USB3 on Dell 755 and Del 780

[joddle]

I am wanting to connect a dual HDD box to one of my PCs to act as secure storage and a safety backup. I have seen several boxes which take two SATA drives and can be configured for RAID or JBOD -

 

The question is - will either of my PCs work with a USB3 card - and if so can I connect a molex as seems to be required?

[KenB]

Hi,

 

.......secure storage and a safety backup.

If you are simply wanting to use an external hard drive(s) to store / backup files etc I have to ask why you are considering a RAID configurable Dual Hard-drive box ?

 

RAID can be viewed simply as storing data across both drives [ i.e. treating both drives as one ]

It does have one or two advantages - the main one being faster read / write capability.

However, if you are using it for back-up this will not be important to you.

 

For back-up purposes I use an external hard-drive(s) connected directly to a USB port on my computers.

No dual box needed.

 

will either of my PCs work with a USB3

USB3 is backwards compatible.

What this means is - yes you can use any device that is USB 3 on any computer with a USB Port.

If your computer has USB 2.0 then a USB 3.0 device will work BUT it will work slower - i.e it will run at the speed of your USB 2.0.

 

can I connect a molex

Molex connections are usually internal 12v connections from the Power Supply Unit on a Desktop Computer. [ a tower type - not a laptop ]

 

Are you considering a permanent internal arrangement ?

I can't see why an external Dual HDD Box would need a Molex connection.

 

1. Would an external Hard Drive serve your purpose.?

 

2. Do you need RAID ?

 

3. Can you provide a link to the device you are considering please ?

[joddle]

Wow - thanks Ken - but obviously I have not made my intentions clear.

 

Reason for using Dual box - I have two large HDDs in the master PC and so the dual drives are only to create backup versions of those - I don't need or want to use RIAD only the JBOD function as I don't want two extra boxes hanging from the PC when one bigger box will do the same job. The boxes I am considering all have USB3 connectivity and so if I can use the additional speed it would make backing up faster.

 

Re the USB3 - - currently my PCs only have USB2 ports - and so I was thinking of adding and PCi express card to give USB3 connectivity in order to maximise the speed of the external drive. Drives being considered are

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORICO-Aluminium-Dual-3-5-Inch-SATA-Hard-Drive-HDD-RAID-Enclosure-USB-3-0-eSATA

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sharknoon-Raid-2-Bay-USB-3-2-Takes-2tb-Hard-Drives-or-Less-/322391526067?hash=item4b10084ab3:g:E7oAAOSwpLNYBJp-

[KenB]

so the dual drives are only to create backup versions of those

I still don't see a need for a dual bay - unless you want it permanently attached. ?

 

Those links don't take me to ebay - I get re-directed.

I also get re-directed when I post a link to the ORICO item on ebay ?????

I also get re-directed if I click on the blue ebay above - it must be the forum software !!

 

 

You can add a PCI card if you wish - they are relatively cheap.

Normally you would get 2 USB 3.0 connections and these would be at the rear of your pc tower.

I assume that you have checked that there is space for one ?

[joddle]

I still don't see a need for a dual bay - unless you want it permanently attached. ?

Those links don't take me to ebay - I get re-directed.

I also get re-directed when I post a link to the ORICO item on ebay ?????

I also get re-directed if I click on the blue ebay above - it must be the forum software !!

 

 

You can add a PCI card if you wish - they are relatively cheap.

Normally you would get 2 USB 3.0 connections and these would be at the rear of your pc tower.

I assume that you have checked that there is space for one ?

 

Yes the unit is permanently connected and at each close down the PC does a check to see if any new files have been created or modified and if so copies them to the backup drives so in effect I always have two copies of everything from that machine

- I don't actual copy the operating systems as they exist on a partition on a 2TB drive, the rest of the drive is split into two further partitions used and it is these that get backed up.

 

Yes there are two PCi ports expansion one short on and one longer one and the PC takes full height cards - I see these are pretty cheap and several types seem to be available with either 2 or 4 usb3 ports and some with an eSATA port as well. I don't need more than two USB3s as I already have 6 USB2 ports on the back and 2 on the front.

 

The boxes I am looking at are on ebay - I search under "JBOD RAID 3.5 orico" which will bring up some of the units I am considering - there are other brands with similar specs as well.

[KenB]

Hi,

 

Have I answered your questions - or is there something that needs further explanation ?

[joddle]

Hi,

 

Have I answered your questions - or is there something that needs further explanation ?

 

Virtually everything - the one thing I am not sure about is if I put a USB3 card into the PC will I get real USB3 connectivity or will it be something slower?

[KenB]

if I put a USB3 card into the PC will I get real USB3 connectivity or will it be something slower?

You should get USB 3 speeds.

The info relating to USB 3 says that it is capable of transfer speeds of [uP TO ] 5 Gbit/s - which is 10 times faster than the older USB 2.

They cannot guarantee the maximum speed due to a number of factors but the transfer rate will be considerably faster than USB 2

 

There is a newer USB 3.1 that was released in 2013

This has a theoretical transfer rate of 10 Gbit/s

 

I suspect that the cards that you are looking at will be USB 3.0 [ 5 Gbit/s ]