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Reddit mentions of Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed

Sentiment score: 46
Reddit mentions: 124

We found 124 Reddit mentions of Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed. Here are the top ones.

Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed
Buying options
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    Features:
  • Support all brand of 3.5" SATA I / II / III hard disk drive up to 14TB per drive, and up to 4 x 14TB
  • Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps hard drive transfer rate.
  • Transfer rate up to 5.0Gbps via USB 3.0, Transfer rate up to 6.0Gbps via eSATA
  • Support 2.5” SATA SSD / HDD (Bracket Adapter required, not included in the package, sold separately)
  • Thermal Sensor Built-in, Auto and Manual mode, and ONE Button interface selection to switch USB 3.0 or eSATA
Specs:
Height6.5 Inches
Length8.5 Inches
Weight4 Pounds
Width5 Inches

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Found 124 comments on Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed:

u/sk9592 · 12 pointsr/PleX

I bought one of these to consolidate drives into a single enclosure:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_9jgpDbERCY0PX

They sell 8 drive versions as well.

It's a bit on the expensive side, but it was worth it for me because of the space savings, fewer USB drives, less cable mess, and plug points.

u/callmeretardedbut · 11 pointsr/DataHoarder

What is your budget? MediaSonic makes decent enclosures for the price. You can always go fancy and get a Synology if it fits your budget or DIY if you like the customization.

u/freezurbern · 10 pointsr/PleX

I was in the same situation, I ran out of space in my case for drives. I am using a USB enclosure for Plex and it works great:

Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_pGIiDb44DMDJJ

u/NO_SPACE_B4_COMMA · 6 pointsr/selfhosted

I turned my laptop into a unraid server. Bought a mediasonic box.


https://smile.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/


Works wonderful

u/Targren · 6 pointsr/DataHoarder

I added an eSata card and one of these

u/praetor- · 6 pointsr/HomeServer

I've been running three of these Mediasonic ProBox enclosures for the last two years with zero complaints. I use the USB 3.0 interface though, not eSATA.

u/chicitybender · 5 pointsr/DataHoarder

I bought 1 already but want another. I'm new to this, so after shucking where can I place them? My only computer is a laptop so my options are either building my own server or finding a dock that can support multiple 8TB drives, preferably 4 ports. Can someone gimme an amazon link for something to look at?

I was thinking this https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1503137746&sr=8-3&keywords=4+bay+8tb

But won't that not support plex transcoding?

u/Kichigai · 5 pointsr/editors

First: Avoid the J-series Synology units. All J-series are meant to be cost-reduced, low power units, typically based on ARM processors. They will perform rather poorly, and be completely useless for any kind of video editing applications.

>So when I get a NAS, what can I expect?

Lower performance than USB 3, but greater convenience because all your devices can access it simultaneously. You're going to want your computer and the NAS to be on the same Ethernet switch. Don't even think about doing anything serious over Wifi.

>Would it be a good idea?

Yes and no. Yes, in that it could make a great backup target, and a handy way of storing non-video content for live use, like music libraries.

>How is performance when connected to a network?

Depends on the NAS and the network. As I just finished writing up over here the rest of the traffic on the network can play a role in limiting performance, and the functional capacity of the NAS itself also plays a very key role in whether or not it can keep up with what you demand out of it.

>Is it totally doable for live editing or is it best connected directly to my PC via USB 3?

Maybe. Depends on the footage you're working with. Unless you're getting a higher end model, know how to tinker with these things, and you're not working with like gonzo 4K footage it might work out, but USB 3 will deliver far superior performance, and it would be recommended you continue to work off something like this.

>I'm less concerned about RAID... I'm really only doing this so I can have multiple drives using one power cable.

No, you're getting involved with RAID, so you need to be concerned about RAID. I have a write-up in the Wiki about RAID that gives you a sort of 10-foot perspective on the thing. The RAID tech you invest in will determine how you move forward in the coming years in terms of data protection and storage growth.

And if all you care about is the power cord then you're getting into this for the wrong reasons. IF that's all you care about you could get a DAS solution. You could go with just a simple dual disk dock, or a dumb 'ole JBOD enclosure, or get some kind of real RAID solution, either by buying a card and building an array inside your computer or in some kind of external enclosure, or by buying a device that handles RAID internally and exposes itself to the computer as a single dumb disk.

>Currently looking into these two models:

Keep in mind that those are dual-disk models, which limits you to RAID0 and RAID1. This is quite limiting in terms of options, and in terms of volume. However upgrading capacity is cheap, since you only have two disks to replace (however this is only possible in RAID1, and impossible in RAID0 unless you've got enough external storage lying around).

u/Shawn_miller · 4 pointsr/PleX

I have the ProBox and have been using it for a few years.

About a year ago I put a noctura fan on the back as the stock one was a bit loud. Over time

Works great

u/BruceCarpenter2113 · 4 pointsr/DataHoarder

I've been using this for a couple of years with no problems:

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

They have an 8-bay as well, if you want to go larger...

u/firejup · 3 pointsr/DataHoarder

Under $250 with controllers? Maybe buy two of the MediaSonic Probox strip them down and use some fancy wood to attach them together. You get USB3 and ESATA and Linux compatibility. A handleful of screws to hold the whole thing togehter and you have a make-shift 8bay. I have 4 of these stacked 2 x 2 at home. Works great! There's an 8-bay version too but I think you could make something pretty awesome with the $70 in savings and 2 of the 4-bay ones.

u/zachisonreddit · 3 pointsr/PleX

Hey there - sounds like you are just trying to consolidate a bunch of external HDs, is that right? When I was at that "stage" in my Plex build I got something like this ProBox, connected to the computer running Plex. Never had issues with it, started with 2 drives, had 4 before I moved them over to my current unRAID server.

u/Monatigo · 3 pointsr/DataHoarder

You can do the Mediasonic Probox line for that. I have the one without RAID, but use software (DrivePool) for redundancy. It works great via USB. My only complaint is the back fan can be loud.

