is it a good idea to use a laptop as a storage server? These

>>57388133
Running 2.0 usb for hdd server is a sin.
Buy a case with front panel dedicated HDD mounts for storage. Run a vm.

>>57388862
what if its usb 3.0
my laptop probably couldn't handle having like 5 external hdds connected to it though, right?

>>57388133
It's fine. Not ideal, since if something catches fire then you're fucked, but it packs a lot of shit in a small, low power space. You get the bonus of having a built in UPS too.

If you're okay with 25MB/s per hub, USB 2.0 is fine. Power delivery may be an issue over any USB port with 3.5" drives, 2.5" drives can run fine on the typical 5v usb port. Use 3.5" drives and you'll need a 12v external power source or USB PD gear, which doesn't exist yet.

>>57390980
The usb port could power one external hdd, but what about multiple through a usb hub? or is that gonna fry my laptop

>>57391467
It depends on implementations. On USB 2.0 you're guaranteed safe up to 0.5A draw, USB 3.0=0.9A. You're usually okay up to 2.1A. Sometimes you can go up to 5A. It gets even weirder with new specs.
I'd say that with modern hardware you're probably okay putting 2 2.5" drives on a port. Each will draw ~600-1100 mA, putting you just over your 2.1A usually safe limit at max draw. If you want to stay as safe as possible then just use 1 drive.

A powered hub would put any concerns to rest.

>>57392490
Would I lose the benefit of having the laptop as a UPS if I use a powered USB hub? I assume it'll just be powered by the laptop even if unsafe if that does happen

>>57393540
Yes, you'd lose that benefit.

>>57393613
Fuck.
I'm not RAIDing the hard drives or anything, it'll probably use only 1 or 2 at a time. All I need it for is video streaming and storing my files along with backups, think it'd be fine on a regular USB hub?

I guess as long as I make sure more than 1 hard drive isn't running on the hub at the same time

>>57393756
That sounds needlessly complex.

On that subject, I was thinking of buying an old netbook to replace my rpi as a file server/seedbox/etc.

Is the power draw of a netbook with its screen off compared to a pi anything significant?

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>>57393769
It does, there is a hub with individual power switches though

but yes I guess my experiment here is reaching more retardation than I expected

>>57393779
most likely not, look it up in the datasheet