Too many 2.5 inch hard drives. Need solution for storing iTunes and iPhoto libraries

[firefoxnx]

Hi All,

Over a period of 4-5 years I have accumulated four 2.5 inch SATA hard drives because I switched to SSD on the Apple laptops. The primary SSD has limited space so I use external enclosures for iTunes. I have also tried replacing DVD drive with a caddy for hard drives but found this not ideal as I still watch DVD's so I have to carry around external DVD drive.

What do I do with the extra 2.5 inch hard drives? I tried to connect them via pogo plug but that didn't work out too well as I still need an enclosure for each hard drive. And pogo plug is way too slow.

Is there a device where I can put the bare 2.5 inch hard drives and use them for iTunes and iPhoto storage?

Thanks,
firefoxNX

 

[throAU]

You want a NAS.

Not sure if you'll be able to use your existing drives in a consumer device, but if you have a spare PC somewhere you could stick all the drives in there and get it up and running on your network with FreeNAS or similar.

 

[mihirkamat]

In particular, this might suit your needs:

http://www.synology.com/us/products/DS411slim/index.php

I haven't used this one, but had a Synology DS211j that was awesome,
and rock solid.

 

[MCAsan]

I use a LaCie 2 Big 6TB thunderbolt set running as 3TB RAID 1 as my main storage for documents, iTunes library, and Lightroom photo library. It and my internal SSD are backed up to 3TB Time Capsule.

When I travel I have around 40GB of music in my iPhone and photos on my iPad. The photos are jpg exports of finished raw photos in the Lightroom library. Most of my SSD space is for photo collection in the field. When I get home, they are edited and moved to the LaCie library.

 

[JoeBlow74]

Hi All,

Over a period of 4-5 years I have accumulated four 2.5 inch SATA hard drives because I switched to SSD on the Apple laptops. The primary SSD has limited space so I use external enclosures for iTunes. I have also tried replacing DVD drive with a caddy for hard drives but found this not ideal as I still watch DVD's so I have to carry around external DVD drive.

What do I do with the extra 2.5 inch hard drives? I tried to connect them via pogo plug but that didn't work out too well as I still need an enclosure for each hard drive. And pogo plug is way too slow.

Is there a device where I can put the bare 2.5 inch hard drives and use them for iTunes and iPhoto storage?

Thanks,
firefoxNX

Get two of these docks. It has a power button and supports 3.5inch drives as well. I have been using this same dock for years and I love it.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0YB7V26KMW624FNC81N7