Hardware Help wtd: hdd/storage/playback questions..

[danger mouse]

hi guys and gals, ill try and keep this as simple as possible, more for my benefit than yours lol


The lad next door (honest, he exists) has a couple of externall hdd's that he uses for watching films n tv series through his laptop, console and now his new tv.
Hes forever downloading and has upwards of 1.5tb of stuff that he wont delete because he might want to watch it again and cant be bothered downloading it
again, he was looking at buying yet another external hdd to fill with more crap an d while he was asking about any offers on anywere id wondered about other
avenues for storing this increasing load.

Now the questions........

Is it possible to get some sort of caddy that would hold say 3 or 4 3tb internal hdd's?

Can ithave its own power supply or be powered via usb from the tv?

Is it possible to have the above and not require any major software, so it behaves in the same was as a standard external hdd?

Im going to see what i can figure out for myself but thought id jump straight in with the questions as i might very well get the answers here before i manage to
work it out myself, in terms of my knowledge its pretty basic, i can put a base unit together install/format etc but once it gets more than that i get a bit hit and
miss so please keep it as simple as possible or i may well end up asking some rather stupid questions lol

thanks in advance

 

[danger mouse]

StarTech.com Multi Bay HDD Enclosure (SAT3540U2E) - dabs.com

this is the sort of thing i was thinking about, would i (he) be able to simply pop in a formated hdd and be ready to go with a usb to the tv to watch and the same usb to his laptop to transfer things onto it?

Edit:

is this basically the same but just with easy access to swap hdd's?
http://www.dabs.com/products/startech-com-4-bay-usb-3-0-hard-drive-dock-7W8S.html?src=3

same as the top link but usb 3.0 instead of 2.0
http://www.dabs.com/products/startech-com-4-bay-hdd-array-esata-usb-3-0-80HK.html?src=3

 

[leemoo]

The first thing that comes to mind for me whether his TV would be able to detect the multiple disks or not?

 

[danger mouse]

The first thing that comes to mind for me whether his TV would be able to detect the multiple disks or not?

and that is the reason i asked here, i hadnt even considered if this would be an isssue. other than trying a multi disk system is there a way i can check?

 

[leemoo]

The only way i can think of is using an adaptor which connects to your tv via USB and then the adaptor to mutiple drives, if you have a couple of drives spare that is.

Something similar to this but with one USB US$ 13.99 | Double A876 2.5" HDD USB Interface SATA Data Cable (Black)

If you could see the 2 hard drives via the TV then at least theres a good chance an enclosure may work.

The enclosure would power up the drives so if the adaptor didn't work straight away with your TV then you may have to use some external power other than the TV's source. If it still doesn't work then I wouldn't hold much hope for the enclosure but you never know.
Just an expense for something that may not work at all.
If you get an enclosure online you should be able to send it back as you will have online consumer rights - 7 days to test and send back i think it is.

 

[Mick]

Would it not be easier to have a nas drive, does the tv support networking in anyway?

Also most nas drives have a USB port

Can you post the setup in more detail, does this drive connect directly to the tv, etc?

 

[danger mouse]

Would it not be easier to have a nas drive, does the tv support networking in anyway?

Also most nas drives have a USB port

Can you post the setup in more detail, does this drive connect directly to the tv, etc?

ill get the model of tv in a bit, off the top of my head i know its a samsung 40" smart tv and hes been using a standard external usb hdd connected direct to the tv and all has been fine will update with more info when he gets in though