Frank Steinmetzger wrote: > On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 11:57:55PM -0500, Dale wrote: > >> I'm just going to try and buy another 3TB drive as soon as I can. I may >> even make it into a removable thingy. Then I can make backups and just >> put it in a outbuilding. By the way, my outbuilding is pretty far from > For such use, I am planning to get an external SATA dock, rather than use > a “removable thingy”. You pop in the naked drive and stow that away after > you’re done. This has multiple advantages. For one, you can read SMART data > from the external drives, provided you use a SATA connection. Cou can’t do > that over USB. So if your board has an eSATA connector, get an external dock > such as <http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/node/1277>. > If it doesn’t, you can get an internal one for a 5¼″ slot in the front of > your case, like http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/node/1281 for one 3.5″ HDD, or > http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/content/sata-qp-intern-multi for both big and > small HDDs (plus some USB3 connectors, if your case doesn’t have them but > your board provides a header). > > Those docks are only slightly more expensive than an external case, but you > can use them for all your drives, not just a single one, and you have no > hassle with countless external power supplies (“which one did go into which > case?”). > > PS: I’m not saying you should get a Sharkoon, after all I haven’t bought it > yet myself. But their site shows nicely what’s available and gives me ideas. > -- > Gruß | Greetings | Qapla’ > Please do not share anything from, with or about me on any social network. > > Please don’t befuddle me with facts, my mind is set.
I been wanting to get me something external but hadn't got around to looking yet. I didn't know they have a SATA version. I plan to avoid USB if I can. From my understanding, eSATA can be hotplugged and I have a couple of those connections. Thanks for the info. It put me on a different path. Dale :-) :-)