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

They also make one with RAID built in:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YFHEAC/ref=emc_b_5_t

u/johnny5ive · 3 pointsr/sffpc

Do you need more sata ports or do you need more HDD/SDD storage? You could get a something like this to hold your other drives.

u/qverb · 3 pointsr/PleX

Try a ProBox; its still external, but can hold 4 or 8 drives and is relatively cheap (unless you need the RAID version). I have 6 of the 4-bays and they work perfect.

u/17thspartan · 3 pointsr/DataHoarder

Sure. There's plenty of disk bays that connect to the PC via USB 3 or esata. I have a Drobo, which has served me well, but my next purchase will likely be something cheaper than that. I've been running it nearly 24/7 since I bought it 4 years ago (there was a month or two when my PC was off, so the drobo was in sleep mode).

There's a wide range of things like that available. Just search 5 Bay enclosure or 5 hdd Bay on Amazon (I'm on my phone or else I'd link you).

Edit: Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_E62LybZ817YQM

That's a 4 bay drive for 99 dollars. But just FYI, I don't know much about what hardware is good or reliable for USB drives (or Nas for that matter). It's something I plan to figure out or ask about when I get the money to buy a new enclosure or Nas.

And it should be noted that while I've had a good experience with Drobo (it's super easy to use, you can swap out drives for larger ones when you need to, and it can protect against one or two simultaneous drive failures), they use a proprietary RAID. That means if your drobo enclosure dies, you'll need to get it fixed, or replace it with another Drobo before you can recover the data on your hdds. I've read thaf migrating from one drobo to another is easy, and you don't need to know which order your drives are in or anything like that.

u/redsfan277 · 3 pointsr/torrents

4TB 2TB and a 1 TB

http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459222381&sr=8-2&keywords=probox

I usually bought the drives on sales or when it was fairly cheap. The 4tb was around 110$ when i got it

u/mishac · 3 pointsr/PleX

I"m running either that same mediasonic box or a very similar one, and I'm very happy with it. The only issue I have is the blinking blue lights are stupidly bright.

EDIT: It's acutally this one that I have, which is the same thing but without the RAID. I use ZFS so I didn't need the hardware RAID functionality.

u/werdna_somar · 3 pointsr/HomeServer

What OS? I just got a Mediasonic Provocative 4-bay with USB 3.0. https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

It presents the 4 hard drives as separate USB hard drives on Windows 10, but not sure about other OSs.

u/hab136 · 3 pointsr/DataHoarder

I installed FreeNAS and Plex on an old PC, and it grew from there, haha. I bought equipment piecemeal, and after a few years I started buying more serious equipment.

These drives are going in an MD1000 (see second picture) which is hooked up to the server via a SAS cable and an HBA (PCI-E card). I'll use ZFS to turn them into one giant filesystem, which is then shared out over NFS and CIFS (Windows filesharing).

This is my move into more professional hardware; my existing drives are in these little 4-bay SATA enclosures. They're relatively cheap to expand with, but when one SATA drive dies, the other 3 drives in the enclosure tend to get knocked off the bus also. That's the main reason I went with slightly more expensive SAS drives and enclosure this time.

u/mrcaptncrunch · 3 pointsr/raspberry_pi

Check out this, http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HF2-SU3S2-ProBox-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1397042978&sr=1-1&keywords=mediasonic+probox

It's an enclosure, you put your drives inside of it and it exposes all the individual drives to your computer, the Pi in this case.

u/digitalmarley · 3 pointsr/PleX

I've been using this Mediasonic enclosure for the last few months and it works great, with USB 3.0 transfer rates are pretty decent. I have 4 reds in there and the cooling fan rarely turns on or gets hot. I am supporting both LAN and remote streaming and it works great.

Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_0wbvDbDZRJHCN

u/EchoGecko795 · 3 pointsr/DataHoarder

>Do you own this case?

I have 4 of them in use at my home server setup right now, I setup and install 10-20 a year else where.


>How do you like it?

It is nice for the price of less than $150, if you remove the rackmount points it works like a tower. The case is solid, however removing and installing the 5 in 3 adapter is a bit tricky since it uses a click and lock system. you can easily screw them in though. I have had bad luck with the fans, they usually come with cheap fans that use molex adapters only. They are usually 2000 RPM 35 dba 45 CFM fans, if they work. You may get lucky but plan on replacing the fans otherwise.

>If they had a hot-swap version of the 15-bay model, I'd probably have bought it in a heartbeat.

You can buy and put in the 3 in 5 bays, but you will be adding about $50 per bay so $150

>As for the DAS unit you mentioned...is that basically this but much bigger? https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1

>I'd be open to a DAS, but unRaid doesn't seem to like any external drives, even if they're shucked and in that Mediasonic ProBox.

This unit uses SAS connectors (they will work with SATA drives), I opened one and there is no 3.3v power line on the system, so WD white drives should work in it. The units I have are 16 Bay. The rear 80mm fans are noisy, but they are ment for use with power hunger SAS drives, so replacing them with standard 80mm fans works. The real issue is that there is a 1U power supply inside with a 40 mm fan. It is not that noisy, but makes the most annoying sound.

