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Can an old Computer be turned in to a super External HD

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macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 29, 2006
2,249
53
Woodland Hills
I have an old Pentium III HP that has 35 HD space now. I'd like to gut it and turn it in to a huge hard Drive, but is this even possible?

I was thinking other wise to just go and buy a PC case that can support a Terabyte or so, but I didn't know what else I would need in that computer if I built one myself? Does it require an operating system?

I can afford an external Terabyte Hard drive, but If i could use a computer as an external enclosure for internal hard drives I might have a better chance of not breaking the bank.

Or is there the possibility of an external enclosure that holds multiple drives?
 
Oh and if I go with a computer as an external HD is there a way to set it up so I can connect wirelessly to it. I will still use the Gigabyte ethernet but just would like that option.

I know of those NAS storage devices or what ever that you stick on your router, but when i'm off to college this fall I'd like to have my external HD that I could connect to from the on campus coffee shop a few feet away from my dorm. Am I living in a dream world or is all this possible?

Or is there a way to use the campus WiFi to connect my MBP to an external HD?
 
This is entirely possible. 1st i do believe that you do need an OS installed, you can probebly use Red Hat Fedora Core 5 with pretty minimal apps (you can get server tools if you want). If your comp has a wireless card you can enable file sharing and set up an ad hoc network or use a preexisting wireless network if you have one.

There are also external hard drive storages that can hold more than 1 HD, but they tend to be pricy. I think LaCie has several, but not positive. it is called external RAID storage.

IMO, i think it would be more efficient to just use the computer that you have right now as a external HD, especially since they do no need to be fast or anything.

EDIT: for your MBP, under Network there should be other computer names that have file sharing enabled. just click the name of your computer.
 
You don't need to go the Linux route since you already have Windows on there and thus a Windows license (I'm guessing). Simply reinstall Windows, buy a SATA controller ($30ish), install a gigabit ethernet card (if it doesn't already have gigabit ethernet) and install a wireles card (if it doesn't already have wireless).
After installing Windows, make sure drivers for all the other cards are installed properly. Then bridge the network connections of the gigabit ethernet and the wireless card. Set it a manual IP address for the bridge. Share the hard drives and make them writeable and then access the shares over the network.
That should be it!

I've considered doing this for a while although my PC's now bombed out and I have no way of accessing my data. If my three big drives were external then I wouldn't have a problem.

All considered, you might be best off getting three 400GB external drives. My drives will be becoming externally house as soon as they start selling the SATA ministacks. Three external enclosures will probably cost less than the extra PCI cards you'd need. They would also take up less space and more than likely be less noisy. Also if you travel you can take one with you.
 
Thanks guys so much. I dont really know anything about linux so I have to say forget that idea. And I wouldn't mind doing the computer HD thing but I got lost after the whole create a bridge and something with an IP... sadly I can only pretend to be smart about computers for so long.
 
CanadaRAM said:
Of course, opening up a Windows (possibly 98?) computer to share files wirelessly is a security disaster in the making.

How do you feel about everyone else in the coffeeshop having access to your pr0n collection? ;)
Click to expand...

Oh true... hmm never thought of everyone seeing Jenna Jamenson... well hell... You whats funny speaking of security.

I have a pentium III pc as i said before. Well I installed XP on it about 3 years ago i think. I've never ever ever ever ever ever ever done any updates to the PC till about 2 months ago.

I had to do the update because I got a new Windows Mobile phone and it requires the latest updates... (B.S.)... Anyways so before the updates I hadn't had a single adware, virius, worm, etc. After the update my computer has been freaking out like crazy. I found thousands of adware and malware or whatever it is on my computer after the updates...

Go figure
 
http://fwdepot.com/thestore/product.../1489?osCsid=40a0dcf6929c3688f5f7d7687357ea31

How about this one? is it any good. I'd like either a rack with the ability to house 4 drives or 2 drives. I haven't decided. Probably 2 though.

But is this one any good or is it not? I don't understand all the RAID 0, RAID 1, ATA, SATA, IDE, IDE converter FIREWIRE 1394. all that stuff so If anyone can recommend some I'd like to know specifically.

How many can this one hold? 2 right? http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other...ng/MEFW912AL2/
 
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