large sata drives to usb housing setup

[jims]

I have two 6TB Toshiba SATA 3.5" internal drives.
I want to try them mounted in an old desk top case with its PS and fans intact. I plan to connect their data ports to 2.5" Hard Drive Adapter Cables, and power them with adapter cables to the PS cables. I like the idea of them resting out of harms way, and working in a cooling breeze when backing up a 4TB drive full of movies.
I’m willing to give this a try, the costs aren’t that much, but would like to know if the USB 2.5" Hard Drive Adapter data internals will likely be OK with 6TB. And, of course I don’t want to damage the 6TB drives, but could test the contraption for general faults on small drives is my salvage drawer.
The only 2.5" Hard Drive Adapter Cable specs I’ve found are several brands that say they test fine for 2TB drives, and the ‘Wavlink USB 3.0 Type C to SATA III HDD SSD 2.5" Hard Drive Adapter Cable UASP’, that says that the “Hard drive reader supports access to the hard drive of maximum 5TB capacity.”
The expression, he knows just enough to get in big trouble, applies in spades to me, so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, including that I’ve posted this in the wrong place.
Thanks, Jim

[Bruce]

the 2.5" and 3.5" SATA data and power connectors are universal - they fit either, so I’m confused what this 2.5" adapter cable is you are referring to.
perhaps some pictures would help?

[jims]

The ‘Wavlink USB 3.0 Type C to SATA III HDD SSD 2.5" Hard Drive Adapter Cable UASP’

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/234176222595

seems pretty typical of the devices. My concern is adapting the SATA data connection to a USB port connection. I’ve been unable to get any info on whether any brand of these adapters will likely transmit data from a 6TB HDD to a USB port. The 3.5 adapters from the same companies come with a power supply and advertise being good for very large HDDs, they look the same as the 2.5 versions except for the PS plug, but the internals may be different.
The 2.5 ones have no power supply, needing only what’s available from the USB port. They’d be all I need since I plan to use the old computer power supply for the power connector.
I’ve emailed several companies, but of course, an unintended use doesn’t concern them.

[Bruce]

I’ve used something similar but with USB2 and USB3, not USB-C, my PC isn’t sexy enough!
and as you say, 2.5" drives will just work but 3.5" will need an extra power source.

why not just use something you know will work, like these guys;
for 2.5" - ORICO 2.5in Transparent USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure-Clear - Umart.com.au
for 3.5" - Simplecom Tool Free 3.5in USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure Blue (SE325-BLU) - Umart.com.au

or these docking bays - Simplecom 2.5/3.5in Dual Bay USB3.0 HDD Dock - Black (SD312) - Umart.com.au

[jims]

I like the idea of my old case with fan(s), and the idea of using some spare parts. Individual enclosures are certainly an option, but backing up these movie disks takes a lot of time, and heat, so I suppose they’d have to be metal, upright, and pricey. Not so attractive especially when I already have an enclosure, fans and drive rack handy. All assuming the adapter is likely to work OK.
I guess I also find the idea of fooling around with this stuff attractive, if only I knew what i was doing!

[PeterOz]

Something is not clear to my addled brain
You say you want to connect via usb yet you want to use power and fans in a case
why not connect to the mb in the case?

[Bruce]

I think the OP wants to use an old case as a storage medium, that’s what I’ve taken from this anyways.
have the drives powered and cooled by this 2nd PC case and USB’ed back to the ‘main’ PC.

sort of a poor man’s file server, or NAS, or HTPC if you like (but not). :unsure:

[jims]

I just want to safely house, and keep cool while working, 2 x’s 6TB SATA internal HDDs, and a 4TB external HDD. I’ll only want to use them occasionally, one at a time, to backup 2 x’s 4TB movie files, and my ‘C’ and ‘D’ drives. If I get it working, there’s plenty of room in the case for the 2 x’s 4TB movie files in there as well(they’re in two (Pluggable USB horizontal HDD Docks now).
Did you get your “sort of thing” referred to in post #4 working OK, Bruce? When you say in the same post “as you say, 2.5" drives will just work”, is it your understanding that the power supplied by the USB port, is the main limitation on how big the capacity of 2.5" disk the device can handle without additional power?
As I said, my fooling around gene can easily handle the small cost of one of these devices, and I have a 4TB disk that Crystal disk says is bad to experiment on.
I also stumbled on some more encouraging info, https://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=117276
And a technical support guy at Mediasonic is still answering my emails, so this project may get off the ground yet.
Cheers, Jim

[Bruce]

yeah, all the things in my post #4 I got working.
they were just old drive enclosures I stripped down and used.
at the time in my life I was swapping drives for other people on a daily basis and needed something quick to access external drives.

and yes, the power supplied by a USB port is the limiting factor.

if I’ve got this right (and maybe a photo would shed some light) you’re going to put some drives into an old case, use that cases power and fans?
but you still need to run another cable, a USB one, to connect those drives to the main PC?

[Bruce]

@jims - still need help?

[Bruce]

closing thread.