Use the multi lane SAS adapter 8087, so it looks like an internal drive. The unit I listed the SE3016, has no internal power down the drives mode, so it only listens to the host computer. From what I understand with unRaid (Big ZFS Fan here) the issue with external drives is that they go into power save mode, making them look dead to the array.

u/oxidius · 3 pointsr/DataHoarder

they are, here's an example

I bough the first enclosure 4 years ago and it still works. But from what I read, the external power-supply is the weak link. The enclosure draws 5W + your drive wattage, so it's fairly reasonable. The fan is ok, it provides enough airflow on low so it's not that loud, but you can change it with a noctua if you really want ;)

The bottleneck on this setup is the usb3.0 interface on the laptop, I get around 90MBps (for my archival needs it's fine). But when I pluged it directly to my main computer I managed to get around 150MBps if I remember correctly.

u/-reTARDIS · 2 pointsr/DataHoarder

I got this MediaSonic 4 drive enclosure for $100 from Amazon a few months ago to replace a similar enclosure I had from Sans Digital that died.

Has USB 3.0 and eSATA connections. It can be used in JBOD mode if you don't want any kind of redundancy. It does not have any hardware RAID capabilities built in though I am doing a SW RAID with mirroring by making mirrors of 2 pairs of drives. That way if one dies, I can still avoid total data loss at least.

I have four 3TB drives in it at the moment.

u/sryan2k1 · 2 pointsr/storage

If all you want is something hooked up to a computer you should really just buy a JBOD enclosure and connect it via eSATA / USB3: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=geekserious-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003X26VV4

Your OS can do software RAID on the disks.

You can't "just plug a NAS into your computer" the only interface they have is Ethernet. You'd need a second network card, or plug it into a switch (your router)

u/MuttJunior · 2 pointsr/PleX

That would work.

Or, you could use an external drive enclosure, like this one if you're concerned about the cost of a NAS. this is a lower cost solution. Instead of a few hundred dollars for the NAS (before the drives), this is only $100. It connects to your PC either eSATA or USB 3.0 (2.0 also works, but a little slower). Each drive shows up as an individual drive, but you could set up a software RAID for redundancy. And if you run out, you can always add more enclosures later.

u/hga_another · 2 pointsr/DataHoarder

I think you got the wrong site, this seems to be the right one.

ADDED: what I think is the unit you're referring to has a lot of bad 1 star Amazon reviews, from 2011 to March. Some people are certainly having problems with this unit....

u/[deleted] · 2 pointsr/xboxone

That all depends on how much spare you're wanting. If you want to get an enclosure hard-drive you could buy one of these and put thousands of GB together, and have a couple hard drives going to your Xbox One (this also depends on how big your Xbox One library is)

or you could just buy a my book drive I currently use one of these myself on my Xbox One and love it.

I personally think 4TB hard drive is more than plenty for the first few years of Xbox One gaming.

Another thing to take into consideration would be do you plan on doing mostly exclusives and a few games for Xbox One? then 2TB would be perfect. But if you plan on having all of your games on an Xbox One I'd highly suggest getting a 4TB hdd. I myself have almost 20 Xbox One games worth nearly 1TB in storage and its very handy to have.

u/gyrferret · 2 pointsr/buildapc

So something like this? or even this?

I mean, they seem decently priced for what they do, and especially if you're providing the drives then yeah.

u/geekstrada · 2 pointsr/cordcutters

I am using a late 2012 base model.

The enclosure I got is available on Amazon for $99.

I have no idea what some of the reviews are taking about with them not working with USB 3 speeds. Mine is smoking fast. Make sure you set the Mini to never sleep so you don't run into RAID corruption issues. But since it is going to be a media downloader, you wouldn't want it to sleep anyway. Plus, the power footprint is tiny.

I am using these drives. They were on sale for $149 each, and will be again I would assume.

u/dhmtb11 · 2 pointsr/PleX

Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_PamHzlHkrmcjv

u/xgnarf · 2 pointsr/homelab

I've got a 4bay Mediasonic PRORAID box that I've used for 5 years, they make non-raid versions on Amazon for $100

Never had any issues with my enclosure.

u/PCisahobby · 2 pointsr/DataHoarder

Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_tGzxybECG1SXZ


These work really well.

u/junostar · 2 pointsr/DataHoarder

Mediasonic ProBox does exactly what you want - 4 drives per device, USB or eSATA, not super expensive. I use a couple of them for my JBOD pool. They have an 8-drive capacity model but it's not worth the extra money imo.

u/Greg00135 · 2 pointsr/PleX

Kind of like u/RedXon said, I would recommend against a USB 3.0 hub you will probably run into more headaches than it is worth.


If you are dead set on continuing to use your Nvidia Shield as the server I would recommend getting something like this drive Enclosure

u/theknyte · 2 pointsr/pcmods

If you want a 4 bay, then go with something like THIS.

If you want cheaper, than you'll have to use bigger drives, and get a 2 bay for around $50 - $60.

u/Arakin · 2 pointsr/computers

I rebooted and it finally recognized the enclosure, but only one of the 3 drives. I'm using the Mediasonic Probox HF2-SU3S2

http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

u/Nitobert · 2 pointsr/PleX

Ok so I think your going about this the wrong way.

I’m try to keep it as simple as possible.

Most people use a NAS along with a Plex server because a NAS just can’t do it on its own. They don’t have the proper hardware to perform as good as a computer. You will not be happy!

