Too many external drives, too few sockets...

[Agrippa]

I wonder if anyone knows of a smart solution for me....

I've got half a dozen external drives right now and I'm about to double that once I've upgraded the internal drives in my PC. Thing is, I've not got enough sockets to power all of them, seeing as each enclosure has it's own wall wart. I could add another extension lead I guess, but really I've already got enough of those laying about. So I'm wondering if anyone's aware of any smart solutions for this dilemma? Maybe you've seen a wall wart with multiple leads, capable of powering multiple devices? Or perhaps some sort of distribution block specifically for low power devices? Or something else entirely, which I've not thought of?

If you have, please let me know!

[Rob_B]

Wow, you really love storage don't you?!

It depends what powers them, are they all just kettle leads or USB>AC Adpter or random sizes of adapter pins?

[kmac]

How about one of these?

http://www.addonics.com/products/raid_system/mst4.asp

[Zak33]

Windows Home Server.

build one

[Agrippa]

Wow, you really love storage don't you?!

You'd think so, but I really, really don't. I just have a lot of stuff to store. Ideally I'd like to have a 500 petabyte drive the size of a match box.

It depends what powers them, are they all just kettle leads or USB>AC Adpter or random sizes of adapter pins?

Like I mentioned, they're all powered by standard wall warts. All the plugs are the same size and either PSU can be used with either drive, but I'm tired of having to swap plugs between drives because I don't have sockets for all the PSUs. Hence I'm looking for something which will let me have them all plugged in at the same time.

How about one of these?

http://www.addonics.com/products/raid_system/mst4.asp

Windows Home Server.

build one

Sure, I've considered NAS, DAS, WHS as well as other things. Thing is, I need the drives to be portable, so neither is any good. If it wasn't for that, I'd have built a huge NAS or DAS years ago.

[jetfire]

just Daisy chain 4 way adaptors together, just dont go over 3000w cos they will melt.

or cpc do some that have like 20 sockets on them but there 100 quid.

[mikerr]

You can get 10 way flat mains extensions or the "neater" 10-way tower versions for around a tenner each


(clickable amazon links)

I've ended up going WHS personally though.

Sure, I've considered NAS, DAS, WHS as well as other things. Thing is, I need the drives to be portable, so neither is any good. If it wasn't for that, I'd have built a huge NAS or DAS years ago.

Do you need all 10+ external drives to be individually portable, or can you pair them up?
There are dual enclosures that still show the drives as separate drives over usb (and don't need reformatting).

[watercooled]

Hmm, well ideally you should consolidate the lot into a file server IMO.

But if for whatever reason you want USB drives, you could use a DC splitter like this , just be VERY sure to a) not overload the power supplies and b) that you get a splitter with the right size connectors. I use one of them to power most of my network gear from a single 12v power supply, but it uses a lot less power than a load of HDDs would. You could get a 12v power brick like what's used on PicoPSUs/laptops for more power, but then be sure not to overload the cables.
Another option if you're feeling more inventive would be to mod an old ATX power supply, they make great bench power supplies with a bit of work!

[aidanjt]

Hmm, well ideally you should consolidate the lot into a file server IMO.

This. And get something small like the HP Microserver, and you can put it under your arm if you need to take your stuff with you.

[Agrippa]

Hmm, well ideally you should consolidate the lot into a file server IMO.

But if for whatever reason you want USB drives, you could use a DC splitter like this , just be VERY sure to a) not overload the power supplies and b) that you get a splitter with the right size connectors. I use one of them to power most of my network gear from a single 12v power supply, but it uses a lot less power than a load of HDDs would. You could get a 12v power brick like what's used on PicoPSUs/laptops for more power, but then be sure not to overload the cables.
Another option if you're feeling more inventive would be to mod an old ATX power supply, they make great bench power supplies with a bit of work!

You da man! That's exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to find. I take your point regarding overload, but since only one drive is generally active at any one time I should hopefully be ok. As an added bonus I'll follow your example and power all my own network gear this way as well.

Problem solved, case closed, thank you very much mate!

[watercooled]

I keep thinking of the game Amnesia now when I see your name.

All the power supplies I've received with external HDDs are rated at 12v 2.0A, that may be enough for more than one drive idle but I'd be sure to let them spin up one at a time - a single drive spinning up likely uses at least half of that rating. You can get some idea of drive power consumption here, but remember the USB bridge will also draw some current.

[Agrippa]

Can't say I know the game Amnesia, but I hope "I" am a nice/cool/rich/powerful/whatever character in it.

Anyway, thanks for raising the point about power draw and spin-up; I'll be sure to make a note of being careful.