Homemade Thunderbolt/FireWire/USB(maybe) hard drive enclosure

[SoAnyway]

Hello community!

Like the title says, I'm looking to build a homemade external hard drive enclosure/array/rack that supports these three standards. I'm looking to house possibly a 10TB RAID 10 array. I don't care much for the aesthetics but I do want the drives to be housed into something stable. Lastly, I've seen what I can do with a FreeNAS but it's not necessarily what I want to do. Meaning that I don't want to connect my drives to a network as I want to have it connected directly through these interfaces, particularly Thunderbolt.

Now the reason why I want to do this is the cost. I can purchase a device like a Drobo or a similar multi-bay array but those things are ridiculously expensive, upwards of $600 on the array itself. What I want to do is something bare bones and have my drives connected to a board and power supply then to the computer, basically your standard external enclosure but at a fraction of the cost and to also be able to custom build this thing to my specific needs.

I have looked online but I can't exactly find what I want and need. So I turn to you the community to help me out. Thanks for any help you can lend to this project.

Here's a video of what I'm looking to do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzBGXei9azc

 

[JayMBP]

The only difficulty I can see here is getting your Thunderbolt controller.

I have yet come across one. And I have been waiting to put one into my HTPC/NAS ever since TB's announcement.

 

[SoAnyway]

The only difficulty I can see here is getting your Thunderbolt controller.

I have yet come across one. And I have been waiting to put one into my HTPC/NAS ever since TB's announcement.

I know that finding a TB controller at this point is probably not possible and it's something that I see happening months from now, realistically.

For the moment, what is it that I need to even come close to completing such a feat?

 

[ActionableMango]

I don't think the hardware exists to do this, even without Thunderbolt. Why is it important for the setup to not be a network drive?

 

[ronk13]

No cigar, but in the neighborhood

http://www.datoptic.com/sata-to-usb-firewire-bridge-support-pm-technology-uf-sata201.html
http://www.datoptic.com/esata-hardware-raid-controller-spm394.html
http://www.caloptic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34_65&products_id=256

 

[FireWire2]

DIY Penta interfaces

You can DIY a USB2.0/USB3.0/FireWire400/FireWire800 and eSATA box fully support JBOD and or hardware RAID.

1_ JBOD/RAID controllers:
SPM394 Hardware RAID0,1,3,5,10 with LCD

SPM393 hardware raid without LCD

2_ FireWire/USB2.0 support Port Multiplier Ware bridge

3_ USB3.0/USB2.0 adapter support port multiplier

4_ Short eSATA cable

5_ eSATA to SATA adapter...

Here is how:

Connect #2 to #5 (eSATA to SATA adapter)
Connect drives to #1

To use eSATA connect your system to #1 controller
To use USB3.0 place #3 adapter to eSATA cable
To use FireWire interface, jump the short eSATA cable to #1 to #5

Now you have Penta interface with out breaking your bank

make sure all the bridge powered, otherwise it wont work... lol

 

[joaoferro37]

You can DIY a USB2.0/USB3.0/FireWire400/FirWire800 and eSATA box fully support JBOD and or hardware RAID.

1_ JBOD/RAID controllers:
SPM394 Hardware RAID0,1,3,5,10 with LCD

SPM393 hardware raid without LCD

2_ FireWire/USB2.0 support Port Multiplier Ware bridge

3_ USB3.0/USB2.0 adapter support port multiplier

4_ Short eSATA cable

5_ eSATA to SATA adapter...

Here is how:

Connect #2 to #5 (eSATA to SATA adapter)
Connect drives to #1

To use eSATA connect your system to #1 controller
To use USB3.0 place #3 adapter to eSATA cable
To use FireWire interface, jump the short eSATA cable to #1 to #5

Now you have Penta interface with out breaking your bank

make sure all the bridge powered, otherwise it wont work... lol

Using clock switch is a real bad idea.
We develop a RAID product in the past using that switch and causing a lot of problems.
I rather using

http://www.lycom.com.tw/ST158RM.htm
Datoptic and Caloptic (same company) is buying from Lycom or iStar-usa

 

[FireWire2]

Using clock switch is a real bad idea.
We develop a RAID product in the past using that switch and causing a lot of problems.

There is no BAD idea, but BAD design/implementation