If you want simple the I would buy a Nvidia Shield and set it up at your server.

I would also buy an external storage device for your hard drives. You can use a nas but you can also use something like this.

The shield might be a little intimidating to you when you set it up but trust me it’s your best plug and play solution available.

u/jftuga · 2 pointsr/homelab

I have used this for about a year without any problems. I works well with the USB-3 interface.

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

u/dandruski · 2 pointsr/sffpc

Are you opposed to connecting something externally? One of these works great especially if the drives primarily hold media. I had one previously and had no problem getting max read/writes off the HDDs I had in it connected via USB3

u/mkadam68 · 2 pointsr/PleX

Well, it's not strictly a NAS, but for the past few years, I've created my own pseudo-NAS by using two MediaSonic ProBox's attached via USB3 to my Win10 Plex server. It can also connect via eSATA if you want. It's alot cheaper than a NAS box at $100, and they do have versions you can RAID. I run StableBit DrivePool to make management of the media files I put on it easier (and DrivePool can setup a parity drive as well).

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4.

u/cyclone_99 · 2 pointsr/buildapc

I was looking at similar boxes recently, but for esata. I ended up not needing one, but this was the one I was planning on buying (it has esata and usb 3.0):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4

u/tearsintheoven · 2 pointsr/DataHoarder

Do you need all storage to be accessible at the same time, or are you able to swap multiple drives in and out?

If you need all storage connected and accessible at the same time, I'd say go for 4 x 8 TB hard drives

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Desktop-External-STEB8000100/dp/B01HAPGEIE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497386514&sr=8-1&keywords=STEB8000100

and pair it with a probox:

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1497386559&sr=1-1&keywords=probox

With tax, that will put you right up against $1000 for 32 TB in a fairly enclosed and accessible setup.


u/brennok · 2 pointsr/DataHoarder

Yeah most of the enclosures like this don't have the best reviews. I kept eyeing the Mediasonic ones, but nothing was overwhelmingly positive.

u/RedXon · 2 pointsr/PleX

That depends on the OS you are running on that box. If it is Unraid for example you would be able to add external drives in an external enclosure for example. Or you could "simply" switch to a bigger case and just go from there. Or as an extreme case scenario you could buy another server and mount the disk there as network mounts (assuming your network is fast enough) or something like that. THe question is what you are willing to pay for that expansion. But yeah, the simplest I guess would be something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_2?fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1568789811&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A2886986011&rnid=2886899011&s=pc&sr=1-2

(NOt this one in particular, I have no experience with this one, it was just the first I found. Just look for eSATA or if possible external SAS could be even possible, and not USB).

u/DrabKerr · 2 pointsr/DataHoarder

I do all of this on Ubuntu with a ZFS array, so this is just a question. Have you tried Storage Spaces for this? I would think you could create pools out of your similar sized drives. And it is built into Windows 10.

My Media 'Server':

Ubuntu Desktop OS
Docker Containers running all the usual Apps.
Dell Optiplex 3020SFF
16GB RAM
Root Drive= 64GB SSD
Media Cache Drive=64GB SSD

MediaSonic ProBox connected via USB3
4x4TB Raw Storage = 7TB usable storage


https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

u/PsyWolf · 2 pointsr/linux

Yeah, so any external enclosure should do. My only recommendation is to go with one that supports eSata instead of a USB only one. USB enclosures often make it harder than necessary to run SMART health tests on your drives, which is something you'll want to be able to do on your array. See http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r28235888-Getting-S-M-A-R-T-data-from-USB-external-drives

Also, take this with a grain of salt, but I've personally had bad experiences running an always-on raid array on this mediasonic bad boy. It works 99% of the time, but once a month or so it just powers down all the drives and I have to reassemble my array to get it back. If you're gonna leave your array running 24-7, I'd stay away from that one.

u/cnhn · 2 pointsr/mac

you could just add a USB3 JBOD enclosure and put your drives in that. one connector lots of disks.

edit: like this one

u/maineguy1988 · 2 pointsr/DataHoarder

Do you all run any kind of stress tests on yours before shucking? I just bought two more today and I'm wondering if it's really worth testing them. I sure hope mine are Reds so I don't have to deal with the stupid 3.3 pin thing. I plan on putting them in my MediaSonic Probox here. Should I have an issue if they are whites?

EDIT: Got home and found out both are reds! Sweet. Just gonna run HD Sentinel tests on them I think before shucking.

u/IncognitoTux · 2 pointsr/homelab

I would go with an HP microserver. That should give you one internal SATA and 4 hot swap.

Or use an external JBOD like this: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

u/shogunreaper · 1 pointr/pcmasterrace

something like this? (can also grab the manufacture refurb for $20 cheaper)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4

u/septag0n · 1 pointr/htpc

Have you looked into JBOD cases?

u/Danigone · 1 pointr/techsupport

I found This could I not connect it to the router? It reads storage ready via a usb connection?

u/AlaskanBeard · 1 pointr/pcmasterrace

Let me preface this by saying that I have a home server that I use for all my storage needs.

File Structures:

  • TV Shows > Show Name > Season > Episodes
  • Movies > Just movie files
  • Pictures > Personal organization stuff
  • User Files > Username > Files
  • Other Video > Video Type (IE YouTube) > Video Series (IE LTT) > Year published > Video Files

    File Sharing:

  • Videos: Plex
  • Everything else: Mapped drives. I have 4 main ones, Movies, TV, Scan, Files. I don't really need anything but the files and scan share, but meh.

