How to expand the storage of my N40L?

patrick168 · 23. April 2013

My N40L is running out of space requiring another 3TB drive for expansion. All existing drives are mounted inside the 4-bay housing, without using the optical drive bay. The configuration is like this. They are running without RAID, just scheduled rsync backup to the 3TB:

250GB: System drive (in bay 1)
1TB: Data files
1.5TB: RAW files from digital camera
3TB: Backup copy of 1TB and 1.5TB drives

I am considering the following two alternatives.

Plan A: Relocate the 250GB system drive to the optical drive bay and add new 3TB in bay 1 for RAW files backup. Then move the existing RAW files from the 1.5TB to the old 3TB drive.

250GB: System drive (in optical drive bay)

New 3TB: RAW files backup (in bay 1)
1TB: Data files
1.5TB: Data files backup
Old 3TB: RAW files

Plan B: Use the new 3TB for system drive + RAW files backup, and remove the 250GB from the system.

New 3TB: System disk + RAW files backup (in bay 1)
1TB: Data files
1.5TB: Data files backup
Old 3TB: RAW files

Obviously, Plan A is better option as I already have the 250GB system drive setup, but I am worrying about the cooling of the system drive and the trouble of relocating it. As to the actual implementation, would plan B be easier (using clondzilla + repartitioning) since the system drive still remains in bay 1? Or this doesn't matter because I would have to do a new installation from scratch anyway?

Thanks in advance,
Patrick

ryecoaaron · 23. April 2013

I would use plan A. It isn't hard to put the drive in the optical bay. Drop a sata cable down through the back and use a 4 pin molex to sata power converter. I also used a 5.25" tray that had mounts for a 3.5" and 2.5" drive. Just slid right in. You could also use a 5.25 to 3.5 tray that has a fan. While I have a 2.5" drive in mine, it doesn't run hot at all (30 C vs 38 C for the four drives in the bay).

I do recommend flashing the alternative bios (here) to get full speed from the motherboard sata ports. You would also be much happier not having to use the system drive for backups.

If you don't like any of those ideas, put the 250 GB drive in a external usb or esata enclosure

knumsi · 23. April 2013

If i was you - i would take Plan A. My reasons are:

The past told me that mixing up System discs and data discs will cause trouble when upgrading the size of the system drive
The more data is stored on the system drive, the slower will it be
No waste of resources ( 5 HDDs is more than four )
There are people who have inserted 13!!!! (i dont find the link now...) HDDs in this small case without having an additional cooling

patrick168 · 24. April 2013

Thanks for your replies, my N40L has flashed the modified BIOS and I will go for Plan A as you both suggested.

What would be the best way to implement this change? Would relocating the system drive to port 5, for optical drive, alone upset all existing settings and require a complete new installation? Any shortcuts that you would suggest? FYI, my system is running without RAID.

ryecoaaron · 24. April 2013

You don't have to reinstall. Just move the drive and set it to be your boot drive in the bios. Everything is done by uuid and doesn't care what location it is.

patrick168 · 27. April 2013

That would be great, thanks a lot.

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