Creating My Own Mobile External Hard Drive

nlsnrn · Feb 24, 2015

A few weeks ago I found myself needing an external hard drive with about 6TB or more that is mobile. So, I decided to try to make my own external hard drive. The way I want to do this is by purchasing several hard drives to make the required size and using a usb 3.0 hub connecting the the hard drives to the hub.

The issue I am having is when multiple hard drives are plugged into the hub my computer turns each hard drive into a removable device instead of one large volume. Any ideas on how I could have these drives come together as one volume?

Thank You.

USAFRet · Feb 24, 2015

6TB? Mobile? Why?
What possible use could there be for 6TB of mobile data?That is one backpack drop away from a really bad idea.

For that amount of data, leave it where it is, and access it over the internet.
Or, cough up the price for a single 6TB drive. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178520

boosted1g · Feb 24, 2015

Yes your computer will recognize each hard drive as a separate drive, because they are.

You know they make a 6tb external hard drive. It is $300 but that is still cheaper then purchasing multiple drives.

What you are wanting to do is called drive pooling. You can buy software to do it. One of them is called flexraid.
Now with that said, getting this to work reliably with external drives is going to be near impossible because the drives will likely never be assigned the same letter, especially when using a usb hub.

boosted1g · Feb 24, 2015

Very good point about multiple mobile hard drives being one drop from massive failure

nlsnrn · Feb 24, 2015

The thing is if I can make my own external hard drive then I can continually make it larger by adding more drives. Along with making my own redundancy built into it hence the size of the external drive I am accounting for parity.

USAFRet · Feb 24, 2015

You still haven't mentioned 'why'? What will this be used for?

boosted1g · Feb 24, 2015

So how is 4-6 external drives traveling with you mobile?

No one does this because 1) logistically having to pack up and hook up 4-6 hard drives is crazy 2) it will take you a month tops before you damage a drive and loose all the data unless you put them in a huge pelican ruggedized case.

nlsnrn · Feb 24, 2015

USAFRet :

Who would of thought 10 years ago someone would need 1 TB of external storage?

nlsnrn · Feb 24, 2015

boosted1g :

I have a couple ideas that i'm working on right now...right now I'm leaning towards an old dvd player...

USAFRet · Feb 24, 2015

nlsnrn :

If 6TB is needed, then simply buy a 6TB single drive.
$260 from Newegg.

nlsnrn · Feb 24, 2015

USAFRet :

I have my reasons....

USAFRet · Feb 24, 2015

nlsnrn :

Unless you wish to share those 'reasons'...potential solutions will be hard to come by.
But trying to build some mobile RAID deal, via USB, with multiple drives....just sounds like too much work, and far too fail prone.

There are ways of having that all on a single drive letter. See the Newegg link above.

boosted1g · Feb 24, 2015

nlsnrn :

That is true, but the problem is not that you need to have 6tb of data, it is that you want to do it with 4+ drives instead of one and call it a "mobile" solution

In general: if no one does something a certain way, it is much more likely it is because it is not a feasible solution for the goal then it is that you are genius for thinking of it.

nlsnrn · Feb 24, 2015

boosted1g :

The thing is I want a solution to have a mobile hard drive array that I can expand as I see fit. The size is irrelevant I say 6TB but more would be best. I would love to have 12TB that I could move and the possibility to make it larger when I can afford it. With the speed and advancement of USB technology I see this being a possibility.

USAFRet · Feb 24, 2015

nlsnrn :

1 x 6TB hard drive. USB dock. Done.
Add another drive when/if you need it.

Or, pay the monthly pittance to AWS for cloud storage space. Let them worry about parity, etc.

(I'm still not seeing the 'mobile' bit, though)

boosted1g · Feb 24, 2015

Then get a raid array with 3-4 slots and upgrade that. Synology has their special format system that allows you to use different sizes of drives.

Here is the reality of the world for what you are wanting to do:
Affordable -> semi-mobile -> semi-reliable: PICK 2
Semi-mobile meaning it can be taken with you, will require its own case
semi-reliable meaning that it will not requiring reconfiguring every single time you want to use it, but still have the probability of drop age and disk failure.

Its your money, buy as many hard drives as you want to replace due to damage, just don't come on forums asking for experts advice and then be too thick-headed to listen to anything they are saying because it is not what you want to hear.

USAFRet · Feb 24, 2015

Another 'easy' solution;
Drobo

nlsnrn · Feb 24, 2015

USAFRet :

That is closer to what I was thinking....Pricey but, I guess this is the only option.

So, there is no way for someone to build one of these?

USAFRet · Feb 24, 2015

nlsnrn :

What you desire can't be done with a typical $10 USB hub.
With a regular USB hub, the PC controls the drive letters and how they are accessed.
With a Drobo or similar, it's own software and firmware controls that. Someone had to create all that. Which costs money. A LOT of time and money.

See above for "Affordable -> semi-mobile -> semi-reliable: PICK 2"

Creating My Own Mobile External Hard Drive

Reputable

Titan

Titan

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Titan

Reputable

Reputable

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Titan

Titan

Reputable

Titan

Share this page