    Backups:

  • Super duper important files: Google Drive
  • Everything else: Redundant JBoD pool.
  • Offisite backup: I used to have a few of these at a buddies' house, and vice verse.
u/wallacebrf · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

I use these
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003X26VV4?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

This is a 4x disk unit, they also have 8 disk units.
Great way to have many external drives in one enclosure with just one power cable and one data cable.

u/DARKZIDE4EVER · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

Just added this bad boy to assist with Storage Pools for PLEX and imo it is better than Controller Cards which so far are a pain in my butt. This box allows you to see all four drives individually which is cool.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

u/da_guy2 · 1 pointr/OpenMediaVault

I have that box and actually don't recommend it for the OPs use. Get this one instead
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003X26VV4/ref=psdcmw_160354011_t1_B003YFHEAC

The difference is that this one does not support raid. It might sound like a good idea to have raid running in the box, but in order to do it so you don't risk corrupting your array you need to use NAS rated drives (i.e. wd red drives). If any of your drives aren't you risk corrupting your array and losing all your data. Instead what I'd suggest is to use the box I linked then run snapraid in OMV ( there's a plugin for it). You don't get real time protection, but for most people it should be good enough.

Also look into using a rock64 instead. It has gigabit LAN and usb 3.0 which should make it much faster.

u/d-tail · 1 pointr/homelab

I have this 4 bay enclosure that I bought a while back: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B003X26VV4

u/nicknacc · 1 pointr/htpc

How about vs this guy

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

I am wondering what I should be looking for. I want it quiet and cold. And fast enough to eventually stream 4k movie files.

u/slacker0077 · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

This might help, I have one just for random stuff.

u/CSFFlame · 1 pointr/homelab

For this test it's listed at the top of a chart. It's the AMD 990FX chipset's SATA controller.

(AMD supports port multiplication, intel does not.).

eSATA==SATA electrically, so there's no difference if you're not port multiplying.

> I am also looking for an esata enclusure but I don't care about noise or spin-down.

I've noticed some cheap ones on CL and whatnot. You do want 6Gb/s SATA though to the enclosure for speed reasons.

This is the enclosure the tests were run on: http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4

It will do spin down if commanded from the computer's OS, it will sleep or turn off (depending on your setting) if the host machine turns off.

eSATA works great, but USB 3.0 does not have UASP.

Here's a cheaper one if you're looking to use it for swapping: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817576013

There were also a bunch of sans digital towerraid 4-bays in the 60-70 range, but I don't see them right now.

u/katyggls · 1 pointr/PleX

So, I'm a complete novice where a lot of this stuff is concerned and after a few hours spent reading about NAS and RAID and what not, my head is sort of spinning. The thing is, most everything suggested here and most other places seems like overkill for my needs, and also too expensive for my budget. Also, something like "build your own NAS from the ground up" is beyond my capabilities, so I need to just be able to buy something and throw a bunch of drives into it. Basically what I need is more storage to fill up with movies and that's pretty much it. I currently have three external drives (an 8 TB, a 4 TB, and a 2 TB) hooked up to my computer, which is also my media server. I'm running out of space on all the drives and usb ports to plug them into. My computer is a Dell XPS 8500 with an Intel i7-3770 3.4 GHz CPU and 16 GB of RAM with Windows 10. I'm only running Plex for my home media setup; there's never more than two people/devices using it at once, and most often, just one. I've never had any issues with my home computer being the server, everything is speedy and runs perfectly. Do I need a NAS if all I'm after is more storage and I don't need it to serve as a server? Could I just get some kind of dummy box like this and just put some drives in it and call it good? I don't really care about backup, which I'm aware is a ridiculous thing to say, but I'm talking about disks of questionably obtained movies and tv shows. If one of them failed, I'd be sad for ten minutes and then just reacquire a bunch of stuff. I could just upgrade one of my external drives, but that's starting to feel a bit wasteful, and I'd like to get something that's not as clunky as having three separate external disks sitting on my desktop. I'd like to start with at least 20 TB of storage with the ability to upgrade to more in future by putting in a new drive. Is a 4 bay Hard Drive enclosure fine for my needs or is there something else I need a NAS for that I'm not aware of?

u/n17ikh · 1 pointr/homelab

I bought a Mediasonic Probox a while back to use as a backup drive JBOD box. They have a 4-drive and an 8-drive model; I have the 4-drive box. It's been decent in my limited use case, which was to consolidate a bunch of small external HDDs in one big box so I didn't have to wrangle so many USB and power cables when I wanted to plug in an external backup. The drive slots are "half" trayless, in that there's a handle that attaches to the front screws of the drives but then the drive just slides in. I didn't find anything cheaper when I was looking around.

The disks are accessed as regular USB mass storage devices by default, each individually. SMART data is passed through with no issues.

u/Wizard_of_Od · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

The cheapest multiple drives in one enclosure with a fan solution is the Mediasonic Probox range. I just use them in JBOD (non-RAID) mode since I have disks in various sizes and makes. Mediasonic has 2 bay, 4 bay, and it seems an 8 bay version now.

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

u/douger1957 · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

I'd think that if you were just using your proposed box as a backup only, the hardware requirements wouldn't be very steep.


