this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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Hey, I'm back with more home server questions. :)

I've got a laptop running as my home server. I have previously removed my CD drive to add an HDD caddy for a total of two hard drives - a SATA SSD and a SATA HDD.

Now, I'm running out of storage a little, and I have a spare HDD that I've currently hooked up to my desktop PC that I could connect to my server. What are my options here?

I've found HDD adapters that you can connect via USB. But what are the read/write speeds for these and would they sufficient for a server? Or should I invest in some kinda hard drive bay that allows for multiple hard drives to be slotted into and connected (is that a NAS?)?

Open to any input here, preferably tge cheaper the better.

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[–] brickfrog@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

You didn't mention your laptop specs but I'd say if your laptop has USB 3.0+ ports then you should be okay with plugging in a multi-drive USB DAS (like the ones with 2-5 drive bays) or even a single drive USB enclosure if that's your preference. I have a few that I use on and off without issue.

Slower USB speeds are also functional but the performance hit will be noticeable.