If I put four of my hard drives which already have bunch of data into this device, can I still use my hard drives without deleting any of the data? I'm just looking for something that I can connect all my HDDs with my laptop at the same time...
69911
You'd have to mount the drives as JBOD, which this model does have as an option.
1690764
Yes, I do it all the time. Also I copy photo files between three hard drives. No problems.
1619216
Hi there, replying to you Q above,yes this device can perform all the tasks as mentioned above and my advice is youmust know your Source and Target drives when in use and it's a wonderful state of the art device to have for those indemand for accessing HDD/SSD on their computers etc,etc.i gave this device a 5 star on my customer review and i'll solmenly will recommend this device to my friends thank you Bernard Alfred, amazon shopper¬
1388644
USB likely feeds only the additional USB ports on the front. Device is Sata therefore using Sata for data transfer. Do you have a SATA port free. I didn't because my 6 Hardrives used them. I used a spare sata PCI card
2240670
Yes. I have Four 4TB drives in mine and hey all work fine. Drives must be partitioned as GPT (which is nothing unusual) in order to see all the available space.
527108
ABSOLUTELY. I have been using a pair of 3TB, a pair of 4T and a pair of 1 TB seagates for some time with no problems. I do not use any of their special back-up software. (KIK, Ph.D.)
1984161
Your computer should be able to read more than one external drive at the time. Most likely, the issue seems to be a conflict of IDs assigned to each (ED) when we connect an (ED), then when we connect a 2nd (ED), then the 2nd (ED) is trying to use an ID that has already been assigned to the 1st (ED), therefore, the 2nd (ED) stays "offline" to avoid a conflict with the 1st (ED). The technical term is "The disk is offline because it has a signature collision with another disk that is online" To make the 2nd and 3rd, and 4th (ED) to be online, then you have to go to: - Computer Management - Disk Management - Scroll down so you can see your external drives - You will notice that the 1st (ED) is "Online" - You will notice that the other (EDs) are "Offline" - Right-Click on "Offline" and a shortcut menu will give the option to turn (ED) "Online" - Wait for a few seconds and now that (ED) will become available to be used. I hope these findings will help you guys minimize your frustrations as I had them before I found this solution
1036328
I've installed hard drives all over the place inside the computer, never worrying about the slot as designed, using tie-wraps, etc. The real question is will the connecting cables all plug up. As another responder replied, not likely.
432194
yes, i backed up my old desktop, my laptop and my new desktop. You do need to know what the file size for each item is and whether or not you have space to back them up as well as add in the future. I had a 2.0TB drive and my old files were 1.0 TB so i had space. when you plug in each device it should read which device is connected.
1080260
Good question. My IT brother says to use 2 external hard drives & back each of them up periodically, but keep one off-site. Other opinions/ideas?
291734
I would never consider a 4 TB boot drive because I do not believe it's a great idea to keep data on the boot drive, for many valid reasons. I would also never build a system with a traditional platter HD. I installed an SD in my laptop, saw what I'd been missing, and installed one in my primary desktop. Best upgrade I ever made.I use WD Caviar Black drives for all of my data, as secondary drives. One issue with 4 TB drives is that some devices for streaming will not recognize them at all (Such as the WD TV Live).
1775463
Yes - I have several of 4TB Seagate drives as well as a number of 3TB and other sizes. I have not had any problems.
2157265
Yep. My Seagate Desktop 4TB HDD had no problem connecting, so you should have no trouble.
1386248
I have never use the "safely remove drive from pc" function. I just unplug it, and no data is lost or corrupt. My previous drives are still working fine. It may not be the right answer but is one that has worked for years without issues
1235418
Regarding use of multiple sized drives; you should not only use the same size, but the same brand and model if possible to avoid issues. The only configuration that this doesn't apply/mean as much to could be JBOD (Basically just one big data dump w/no redundancy). Data gone is gone:)
327896
Nope, add what you want. Don't know about inserting already used (data on board) drives. I've always placed 'new' / clean drives in. There isn't a requirement to fill all slots. I have (3) 1TB drives in my 5N.
1879836
I don't have this hard drive yet, they have not sent it back to me. But it is not a network storage device, it connects to your computer via firewire or USB. At least that's what it should do.