I don't have experience with unraid, but it's something I'm looking at for my next NAS project. From what I understand, it's fairly easy to add disks on the go like you want to do. Perhaps you have a laptop lying around that meets the hardware requirements for unraid, and you can plug a SATA enclosure into a USB port, then add disks as needed.


https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1572359157&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A2886967011&s=pc&sr=1-1

u/CoAff · 1 pointr/youtube

Oh, that's quality one, lol. I got one of those el cheapo 2.5" enclosures for doing an OS swap when upgrading the old laptop to an SSD. I also have a Mediasonic Probox waiting for me to set up.

u/68686987698 · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

You could also just get a tiny usb hub to connect multiple externals with a single plug. Avoids the effort and risk in shucking.

A Direct Attached Storage device would look a bit nicer, but can get pricey for the quality ones and still leaves you limited by USB bandwidth. Here's an example of a cheap but nice looking one

u/blaize9 · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

Get this external storage instead, because seagate has higher failure rates as proven in the past.

Idealy you would want an Internal HDD, but for some reason your friend has everything on USB.

If you would like to use internal HDDs (and get wayyyy faster transfer speeds) but have no space left you can buy this or this or any other one you would like and then you just plug it into an eSATA port or USB. If you have an internal SATA available you can buy this and have a nice place to plug it in, or just buy long eSATA to SATA cable and shove it through a slot.

Note: To protect your data you need to put more money into it, currently you have 0 data protection.

u/JtheNinja · 1 pointr/buildapc

A multi drive enclosure should work, something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

Just make sure it uses USB 3.0/3.1

u/rallymax · 1 pointr/buildapc

You have several options:

  1. The case has 5.25” bays. You can get adapters or drive cages to fit 3.5” drives into 5.25” bays.

  2. You filled all the bays. You need to replace your existing drives with larger capacity and copy data.

  3. You get external USB3 or eSATA enclosure. They vary in number of drives they support (1 or multiple). There are no durability issues as drives are mounted in enclosure and powered by dedicated power supplies.

  4. You invest in network attached storage and build redundant RAID arrays.
u/TheRealMisterMan · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

So if I don't intend to use it for streaming yet, I could go with something like this?

Item|Price
|:----|:----
Raspberry Pi 4 | $62.99
Case | $9.99
4 Bay HDD Enclosure | $109.99
2x Seagate IronWolf 4TB NAS HDD | $199.98
Total | $382.95

Does that seem about right?

u/Burnz12 · 1 pointr/MiniPCs

I went with the Libre Renegade since it was on Amazon and had prime shipping but it looks like Amazon only has the
4GB for $80 so it would be pointless to pay that much when the NanoPi M4 is $65

Looks like you can still get the 1GB version ($35) and the heatsink($4) from Love our PI but anything above that would be a waste of $ the main benefit is a solid OMV 4 build and the fact you can use any Rasp Pi case.


Here's the case I bought for $10.

I had to mod it to fit but I was able to easily mount a 40mm Noctua fan to it
So you're looking at around $50 not counting micro SD.

Then I have a 4bay Mediasonic Probox with 4x8TB shucked WD My Books(WD80EZAZ) and Easy Stores(WD80EMAZ). The 4 i purchased were all basically the same white drives which are the same thing as the 8TB reds.

Currently getting 100-110mbs and SMART actually works perfectly.

So total cost is gonna set you back $150 for everything except hard drives.

With that said, I personally would still go the same route since I know its reliable and all the kinks are ironed out.
The RK3399 boards are coming out every day so I would probably get the NanoPi M4 since it has OMV ready to go.

u/shopper763294 · 1 pointr/htpc

I have 1 of these and it works great and is about $100. r/https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1537350786&sr=8-3&keywords=HF2-SU3S2 There are newer versions with faster usb 3.1 gen 2 type c with 10gbps interface for a little more.



u/philosowaffle · 1 pointr/PleX

I run my plex server on a dedicated laptop without any major issues. As already mentioned by others, occasionally updates are installed that reboot the machine and my external drives do not re-mount. This is pretty rare and not a big deal for me to go remount the drives. Make sure to store it in a well ventilated area, as laptops tend to get hot.

As far as external storage goes, I would recommend investing in a DAS, I use this one. This gives you external storage, but also allows you to buy a bare hard drive like WD Red's.

u/Shamalamadindong · 1 pointr/homelab

As others have mentioned, everything has extra features these days.

What you are looking for is this sort of stuff, https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

u/SNsilver · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

Can OpenMediaVault configure a RAID reliably? I'm try to use this with something like an intel NUC but am unsure of what OS to use. How well does OpenMediaVault work with windows?

u/lVlouse_dota · 1 pointr/PleX

I would suggest getting a(n)

u/gd2246 · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

>I think I would at least need USB 3.

Perhaps the Mediasonic ProBox?

u/worldlybedouin · 1 pointr/PleX

I'd probably go with the cheaper NUC, 256GB m.2 ssd (OS on the NUC), and get one of these for bulk external storage. I've used several of these mediasonic boxes before connected to both Mac and PC. They worked just fine for external storage. Also leaves plenty of room for adding in more drives later as your Plex libarary goes. That was a few years ago...now I have a proper server with 64TB storage (16x4TB drives).

u/faeralini · 1 pointr/PleX

My current setup is just my old laptop with an 8TB external hard drive


The laptop is fairly powerful so I’m not planning on replacing that but am looking for an expandable storage option.

I was looking at getting a NAS but was wondering...can I just use an external HDD enclosure that I can add drives to? Would there be major disadvantages to this?

Was thinking of something like this Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_JN77BbPATW4YJ

Since it is much cheaper than a NAS

u/flippage · 1 pointr/PleX

You can upgrade the case without upgrading the motherboard. A mATX mobo will fit into most full-ATX cases as they usually have mounting holes for both.

