Connecting 14 different external hard disk together to a Windows 7 PC

external hard driveusb

Is there any way I can connect 14 different external USB hard disks together to a Windows 7 64 bit desktop PC? My system has only two USB ports. I want to mount all these external disks together as different drives in the system.

Right now, I am able to connect one External hard disk using the PC USB port.

I have read that there are USB Hubs available which provides 10 USB ports. Has anybody tried USB hubs to connect more external hard disks (more than 6)? Is there any known issues like performance difference from connecting them like this?

Best Answer

Your USB interface is going to be a bottleneck. You can daisy chain up to 128 devices with USB, though, you'll need to use powered drives of powered hubs.

If it's just a matter of space, it could work. You could probably use a pair of 8/9 port hubs, or chain up USB drives like so

                               +----+                         
                   USB Hub 1   |    +--------->Powered hub 1  
                    4x ports   |    |                         
                    unpowered  |    +---------> Powered hub 2 
<------------------------------+    |                         
    USB to PC                  |    +----------> Powered hub 3
                               |    |                         
                               |    +----------> Powered hub 4
                               +----+

Or split it in half with 2 powered hubs hanging off an unpowered one.

I'd take note of the USB drive's power usage (If it's a 2.5 inch drive) and the power supply capacity of the powered hubs. If the powered hubs aren't giving enough power for the drives you are using, you may need to split off some drives into another powered hub. If you're using drives with a separate power supply, you cannot worry about power supply from the hubs.

I've done some back of the envelope calculations based off hardware I have - I have a Toshiba Canavio HDD that's rated for 5V/1A and my Belkin USB hub has a 2.6A power supply. If I wanted to play it safe, I'd have at most 2 self-powered USB drives per powered hub, maybe 3-4 if I felt adventurous. I'd test to make sure this actually works with all 4 drives plugged in, and while loading all 4 drives simultaneously.

On Windows, I would probably consider the matter of running out of drive letters, but it's only 16 drives.

I'd add this is a pretty horrid set up. You're going to have speed constrained to the USB ports you use, you're going to have a spider's mess of cables, troubleshooting will be a pain, since you have multiple points of failure and so on.

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