How to Stack Multiple External Hard Drives? Easy Guide

Multiple external hard drives are better since they offer greater storage, allowing you to share and back up massive amounts of data, play contemporary games with complex configurations, carry out advanced digital editing tasks, etc.

If the RAID or Daisy Chain can be configured, you’ll probably get twice the speed. If you are unfamiliar, a RAID arrangement combines several storage drives to produce a single functional storage system, and a daisy chain is a system that links numerous devices in a ring or a linear pattern.

So, if you’re eager to know how to stack multiple external hard drives then you’ve come to the exact place.

How to Stack Multiple External Hard Drives | Step-by-Step

There are some efficient ways that’ll allow you to use multiple external hard drives at a time. You can apply any of them to stack them together.

Step 1: If your computer has enough USB or firewire ports, connecting numerous hard drives directly to those ports is the simplest way to do so.

Step 2: If you run out of USB or firewire ports, connect the external storage devices in a RAID or a daisy chain using a single USB port.

Step 3: Purchase a hard disk with an integrated USB or firewire interface. You can directly connect an additional external storage device to the external hard drive using this connector.

Step 4: Connect a hard drive to your computer using a USB or firewire port first. Using a USB or firewire cable, connect the second hard drive device to the port on the first hard drive.

Step 5: Start your computer and verify that the hard drive is correctly attached. Double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop to reveal the icons for both of your external hard drives. If the hard drives are correctly attached, they ought to appear right away. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is there any disadvantage of external hard drives?

Though external hard drives provide us with many benefits, it has some disadvantages too.

• As it’s not kept in the CPU case, it can accidentally break down.
• You have to connect it manually every time to use or back up.
• In order to use it, you have to carry it to a PC.
• It has to keep secure as it may contain very important files. Sometimes it feels like a hassle.

How to make an external hard drive the main storage?

You can make an external hard drive the main storage by following these steps –

• Restart your computer after connecting your external disk.
• To access your BIOS, press the relevant key combination.
• Go for the boot order settings.
• Make your USB external drive the first device to boot.
• Enable saving and then exit.

How to merge two drives without losing data?

Here are the procedures to merge two drives without losing data –

• Launch the MiniTool Partition Wizard to access its main screen.
• Go for Merge Partition.
• Then, select the partition you need to expand.
• Choose the partition that will be a part of the target partition.
• Now, click on Apply.

Is it better to have multiple hard drives than one big one?

Yes, it is. You will almost certainly lose your crucial data if you only have one drive and it malfunctions. However, if you have a multi-drive system, you can utilize it to regularly back up your vital files or to mirror the drive at one or more of the drives. Your data will be secure as a result.

Conclusion

It’s actually a great idea to keep a backup of your important digital files on external drives. Also, it has other facilities that are aforementioned. 

Hopefully, you’ve got the proper idea of stacking multiple hard drives. Just keep in mind that, when you stack many hard drives, it needs more care to keep them secure.