts are welcome on configuration, alternate suggestions. Thanks
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