Too many hard drives?

I'm experiencing a growing problem, and that's that I'm getting too many hard drives. I originally bought a 250GB drive, then added a 400GB drive, and lastly I got a 100GB bus powered drive for portability. But now I need another drive for media and render files. The problem comes when I've run out of power outlets, and only see that issue getting worse. I was thinking of getting something that will let me expand my storage as my needs grow, without needed added power supplies. Basically I need an enclosure that I would plop extra drive in as I need them, does anyone know of such a thing? I've looked but the devices I've found aren't really what I had in mind.
Thanks,
-Brian

hey Brian
sounds like you need to do some Media Management. although others may be using considerably more, 750GB is still a fair chunk of drive space.
do you regularly backup finished projects to tape, archive projects and non-timecode related media to DVD, clear off no longer needed media?
this isn't a bad intro to project and media management:
http://larryjordan.biz/articles/lj_archive.html
regarding the, pop in another drive idea. do you actually need the old drive and media to still be available? if not, an oft used technique these days is to use a FW or SATA disc enclosure ... if you budget in the cost of the disc with each job, then each new job or client can get there own hard disc, when the job is done you pop out the disc and put it on the shelf, and then simply replace with a new disc in the enclosure. these days disc space is dirt cheap.
hope it helps
Andy

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I agree with JFP...above. But if you have a USB3 interface on that MacBook, you can also try using it as I have on my PC laptop
For simplicity on my PC laptop I would just go with a fast USB3 flash drive for the project and media files. I have several PNY Turbo USB3 128GB units and have recently edited a 1-hour long three AVCHD camera shoot (not multicam mode) with perfect ease. That way you do not have power cables from hard drives. I suspect that the new SanDisk Extreme Pro will match those speeds below but at a much higher cost ($140 versus $50). Never believe the manufacturers speed claims here are real achievable results on the PNY.
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I've been fortunate to receive a PowerMac G4 733mhz (Digital Audio) along with a Sony 20" CRT monitor at no cost and I'm looking to get all the performance that I can out of it.
So far I've maxed out the RAM and added an iogear USB 2.0 card along with a SIIG Utra ATA 133/100 Pro controller card. The Radeon 9800 pro video card is a couple weeks away yet.
I now have a 160gb and a 60gb as master/slave on the main board, and another 160gb on the controller card in which I'm adding another 80gb to tonight.
I am wondering how many hard drives I can add before I have to start worrying about the power supply. Keep in mind that I'm going to be adding the video card in the future.
I also see that SIIG card says OSX 10.1 or later, does this mean that I cannot connect a drive that boots into OS 9 to the card? Or a drive that may have Yellow Dog Linux?
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Hi-
OK, let's talk power.... This is what we have to work with (may be slightly higher depending on PSU model):
DA 338W PSU
+5V=20A
+3.3V=24A
+28V=4.04A
+12V=8A
-12V=0.25A
Total on combined +3.3V and +5V =126W @32A
Of course, there is a big difference between idle and load power consumption, but I will list maximum power consumption values. Various requirements are:
ATA/100 Hard drive- Read/Write, approx. 12.8W [email protected], [email protected]
Optical Drive- Full Speed (42x) read, approx. 5.6W [email protected], 15.7W [email protected]
Memory (per 512mb DIMM) 1-3W combined 3.3V,+5V,[email protected]
PCI and AGP slots combined max +3.3V, +5V=62W, AGP (only) up to 20W
Firewire Bus 15W+25V
USB Bus 5v@500mA per port
733mhz PPC processor 1.6V 15.6W (Idle) 22.0W (load)
Fans (combined) +12V [email protected]
As for the Radeon 9800 Pro, under full load, the power requirements are:
+5V [email protected]
+12V [email protected]
+3.3V(AGP) [email protected]
+5V (AGP) [email protected]
+12V (AGP) [email protected]
Points to consider (no particular order):
-An ATA hard drive at idle, will still pull 7.2W and at Standby, will pull 1.4W.
-Unless you are running 2 RAID sets, you would rarely, if ever, have 4 drives simultaneously in Read/Write.
-One process that will push a system to the max is disc burning. Consider CPU at load, one, possibly two hard drives at Read/Write load, and the Optical drive at load. (For all who care, this is why we don't multi-task during burning). Without multi-tasking, the graphics power draw is minimal.
-Weak point of early ATX PSU revisions was the 12V rail. The G4 PSU also has a weak +12V rail (only 8A).
(Run a dual internal RAID, and try to burn a disc..... well, you better set the machine up as a headless server.....)
-Total combined +3.3V, +5V wattage and ampherage is sufficient for most fully loaded system and bus combinations.
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-A 237W PSU equipped Sawtooth will run without problems with two hard drives (one system, one storage), a 2.0ghz 7447 processor, USB 2.0 PCI, Radeon 9800 Pro and AC VGA fan. Additional hard drive (scratch drive), PCI cards, HDD fans and lighting overload the +12v rail for operation at load with disc burning. (we're talking about real life experience here...)
-Hard drives are heat producers, and an external firewire connected housing can allow for better overall system operation by reducing interior clutter and heat production.
-High interior temperatures reduce the ability of the PSU to cool itself, and thereby reduce it's ability to produce reliable power under load, in the heat.
-Old ATA hard drives are power hogs and hot in comparison to current SATA drives. Switching to two larger SATA drives will reduce load requirements by 3-4W per drive, as well as reduce heat production. Required use off a SATA PCI controller card eliminates the capacity restriction of the native ATA controller. Switching to SATA saves space, power, and cooling needs.
-And, final (random) thought to consider, a dual 500mhz Gigabit Ethernet (same PSU as the DA) will run two ATA drives simultaneously, burn a DVD, with a 9800 Pro installed, without any problems whatsoever. The same machine will run 3D graphics intensive games at enjoyable framerates, without problem. Internet video, on line games, etc., are all enjoyable, with reasonable performance for the given CPU speed. All uses of the machine are without problem, with the added graphics benefit provided by the 9800 Pro (Yep, another real life experience).
Now, you decide....

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Bernd Alheit wrote:
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Hi-
4 drives is all that the machine was meant to use.
One might squeeze another drive or two in, but more than power, the heat of the drives will probably be the problem.
Overheating a PSU makes reliable power production more difficult, and with multiple drives demanding that power, the problem compounds quickly.
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ere is some information to help.
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While my G5 was sleeping, a power outage occurred at my home, leaving my iMac un-bootable. Every attempt goes to the gray screen with the spinning "gear" and will either immediately shut down, or will hang there while the fan runs at full speed until it is forcefully shut down.
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Hi, Gavin Race
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I lost mine a few weeks ago as well. Odd. Shut down, unplug the drive, restart, then open Disk Utility. With Disk Utility running in the front window, plug in the LaCie drive and attempt to mount it.
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Kenneth:
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This question was solved.
View Solution.

Your HP Pavilion p2-1122 Desktop Computer only has space for one hard drive in it... the one installed at the factory. The only way to add any more drive internally, is to remove the CD/DVD and use that space, or to fabricate and install a drive cage... room permitting.
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Please click the White KUDOS "Thumbs Up" to show your appreciation
Frank
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