4 x 4TB in external enclosure, best configuration

firstborn · 7 Aug 2018 at 13:24

I have 4 x 4TB HDDs about to be installed in a Startech 5 bay enclosure (no hardware RAID, connection over USB3.0). It will be used for archiving all forms of media. What the best and most reliable way to do this to maximize resilience and storage space?

bremen1874 · 7 Aug 2018 at 13:38

Why aren't you using a NAS for this?

What are you connecting it to?

Is it the S355BU33ERM you have?

Rannoch · 7 Aug 2018 at 13:41

Drivepool?

firstborn · 7 Aug 2018 at 13:48

bremen1874 said:
Why aren't you using a NAS for this?

What are you connecting it to?

Is it the S355BU33ERM you have?

Is that one and it was free, so I don't want to shell out anymore cash as I've no need to access the data from anywhere other than my PC/Workstation so no need for NAS (Though a have a NAS as a media server etc. in place). I'm essentially archiving loads of data from numerous hard drives I've acquired over the years.

rhysduck · 7 Aug 2018 at 14:26

I take it you're not bothered if one of the drives fail and data is lost on said drive?

firstborn · 7 Aug 2018 at 15:52

rhysduck said:
I take it you're not bothered if one of the drives fail and data is lost on said drive?

I most certainly am. So guess I'm looking at software raid but I have no experience of this.

rhysduck · 7 Aug 2018 at 16:10

So when the Startech enclosure is connected to a workstation, how does the workstation see the storage? As one JBOD or seperate volumes? Can this be configured on some kind of interface that the enclosure hosts?

Not familiar with these types of enclosures

Windows 10 has it's own software raid functionality hence my asking...

Rannoch · 7 Aug 2018 at 17:03

firstborn said:
I most certainly am. So guess I'm looking at software raid but I have no experience of this.

No good?

https://stablebit.com/drivepool

MagicBoy · 7 Aug 2018 at 17:28

Pretty sure you can't do redundancy via USB on that enclosure, it'll likely just default to JBOD. You'd need to connect via an eSATA connection that supports a port multiplier to get the individual drives to setup software RAID.

firstborn · 7 Aug 2018 at 18:57

MagicBoy said:
Pretty sure you can't do redundancy via USB on that enclosure, it'll likely just default to JBOD. You'd need to connect via an eSATA connection that supports a port multiplier to get the individual drives to setup software RAID.

Thanks - that explains what I am seeing. On USB I can see all disks, but via eSATA cant see any unless only one is connected. Guess internal eSATA does not support port multiplier. PCIe card arriving tomorrow that does though

neil_g · 7 Aug 2018 at 19:28

Nvm I can't read

ANDARIAL · 9 Aug 2018 at 12:24

Drivepool is good
You can pick out your important folders and create x amount of copies or just one
It saves each copy to a different hdd

Hades · 11 Aug 2018 at 10:36

Personally I'd be trying to create two pools of drives (if that's possible on USB?). RAID isn't a backup. But if you have two 2x4gb pools then the second pool can be a backup.