I just use both a standard case with lots of drive bays and one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B078YQHWYW/
I use DrivePool to make a JBOD. You can check their website for info stablebit.com or search /r/datahorder for reviews. I don't know if there's anything better around, but this has served me well enough for years that I haven't had to switch.
With USB 3.2 Gen 1 you can have a JBOD array strapped on that's faster than spinning disks can go.
Might I suggest something like this for the next upgrade so you can keep the transcode compatible Intel iGPU?
https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B078YQHWYW/
My friend has out his film on at least 2 of these MediaSonics. So far no major issues
Mediasonic USB 3.1 4 Bay 3.5” SATA Hard Drive Enclosure – USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps Type C/USB-C (HF7-SU31C) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078YQHWYW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_PYY7EBEARW4GTF3676TZ
It is not a traditional raid array, it has limitations. You can only raid up to 2 drives together. I am finally pulling the trigger on it. I will be setting up 2 separate Raid 1s. 4x8Tb Hard drives but giving me a total of 16 usable Tb- mirrored so I won’t need a separate backup on another hard drive. The great thing about this model is it is less than $200 without the drives. I will be getting the model with HDMI out and card readers.
For reference, this is my enclosure. The thing I want to protect with my life. That's the size of it.
https://www.amazon.sg/gp/product/B078YQHWYW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Mediasonic USB 3.1 4 Bay 3.5” SATA Hard Drive Enclosure – USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps Type C/USB-C (HF7-SU31C) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078YQHWYW/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_a_GSB1GVT1EXY1A0JZPSHD
Are you looking for something like this?
So right now he's got the following:
- 4x 4 TB in RAID10 (WD Red Plus and Seagate)
- 4x 4 TB in RAID10 (WD Red Plus and Seagate)
- 4x 10 TB in RAID10 (WD Red Plus)
The seagate drives are all from early 2015, and I'm actively replacing them as they're beginning to fail. Everything else is a couple years old.
CPU: AMD Athlon 200GE (YD200GC6FBBOX)
Motherboard: B450I GAMING Plus AC
External housing for the 10 TB HDDs connected via USB-C: [This](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078YQHWYW/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) guy.
Case: Silverstone DS380B
PCI-e card: Some generic 4x internal SATA thing.
When I originally put this together, physical space was a constraint which is why I went for a compact case. The external housing didn't exist and it was just the two 4x 4 TB arrays and [this](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HIDQG6E) motherboard (died, RMA'd, died again, and my friend's died too the same way - it's unreliable junk). The random gaming mobo was just a quick swap in to get things running again a few years back. The external drive casing isn't designed very well and gets way too hot - would like to get rid of that too.
My dad still uses a few external 2 TB external HDDs in addition to all this, so I think ideally he could use more space. I was looking at some 16x drive bay server options for around ~$800. My parents have also been talking about wanting security cameras and home automation, so I was thinking the extra server power might be nice for additionally hosting all of that with HomeAssistant.
I was about to pull the trigger on this, even though top of budget... Until it said in bold NO LINUX!
I heard a lot of positive reviews about Orico, but how long have they lasted in your usage? I just want a Enclosure that won't disconnect in the middle of a file transfer.
These are the enclosures I'm interested in:
StarTech.com USB 3.1 Gen 2 External Hard Drive Enclosure for 3.5” SATA Drives: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00XLAZEFC/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
Inateck 3.5 Inch HDD Enclosure, USB 3.0 Mesh Case: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07N63MXN6/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
Mediasonic USB 3.1 4 Bay 3.5” SATA Hard Drive Enclosure – USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps Type C/USB-C (HF7-SU31C): https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B078YQHWYW/ref=mp_s_a_1_19?_encoding=UTF8&c=ts&dchild=1&keywords=Computer+Hard+Drive+Enclosures&qid=1621555588&s=pc&sr=1-19&ts_id=160354011
I use two 4 bay media sonic pro boxes and I love them. Mediasonic USB 3.1 4 Bay 3.5” SATA Hard Drive Enclosure – USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps Type C/USB-C (HF7-SU31C) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B078YQHWYW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_SCTTWGSX9RRSXM3QSY78
Remember that cloud storage is massively redundant so will always cost more than your un-RAIDED 10TB at $25/TB for life (ignoring energy costs). That's approaching what AWS charges per month :-)
Just buy four of them and put in one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B078YQHWYW/
Or I'll be there are pure SATA and power connector harnesses and make your own box. That's 40TB and 400 plots right there. Or splash on 16TB drives for 600+ plots.
I've been using a number of the lower priced 4 bay non-raid boxes for years and *knock wood, the only thing I've done is replace the fan on one.