Another option if you want to just put more drives into your existing PC is to get one of the Mediasonic 4-bay external enclosures:

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

I've heard a few people suggest them around here. Has space for 4 drives, there is a hardware RAID version you can get, and it's got a cooling fan in it.

This way your PC would still be able to serve up the transcoding, where a NAS can be pretty expensive with generally not as much transcoding capabilities.

u/KeenBlade · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

I'd recommend the Mediasonic Probox. I got two recently and they've been a wonderful solution for me, and they're much cheaper than what you posted.

Using them with esata was almost a disaster, though, with some very weird behavior, though I don't know if that was the enclosures, my esata controller card, the mobo or what. But with USB3 I can absolutely recommend them.

u/zvekl · 1 pointr/PleX

I don’t know about that— quicksync hw transcoding does pretty well. No one has been able to pull numbers but my nuc7 (last gen) i7 which has only 2cores was able to transcode 10 streams at same time during my own test. Plus I run blueiris with 10 cameras running. It probably can handle more streams but i didn’t try more simultaneous tests since I don’t ever get that many simultaneous users! Hardware transcode is huge.

I used these Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.-JxCbGXEJE0M

I had a icydock and it had a firmware problem that caused issues ... I am never going to use them again. I have 3 media Sonics and they work pretty darn good.

Edit: they even have hardware raid built in. Never tried those versions, more expensive

u/Noimus · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

For a DAS ive seen people recommending this.

Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_f8fSBbYRTXRBX

u/mayhempk1 · 1 pointr/zfs

Hi,

I had a power outage yesterday, and my UPS shut down at 75% battery remaining with no warning (I don't think I was writing to my ZFS array). I have a ZFS RAID 0 array with 3 WD Red 8TBs (yes, I understand it is 100% temporary storage and it WILL fail, two of the disks have 6k power on hours and the other has like 600, but I expect it to be good for at least a bit longer and not have a triple failure) with this device: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ and it failed. I destroyed the zpool and created it from scratch, copied all data over, and there was STILL a ton of checksum errors (not sure if I did zpool clear at any point, or if I needed to?)... does that mean all my drives are bad, or my enclosure is bad, or is it possible it was just a temporary issue? I turned that box off, rebooted my computer, turned it back on and created my zpool.

I am going to replace my UPS because I didn't trust it before and now I definitely don't, but I'm hoping my disks are okay? I don't have ANY SMART issues, offline_uncorrectable, reallocated_event_count, current_pending_sector, reallocated_sector_ct, etc are all fine and all have a raw_value of 0.

I would certainly like to hear your thoughts as always.

u/turbobeloutre · 1 pointr/selfhosted

I have a 8300 Elite SFF with an i5-4570 and it works wonders for my usage. I just maxed out the RAM modules and added a DAS box like this one to expand storage.

u/AMarketDimlyLit · 1 pointr/JDM_WAAAT

Hey, I was looking for the exact same thing for the same reason! I ended up going with the Mini-ITX build of the NAS Killer v4.0 and the Fractal Design Core 500, which has 3x 2.5" bays, 3x 3.5" bays, and a 5.25" bay (and they can all be used simultaneously). I know it only has 3x 3.5" bays, but that's all I need for now and I figure if I ever need to add more drives, I'll pick up a Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 or something like it.

u/McFeely_Smackup · 1 pointr/PleX

Is it one of these?

I bought two of these to temporarily migrate all my data to while I was rebuilding my primary array and they were great, solid units. but with a soft power button. It never bit me, but that was a deal breaker for using them long term.

u/fognar777 · 1 pointr/PleX

I used the free OpenMediaVault as the OS and built my server in an old cheap computer to start. I am tech savvy so I built my own second server and put it at a family members house as my offsite backup, but it sounds like that wouldn't be a good option for you.

With you wanting as much as 30TB of data on the server, an off site backup is a must and I would highly recommend some sort of RAID or redundancy. I decided to do mine on the cheap and use ZFS Raid1/RAID 5(only one disk of redundancy between 3 disks) and the offsite backup as a secondary.

When your talking about that much data you have to seriously look at whether or not your ISP imposes a monthly data cap. For my Comcast I can only use 1TB of data a month without incurring a bunch of extra cost. So regular offsite backups of a 30TB library would push me way over the edge, even if I backed up incrementally. And Restoring from any failures would push it over the edge again. If you have a data cap like I do I would recommend using an enclosure like this for backups. Plug it in and back up your stuff, then bring it to work or a friends and leave it until you want to run another backup. Restore process is quick since it isn't using the internet and it protects your data from a natural disaster at home.

u/Gabriol · 1 pointr/buildapc

Does a hard drive enclosure like this work the same as putting my drives in my PC?

I have two SSDs in my comp which contain my OS and desktop apps, as well as certain games I like to run quickly. I have 4 HDDs which are used for media storage and then games which I don't mind running slower.

My problem is a simple one, but I basically want to remove my HDD bay from inside my case (for airflow, cabling, and aesthetic reasons) and move it external.

My question is if the behavior is the exact same? Like if I hooked up this external bay, do I get the same speeds? Can I access two different drives at the same time (so much as I can internally)? Etc.

u/warplayer · 1 pointr/PleX

Hey, I'm on an upgraded Dell Poweredge T20, too! I ended up picking up a couple of these to house all of my media drives. I installed Mediasonic's eSATA card, so I could get the full speed from the drives. It's a beautiful solution to a (kind of) cramped case. I'm up to 39.2TB of usable space (4.12TB free).

