Self-hosting @slrpnk.net radec @slrpnk.net 1y ago

DIY data backup suggestions

I have an old OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 4 Bay Hard drive RAID Enclosure (1st generation) but I can't get it to be recognized by a computer. Mostly trying with linux over usb.

I've been thinking about maybe removing the electronics in it and just using it as an enclosure. It holds 4 drives nicely with a fan. Any thoughts about what I could use, I'm fine with just a USB interface. I don't need fast data access.

EDIT: other hardware I already have that could be useful:

1 - Intel NUC NUC5i7RYH
1 - Intel NUC NUC6CAY
2 - PINE A64+ 1GB

7 comments

maybe a rasberry pi with a 4 SATA ports addon could work, then you can use the pi as a network drive.

However, you'll need to figuresomething out for the power for the drives...

I have no idea how the inside are made, so you can try taking it apart to see for yourself! (don't forget to take picture, so you can reassemble it after ahah)
- thanks, yeah I've been looking into the ROCK Pi Dual/Quad SATA HAT but it doesn't seem super available in the US. I'd also have to buy a raspberry pi. Could be worth it though
  
  https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwiki.radxa.com%2Fmw%2Fimages%2Fb%2Fb4%2FQuad_sata_hat_35_hdd.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=3547ed7d39d1b5c9a73642290e170f1a006f303a53ef5229311fe5f1a7b287b1&ipo=images
  
  I found this picture, which could be exactly what you could want (I believe it is a Rock Pi SATA HAT ?), of course, now, time to find what hardware can do that for the cheapest!
Power supply of those 3.5" discs will be the main problem, as you can't do that over USB.

Maybe turn it into an ARM cluster enclosure? Most ARM SBCs can fit well into 3.5" HDD slots and the back might have enough space for some 5 port gbit switch and some 5V power wireing to supply the SBCs from a single PSU.
- Power supply of those 3.5" discs will be the main problem, as you can’t do that over USB.
  
  Yeah I would have to come up with some other way to power the drives, the OWC enclosure has a power supply, but not sure I could harvest what I need. I'm going to have to open it up and see how useful it might be.
  
  Another thought is this m.2 to sata adapter that I could put in the NUC5. I would still have to figure out power though.
  
  edit: link to adapter https://www.ebay.com/itm/285219307946

7 comments