ajtatum

I have a Dell Optiplex 7000 SFF. This was my first home lab server, and if I had known then what I know now, I would have gotten a tower LOL.

Anyway, I would like to expand it's storage capacity and don't want to go with a DAS or USB storage. I'm not very familiar with hardware as I've always been a software guy, but I've been poking around and I find things that may work, but I inevitably end at one of two problems: Either not enough SATA ports or not enough Power Adapters.

I've seen PCIe Cards that could provide additional internal SATA ports, which could mean I could possibly jerryrig something similar (yet smaller) to the following:

• 5.25'' to 3.5''/ 2.5'' Bay Adapter 5.25" FloppyDrive to Dual 2.5 x 3.5 HDD/SSD Bay Cover Computer Mounting Bracket Kit Supports 7mm 15mm 2.5inch HDD for PC. https://a.co/d/3fDTg2D

But then I'm not sure about the power consumption. Currently, I have two 2280 NVME drives, one 2230 NVME, and a dual 10GBe PCIe card.

I recall seeing power supply multipliers, but considering my power supply is 300 watts, I'm not sure if it can handle that.

So, that got me thinking about something external with its own power supply, but I'm honestly not sure if it exists or even if it's a good idea.

Basically, I was curious if a PCIe card exists that has external SATA ports and then if there's something similar to ICYDOCK that has its own power supply. The ones I've seen seem to take a 15 pin power cord.

Does anything like what I'm looking for exist that's not insanely priced? I don't need anything enterprise level, but USB drives on Proxmox constantly give me trouble. I've read, I believe, that Thunderbolt enclosures are more reliable, but I can't recall why (if so) and also TB enclosures are almost the same price as a NAS.

If you have any ideas, suggestions, or if I'm just thinking crazy that this may be possible, please let me know.

(Oh, I should note that if the enclosure is external, I'm ok with going with something that is for a 3.5" HDD and then getting a 2.5" adapter.)

Thanks for reading. I really appreciate any feedback.