4 x 4TB in external enclosure, best configuration

[firstborn]

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?

 

[firstborn]

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.

 

[firstborn]

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.

 

[firstborn]

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