[asterisk-users] No-mobo PC for USB Drives Enclosure?

[Matthew Rubenstein]

On Tue, 2008-05-13 at 22:46 -0400, Steve Totaro wrote:
> On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 10:22 PM, Matthew Rubenstein <email at mattruby.com> wrote:
> >         I have over a half-dozen different SATA hard drives, each with
> >  different data (configs, voiceprompts, voicemail, CDRs, AGIs) for each
> >  one's different user groups and applications. Each one's load on the
> >  Asterisk server is small enough that one server can host them all,
> >  accessed easily over USB.
> >
> >         But right now, each one is in its own external USB enclosure on a
> >  powered USB hub. I want to combine them all into a single large
> >  enclosure. I tried to use a single PC chassis, leaving the USB hub
> >  inside with the drives screwed into it, and powered from the PC power
> >  supply as internal drives on the proper drive power output plugs. But
> >  without a PC motherboard plugged into the power supply, too, the power
> >  supply won't start up to power the drives.
> >
> >         I don't want to add a motherboard: that costs money, and sucks power,
> >  and is totally unnecessary. I just want to make this gutted PC chassis
> >  power my drives only, and have them connect to the complete PC sitting
> >  next to it via the single USB cable coming out of the drive chassis. How
> >  do I do that?
> >
> >         Is it possible to use the extra, unused floppy power plugs to power
> >  more hard drives, with an adapter? Is it possible to split the existing
> >  hard drive power plugs to each power multiple drives? How many drives
> >  can I split each power plug into? The power supply is a cheap 300W unit,
> >  and the drives draw max under 9W each:
> >  http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=311 . So can I power
> >  25-30 of these drives, or at least 10?
> >  --
> >
> >  (C) Matthew Rubenstein
> >
> 
> Is the reason for separate drives security or something else?  How
> much data will the max size drive hold?
> 
> Maybe a few of these could solve your problem?
> http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=206821004&adid=17070&dcaid=17070
> 
> Looking for a JBOD SATA enclosure with six slots but they are way expensive.

	The drives are 750GB drives, each one a different related set of apps
from a different Asterisk machine. I've consolidated them all into a
single Asterisk server. And I already have the existing PC chassis and
power supply, as well as the $10 each SATA/USB adapters. If I can just
figure out how to power them from the PC power supply without plugging
in a useless motherboard, I'll have it done without spending any money
(other than whatever cheap part tells the power supply to run without a
mobo).


> Thanks,
> Steve Totaro
-- 

(C) Matthew Rubenstein