I also did the SSD boot drive upgrade.

I also upgraded the CPU, but I went with a Xeon E3-1240. I do lots of sharing.

I'm still running the stock 4GB ECC ram that it came with, and I've been blown away with the performance. I'm running every Plex related webapp you could imagine (Sickrage, PlexPy, etc) and I usually peak my ram usage around 85-95%. I do want to upgrade the ram very soon so I have room to grow, but I'm still so happy with how far that 4GB has gone.

Oh and I'm running Server 2012 R2. Great OS.

u/Captain_Midnight · 1 pointr/buildapc

Have you looked at the USB 3.0 version?

u/dmenezes · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

I have done both: directly connecting bare drives through a 4-disk vertical loading USB dock, and ready-made external portable hard drives, and both work great (with a significant performance and cost advantage to the bare drives+dock approach).

A few years ago, I've also started using this: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4
It's quite fast and portable, and seems to protect the disks well (I've even sent it with disks inside on checked air travel luggage with no ill effects).

u/LusT4DetH · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

I have the 8bay version of this 4-bay external and I was pretty happy with it (until I got my DS4243's). eSATAII might be 6gb/sec, or even the USB3 will work if you aren't doing raid.

Or, any reason a simple docking bay wouldn't suffice? I have one of these also and it works as well as can be expected.

u/carpetstain · 1 pointr/buildapcsales

Besides the price, what would be the difference between this and this?

u/zxseyum · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

A Synology is basically a small computer. If you have a computer that is running 24/7, a Synology isn't necessary as your computer can already act as a "server".

A DAS is a direct attached storage. For example, your easystores were (rip) 1 drive DASes. What I did was I got one of these and then filled it up with drives. It's not the best solution, but it is an efficient solution.

If you have everything important backed up and can re-get your movies and media, I personally might skip trying to do a recovery and send them in for warranty replacements. As long as your don't paint your hands red you should be able to get new ones. If you rip off the drive lid trying to fix your platter you will likely void your warranty... if they check that is...


And to prevent this from happening in the future... (Source)

edit: Easystores have a 2 year warranty.

u/ckisela · 1 pointr/techsupport

Alright, after taking the pcie card out of the now tower and reinserting it into the old I was able to connect *one* of the two. So I clearly have a problem here. I'm stressed but the two external drives mirror each other and it is the backup that is showing in Disk Management as status failed.

My question is this:

I use Lightroom which will not support NAS drive catalogues. Aside from my two probox external enclosures, using esata, what would you recommend I use to house about (soon to be) 20 TBs?

u/rkohliny · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

Side question, I heard zfs is the best filesystem period, but its linux, anyway to use zfs on windows? Or If I plan on using a windows pc and the hard drives on a separate hard drive enclosure in something like this, can I use zfs for just those drives without breaking functionality in windows?

u/talz13 · 1 pointr/PleX

No, not worth it. If you are going to look into servers, start hunting ebay for used Dell r710 / r610 / r510 servers. You might be able to find one for ~$200, and it will be soooo much better.

You really want to be looking at xeon 5600 series CPUs, or newer... Here's a comparison with the xeon e5645 I have in my server, to the 5160 in that server:

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-E5645-vs-Intel-Xeon-5160

Really, the i5 should be great for plex, what else are you running on it? Does it have USB 3? If so, maybe you could just look at something like this instead:

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

It appears to be a 4 drive enclosure that can connect via USB 3 to your PC, for $99

u/7blink · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

Maybe look into WD MyCloud? It might be a little to weak for your needs though.

A little bit more expensive would be a 4-bay enclosure with a raid controller. Something like https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HF2-SU3S2-Enclosure-Support-transfer/dp/B003X26VV4/

and then hook it up to an old low power pc and install owncloud to manage the web interface.

u/Fribbtastic · 1 pointr/PleX

somewhat like that yeah though I would go rather to something like this.

The case you linked has two bays and I can't find any mention of the drives included and for the price I also don't think that they are. This supports RAID level 0 and 1.

RAID 0 stripes your data by writing it first to one and then to the other. This is good to combine the drives and one but if one of the drives fail the whole array fails as well.

RAID 1 mirrors your data so you only can actively use 1 of your drives but when one of the drives fail you can always use the other drive.

So, it looks good as a drive but IMO a bit expensive for just two bays.

u/CobraPony67 · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

Synology is very reliable and not too complicated. It has its own interface you access through a web browser plus you can attach additional drives to it. You can run 2 drives in RAID for redundancy or run them as a single drive (if you are daring).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076G6YKWZ

I also have a few of these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4

It doesn't have any management interface but works well for attaching to a USB interface such as to your modem/router and does different types of RAID.

Other than that, people suggest you get a cheap PC box and build your own, get some experience that way.

Edit: updated links

u/rkudeshi · 1 pointr/DataHoarder

That's the rackmount case that I was leaning towards if I went in that direction! Looks like it should be user-friendly if they're selling it to the consumer market.

Do you own this case? How do you like it? If they had a hot-swap version of the 15-bay model, I'd probably have bought it in a heartbeat.

As for the DAS unit you mentioned...is that basically this but much bigger? https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1

I'd be open to a DAS, but unRaid doesn't seem to like any external drives, even if they're shucked and in that Mediasonic ProBox.

u/iamtheuniballer · 0 pointsr/DataHoarder

I was going to use some of my easystore 8tb drives, so it looks like it won't make a difference based on what you said. :) Since I use these for Plex, I think I should be fine with the USB 3.0/esata version like I already have. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1