eSata multibay enclosure with multiport SATA

We've recently upgraded the hard disks in our development server replacing 2
x 300GB & 2 x 400GB SATA drives with 4 x 750GB. Wow, what a lot of storage
for virtual machines...

But we're left with those original drives and wondered what to do with them.
One option is to stick them in USB enclosures as external disk storage. I
came across this eSATA system and I'm thinking about buying a eSATA
enclosure with multiport SATA controller. All new to me

Has anyone had any experience of them? The price for the enclosures seems to
vary a lot. Is there a performance hit sticking four drives down the one
SATA multiport and is a four port SATA card (with connectors on backplate) a
better option?

I've also seen SATA controllers with PCI-Express interface. Is this really
needed? For throughput I assume?

Thanks, Rob.

Previously Rob Nicholson <rob.nicholson.TakeThisOut@nospam_informed-direct.com> wrote:
> We've recently upgraded the hard disks in our development server replacing 2
> x 300GB & 2 x 400GB SATA drives with 4 x 750GB. Wow, what a lot of storage
> for virtual machines...

> But we're left with those original drives and wondered what to do with them.
> One option is to stick them in USB enclosures as external disk storage. I
> came across this eSATA system and I'm thinking about buying a eSATA
> enclosure with multiport SATA controller. All new to me

> Has anyone had any experience of them? The price for the enclosures
> seems to vary a lot.

And you may or may not get what you pay for. Cooling and PSU quality are
critical.

> Is there a performance hit sticking four drives down the one
> SATA multiport and is a four port SATA card (with connectors on backplate) a
> better option?

No. This is just 4 physical cables in one shell.

> I've also seen SATA controllers with PCI-Express interface. Is this really
> needed? For throughput I assume?

Yes. A single disk now can reach 90MB/s. That is already enough
to saturate PCI. Traditionally you would move to PCI-X, the
newer option is PCI-E, which is also far more widespread.

Arno