You Want Expansion? Rosewill Gives You Expansion!

[Andy Dixon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nedmug.com/Blogs/tabid/226/PostID/29/Default.aspx' target='_blank'>http://www.nedmug.com/Blogs/tabid/2...29/Default.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"When I first built my Windows Home Server, I built it using an old Intel Server cabinet because I wanted a lot of drive bays, 6 to be exact. I filled it with 6 500GB hard drives, for a total of 3TB of drive space. I figured that would last me a while for file storage and backups of the computers in the house. I was right. . . for a while."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1262464142.usr11334.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>I was browsing the web today looking for ways to expand&nbsp;my Windows Home Server, as I am&nbsp;getting close to running out of disk space, and I found a post on We Got Served linking to a blog discussing this rather nice little bit of kit.&nbsp; This is the Rosewill RSV-S8 external device enclosure, and it allows you to expand your system by a hefty 8 SATA-II drives.&nbsp; It also&nbsp;comes with a 2 port eSATA PCIe card to allowing you to connect it to your existing PC.&nbsp; Unfortunately, the price is the only thing that puts me off, $349 on&nbsp;<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132016&amp;nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&amp;cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-Server+-+RAID+Sub-Systems-_-Rosewill-_-16132016" target="_blank">newegg.com</a>,&nbsp;but if you are looking for that much disk storage then I guess money is no issue!</p>

[ptyork]

I'm actually pleased with the number of options available today for expansion. Especially with WHS only requiring a JBOD plane.

A couple of notes. eSATA seems to have an effective limit of five drives per eSATA connection. Thus the reason this one requires two cables. There are a few good looking 5-bay solutions for a lot less (approximately $200). This is especially important for us with HP MSS boxes (47x or 49x, NOT 48x) who only have one eSATA port to work with.

Also note that you can get a 5-bay rack that slides into a standard 3-bay 5 1/4 bay (as you'd have in most mid-tower and above cases). Good use of wasted space (and excess power supply capacity) for most folks with home-built servers. See for e.g.:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816133030

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121405