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How to access Internal HDD without desktop

C

choiboyogg

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 22, 2008
45
0
so i have a mac pro desktop quad core and a macbook pro 17"

i dont like having two computers. i had to buy a laptop because i have to travel back and forth between two places. i love my desktop but there is no way that i can carry it with me daily.

so i am probably gonna sell my mac pro. the problem is, i have two secondary drives inside. a 500gb and a 1.5tb drive.

i need access to these and i really dont want to put them in external enclosures cause it would be really slow.

so i was thinking about making a server? would that be the solution?

what are my options right now?
 
Cheap; FW800 enclosures.
Not as cheap; Newer, bigger hard disc to put data on smaller HDDs on.
Not exactly cheap, but cheap nontheless; MiniITX borad+small enclosure+OS that can read files
 
Dr.Pants said:
Cheap; FW800 enclosures.
Not as cheap; Newer, bigger hard disc to put data on smaller HDDs on.
Not exactly cheap, but cheap nontheless; MiniITX borad+small enclosure+OS that can read files
Click to expand...

can you recommend brands for the miniITX? and can you tell me about the pros and cons?
 
Why do you think they would be really slow? FW800 enclosures are your best bet unless you get an ESATA card for your MBP.

A server will be way slower, as you're transferring over a network (probably not a gigabit one either, but maybe).
 
slpdLoad said:
Why do you think they would be really slow? FW800 enclosures are your best bet unless you get an ESATA card for your MBP.

A server will be way slower, as you're transferring over a network (probably not a gigabit one either, but maybe).
Click to expand...

what is an esata card for the MBP?
 
i guess i didnt think about firewire 800

are there any enclosures that are dual space?
 
choiboyogg said:
what is an esata card for the MBP?
Click to expand...

And eSATA ExpressCard, which provides 1.5 Gbps of bandwidth compared to 800 Mbps for FW800.

You need a matching enclosure. I like quad interface (USB 2.0/FW800/FW800/eSATA). The Macpower Pleiades super S-Combo is very well engineered (better than the OWC triple interface, at least).

But I don't know which dual enclosures would allow you to treat the drives as independent, whichever the interface.
 
wow, thank you guys for all the information. you guys are very helpful.
really helps a noob like me out quite a bit.

thanks for the links WPC33.... very helpful
 
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/expresscard+esata

Select those with 2 ports (for using 2 enclosures, or an enclosure with 2 ports if you find one) AND port multiplier (for using disk array enclosures).
It would also be important that it supports 300 MB/s per port for arrays or SSDs.

You will have to ask around which one works without problems in the MBP forum before buying.

Note that if you just buy a random dual enclosure for eSATA, this might only allow you to use the disks as a single volume (RAID or JBOD), and not individually, and you will have to erase the disks first. Maybe you will have to buy 2 single enclosures.
 
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