USB hard disk box capacity limits

[Hardcore Games]

I have many USB boxes for EIDE and SATA devices. I have adapters for USB B connectors to USB-C so that I can use USB-C ports.

USB-A hubs are abundant. I have a USB-A power meter so I can notice power draw.

More recently I have accumulated some USB boxes for M.2 NVMe SSD. The cheap box is 10 gigabit and the more expensive one is 40 gigabit.

Most laptops are still using USB 3.0 speeds. The USB4 port is usually the only comparatively high speed port. USB 4.2 will bring 80 gigabit speeds eventually.

One gripe is some SATA boxes I have used block above 8TB which is BS as SATA ius LBA48 so disks can reach 2,570 TB or so before LBA64 will be needed. 40TB was in WD in a press release as being available come Q4 2025 which will eventually find their way into my paws.

 

[eidairaman1]

Are you selling something?

What's the context of what you wrote?

 

[Hardcore Games]

Just inquiring about various boxes, some boxes I have run up against capacity limitations and BS like that

The image is of one type of USB-C box I own several of as 2.5" storage is abundant in the junk boxes

 

[Frick]

Just inquiring about various boxes, some boxes I have run up against capacity limitations and BS like that

The image is of one type of USB-C box I own several of as 2.5" storage is abundant in the junk boxes

Then use those for hard drives that doesn't hit that limitation.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Did not understand the subject of the OP, but I can share my experience, I have a few USB 3 (5 Gbps) docks based on JMicron JMS578 controller, they tend to work well. SATA III is limited to 6 Gbps, but realistically no mechanical HDD will run against USB 3's data throughput limits (including enterprise-grade drives like the Exos or Ultrastar derivatives, as well as the WD VelociRaptors), and it also works for SSDs in a pinch. Most cheap SATA SSDs will stay below 5 Gbps as well, so you'll get their full performance nonetheless.

 

[Hardcore Games]

Right now cheap SSD at 4TB are very popular for portable storage etc. I only have one 2TB SATA SSD in a box so it seems to work fine.

One gripe is capacity walls. ATA6 came out when parallel cables were still in use. LBA48 was mandated to overcome earlier problems of capacity walls. It seems some more recent SATA boxes impose capacity walls at 8TB etc. Some are capable of handling larger capacity disks but I am still testing capacity limitations.

I am waiting on a 28TB hard disk so I will be posting more gripes,

 

[Dr. Dro]

Right now cheap SSD at 4TB are very popular for portable storage etc. I only have one 2TB SATA SSD in a box so it seems to work fine.

One gripe is capacity walls. ATA6 came out when parallel cables were still in use. LBA48 was mandated to overcome earlier problems of capacity walls. It seems some more recent SATA boxes impose capacity walls at 8TB etc. Some are capable of handling larger capacity disks but I am still testing capacity limitations.

Capacity limits on enclosures depend on the controller used. Some of them do have a 2 TB limit. Some have no limit at all. Some even claim to have limits but don't.

Unfortunately it's hit and miss.

 

[Hardcore Games]

Capacity limits on enclosures depend on the controller used. Some of them do have a 2 TB limit. Some have no limit at all. Some even claim to have limits but don't.

Unfortunately it's hit and miss.

I have pretty much seen the hit and miss a lot over time. Hard disk capacity has continued to grow so stuffing a 28TB hard disk in a USB box is handy for a wide range of applications.

Now I see talk of 40TB from WD come end of the year

 

[nageme]

How does the limit manifest, do they actually show up as 8 TB even if the HDD is larger?

 

[Dr. Dro]

How does the limit manifest, do they actually show up as 8 TB even if the HDD is larger?

Usually the controller will report an incorrect drive size to the operating system. Some will report the correct size but data will be inaccessible (first 2048 GB show as GPT protective partition and the rest as unallocated), it really varies

 

[Hardcore Games]

One old USB 3.0 box I used to use maxed out at 8TB and a 12TB was not visible at all. That is a violation and that company was sued. Artificial caps violate the competition act and compulsory tied selling provision.

