Re: External hot-swappable HD docks...
I'm of the opinion that if you need to sneaker-net more than a terabyte of data, then you might as well transport your whole machine. This is primarily to avoid lengthy data transfer times. Have you ever transferred a terabyte of data? It takes a few hours to do, even if you're using an eSATA cable because as fast as SATA is, it's all dependent on the drive itself... and the really fast ones are as expensive as all-get-out.
Best bet? Get a super-fast 2.5" SATA disk of a reasonable capacity and use it as the portable. Anyone that wants stuff from you in an even greater capacity can bring their machine over and hook into your network with a hard line. While transporting a machine is a chore, it will be less time consuming than:
1) Plug in two-terabyte drive A, fill up with data. Time: 2hrs.
2) Plug in two-terabyte drive B, fill up with data. Time: 2hrs.
3) Transport via sneaker-net.
4) Plug in drive A, transfer data. Time: 2 hrs.
5) Plug in drive B, transfer data. Time: 2 hrs.
That's about eight hours. And you don't want to do simultaneous transfers because it's self defeating. Transfers always go the most quickly when you do one transfer at a time... and leave the machine alone.
I'm of the opinion that if you need to sneaker-net more than a terabyte of data, then you might as well transport your whole machine. This is primarily to avoid lengthy data transfer times. Have you ever transferred a terabyte of data? It takes a few hours to do, even if you're using an eSATA cable because as fast as SATA is, it's all dependent on the drive itself... and the really fast ones are as expensive as all-get-out.
Best bet? Get a super-fast 2.5" SATA disk of a reasonable capacity and use it as the portable. Anyone that wants stuff from you in an even greater capacity can bring their machine over and hook into your network with a hard line. While transporting a machine is a chore, it will be less time consuming than:
1) Plug in two-terabyte drive A, fill up with data. Time: 2hrs.
2) Plug in two-terabyte drive B, fill up with data. Time: 2hrs.
3) Transport via sneaker-net.
4) Plug in drive A, transfer data. Time: 2 hrs.
5) Plug in drive B, transfer data. Time: 2 hrs.
That's about eight hours. And you don't want to do simultaneous transfers because it's self defeating. Transfers always go the most quickly when you do one transfer at a time... and leave the machine alone.