There's a USB 3.1 version of it here: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B078YQHWYW/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=mediasonic&qid=1606789848&s=electronics&sr=1-4
The other box is way overpriced. Here's one without the 4K port, whatever that's supposed to do: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-Raid-Drive-Enclosure-Feature/dp/B07KY73BNQ/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=mediasonic+raid&qid=1606790278&s=electronics&sr=1-3
Unless you're running SSDs, USB 3.0 is fast enough HDD transfers. I get ~130-150MB/s transfers with mine.
I also have two of the 8 bay versions: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-H82-SU3S2-ProBox-External-Enclosure/dp/B005GYDMYG/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=syba+8+bay&qid=1606789926&s=electronics&sr=1-3, but have read good reviews of the Syba version: amazon.com/Syba-Swappable-Drive-External-Enclosure/dp/B07MD2LNYX/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=syba+8+bay&qid=1606790593&s=electronics&sr=1-1
This one; https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078YQHWYW
With four of these shucked; https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08899GVT6
64TB at 10gbps usb-c gen2 (more than enough for a mechanical drive) for an unbeatable price
This one? Looks nice, solid and cheap, thanks!
I've been running two of these for about a year now. No issues.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B078YQHWYW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I started down this road a while back and found 2 options that were best for me. I had my internal SATA's all full (6) and 3 or 4 external drives. All small drives at the time, what I could afford at the time. I was running Windows and didn't want to do RAID because all the data transfer just to set it up.
On Windows, I found DrivePool that combines existing drives into a single pooled drive. It creates a single folder on each drive that is in the pool and any data in that folder is part of that pooled drive. Any data outside that folder was accessible through the individual drive. I put all my drives into that pool and pointed Plex to that new drive letter. It was sooo much better. It can do the backup feature, like a RAID, but it uses up double the space. So you would have to get 2x each drive. I didn't use that feature.
I did have a drive fail while using that and it was easy to replace and add a new drive to the configuration. As far as backup, I use Radarr and Sonarr to keep track of my movies and tv shows. Since those are monitoring the Plex folder, I knew which movies and shows I needed to replace. Yes, I know for some it's a lot of data to replace, but for me, I don't mind that.
I eventually moved my Plex to Linux Mint and DrivePool doesn't work with Linux. So, as I see someone else mentioned, I found mergerfs. It was a matter of configuring a file and it creates a pooled drive. Any data on those drives can be found in the pooled drive. One thing I did find out is that for it to move files to the directory structure, I needed the same named folders on each of the individual drives. Then, it can move any new files to whichever drive has more space. When I moved to Linux, I made the decision to convert from NTFS to ext4 for the drives. I used a spare external to do the transfer disk by disk. It took several days, but it wasn't too bad, for me.
Now I had things going, but with multiple external drives, I had to make sure I had enough available USB connections and power connections. I stumbled on this External Bay and decided to shuck the externals. This thing has made it so much easier. I can replace whenever I need to and add as needed. I now have ~60TB worth of space, but not as much in data. This has worked best for me. (thanks to Amazon and Best Buy sales on their WD Elements and EasyStore external drives)
Correct, 4 separate drives. Provided you buy the non-RAID version. Mine works over USB 3.1 10gbps
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078YQHWYW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Tbh, it might be easiest to just switch to a separate desktop/laptop altogether or get a cheap system with TB3 that you use just for those hubs/interfaces if that fits with your workflow.
With desktops it's pretty feasible to add a thunderbolt 3 port, but with a laptop it might not be possible or really janky at best. Your best case would be that there is a PCIe slot inside your laptop, that you can then add a PCIe riser (extension cable basically) to. Then you can turn that into a thunderbolt slot with another adapter. The PCIe slot would have to have enough bandwidth and power delivery though which I doubt would be the case in a laptop. Power delivery can be solved by getting a riser with an external power supply. Also, the PCIe slot is likely occupied by something like a wifi card or card reader as laptop manufacturers wouldn't waste any space like that. Even if everything works out, the laptop would either not be portable anymore or you'd have to unscrew the laptop chassis and remove the PCIe riser each time you want to move it. Here is a video where a guy does about the same thing, only that he adds a GPU to the PCIe riser instead of a PCIe to TB3 adapter card.
Edit: also, if you tell me exactly what you need to connect to the laptop, we might be able to find a workaround. Also if you need to connect HDDs, then the 10gb/s bandwidth is enough for multiple drives and you should be able to find several external drive bays like this one that support USB 3.1
I just set up one of these today. So far so good. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078YQHWYW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1