MBR tops out at 2TB while GPT tops out at > 18EB per partition. My worksheet on 18EB has shown that larger disks have managed to cut down on the number of racks needed for 18EB file system

 

[Dr. Dro]

One old USB 3.0 box I used to use maxed out at 8TB and a 12TB was not visible at all. That is a violation and that company was sued. Artificial caps violate the competition act and compulsory tied selling provision.

MBR tops out at 2TB while GPT tops out at > 18TB.

This isn't a MBR or GPT issue, it's specifically controller address space limitations in this case.

 

[Hardcore Games]

This isn't a MBR or GPT issue, it's specifically controller address space limitations in this case.

This is crux of my question as to enclosures that can handle 28TB and larger hard disks.

 

[nomdeplume]

This is crux of my question as to enclosures that can handle 28TB and larger hard disks.

Bit of try and find out with external you own.

Could always be persistent through private conversations in manufacturer support channels until you're sure it has landed on the right desk. Both drive (verified products) and 3rd party USB external drive storage brands. Highly unlikely is being issued command line firmware update for USB product you own. Never know unless you ask.

 

[DaemonForce]

This isn't a MBR or GPT issue, it's specifically controller address space limitations in this case.

This is crux of my question as to enclosures that can handle 28TB and larger hard disks.

If you already know they can handle 28TB+ then there's nothing new to check out.
There could always be weird issues with controllers like the ones that topped out at 8TB.
~30 years ago LBA was capped at 8GB on some internal systems after a BIOS update.
I believe it was a chipset issue. Had to fiddle with EZ-BIOS on a Maxtor just to get it right.
Read issues that can be fixed by OS patches are just the omen and seem specific to HDDs.
Whatever the controller used to engage the disk, that is the decisive point for all of it.

USB controllers add complexity to the issue because it's a far more common point of failure.
To this day I have no idea why. Maybe it's too many bits and bytes for the chip to understand.
Maybe the digit size amount programmed to be the allocation size doesn't fit the register.
It all sounds like more Y2K runaround so that's probably how it works.

 

[A&P211]

Just inquiring about various boxes, some boxes I have run up against capacity limitations and BS like that

The image is of one type of USB-C box I own several of as 2.5" storage is abundant in the junk boxes

Some boxes are made from cardboard, some boxes are made from plastic.

 

[Hardcore Games]

LBA22 is the 2TB MBR limit. LBA24 is 16 million sectors (at 512 bytes) is where the 8TB limit is reached. LBA48 was released in 2002 but LBA addressing goes back to 1996. LBA48 reaches 128PB which is more than any storage device imagined.


So any USB 3.0 box that uses LBA24 without disclosure is in violation of the ATA6 standard. LBA48 is required by the standard. It lso is misleading which is actionable. USB 3.0 is far more recent than LBA48.

 

[R-T-B]

LBA22 is the 2TB MBR limit. LBA24 is 16 million sectors (at 512 bytes) is where the 8TB limit is reached. LBA48 was released in 2002 but LBA addressing goes back to 1996. LBA48 reaches 128PB which is more than any storage device imagined.


So any USB 3.0 box that uses LBA24 without disclosure is in violation of the ATA6 standard. LBA48 is required by the standard. It lso is misleading which is actionable. USB 3.0 is far more recent than LBA48.

I'm confused what part of your "SATA3->USB 3.0" enclosure advertised ATA6 compliance? That's an IDE/PATA standard and most subsequent implementations don't dictate either way on LBA addressing.

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

If you are spending serious coin on the drives going in it, don't cheap out on the enclosure. Startech, Orico, Sabrent, Silverstone, Vantec, Siig all make pretty decent enclosures (startech being my choice of the list). Buffalo, Synology,and Qnap Make good NAS enclosures.

If you have money to file international lawsuits over standards violations, you can afford a good enclosure.