Best 4 Bay External HDD Enclosure?

[etachi]

Yeah I'd actually like to put in my gratitude as well: Nano, you are the most educated and helpful person on this forum - I can't count the number of times you've helped myself and others out. Props, man, props

The Icy Dock is $80 CAD more than the Sans Digital TR4MP on Newegg, but features both USB and eSATA, which I like a lot, as I'll likely use USB, but having eSATA is great for the future. Honestly, TM is probably going to be fine with USB (except the initial backup, ugh). A four bay is actually going to be perfect for me, as I can pull the current drives from my MP and get to 4TB with a slot to spare. I don't know if the dual interfaces is worth the premium to me, but I like the styling and size (it's tiny!), and I can set the adjustable fan to low (all that's needed for TM, resulting in hopefully a low noise floor). I'm going to see what the Icy Dock guy has to say about the price gap versus any features I may have missed before I go ahead with a purchase.

Actually I have one more question for the Icy Dock rep: does the unit power up with booting up the computer and shut down when the computer shuts down? I believe the Sans Digital unit does this, and the place where I'll be putting the unit is makes it a little awkward to reach the back of it.

EDIT: Just noticed that the Icy Dock unit has a 3 year warrantee versus the Sans Digital's 1 year - that brings it up in my estimation a little, as it should be indicative of a better quality unit or they'd be shooting themselves in the foot.

Well to be honest that's just the marketing strategy of each company, doesn't really have anything to do with quality of unit. You just weigh the scales, one chooses to offer a longer warranty for a premium, while the other offers a standard warranty to attract customers with a lower price. I've used both companies' products before, and they both worked fine for me so the warranty doesn't really matter in my case. So in my personal recommendation, I'd go for the cheaper deal, because the standard in quality is still there.

 

[nanofrog]

Yeah I'd actually like to put in my gratitude as well: Nano, you are the most educated and helpful person on this forum - I can't count the number of times you've helped myself and others out. Props, man, props

The Icy Dock is $80 CAD more than the Sans Digital TR4MP on Newegg, but features both USB and eSATA, which I like a lot, as I'll likely use USB, but having eSATA is great for the future. Honestly, TM is probably going to be fine with USB (except the initial backup, ugh). A four bay is actually going to be perfect for me, as I can pull the current drives from my MP and get to 4TB with a slot to spare. I don't know if the dual interfaces is worth the premium to me, but I like the styling and size (it's tiny!), and I can set the adjustable fan to low (all that's needed for TM, resulting in hopefully a low noise floor). I'm going to see what the Icy Dock guy has to say about the price gap versus any features I may have missed before I go ahead with a purchase.

Actually I have one more question for the Icy Dock rep: does the unit power up with booting up the computer and shut down when the computer shuts down? I believe the Sans Digital unit does this, and the place where I'll be putting the unit is makes it a little awkward to reach the back of it.

EDIT: Just noticed that the Icy Dock unit has a 3 year warrantee versus the Sans Digital's 1 year - that brings it up in my estimation a little, as it should be indicative of a better quality unit or they'd be shooting themselves in the foot.

Find the cheapest unit that fits your needs between the brands. They're both good. So if you want a unit with a USB interface, limit your comparison to USB + eSATA (and even + FW if you want, but adding FW will add money and limits your choices a bit in general).

 

[Phantom Gremlin]

You will not be able to do it from the MP. You must use a PC (attach it via SATA, eSATA, USB). Internal or external won't matter. But you don't have a choice here.

It might not be a true surface scan, but I've had great results doing something like the following from a Mac command line:

sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0 of=/dev/null bs=1m

That command reads at full speed from any disk I try it on. It easily saturates FW800 and it can go faster from internal.

But if you're not a Unix expert, I suggest you stay away from commands like that. One bad typo and your data is gone forever.

Also, I'm assuming that reading the media is sufficient for a drive to automatically reallocate bad sectors. But that depends a lot on drive firmware.

 

[nanofrog]

It might not be a true surface scan, but I've had great results doing something like the following from a Mac command line...

It's a surface scan that's needed in his case, and testing on the MP hasn't worked successfully to date (system board and disk firmware specification differences - it's like the disk controller is speaking Latin, and the MP Chinese - they can't understand each other).

Also, I'm assuming that reading the media is sufficient for a drive to automatically reallocate bad sectors. But that depends a lot on drive firmware.

In a normal write, that's what the disk is supposed to do (remap the bad sectors). The remapping information is kept in the reallocation table (located in the disk's firmware). But this has a limited number of locations, so after that, nothing can be done.

So with a disk with either a high number of bad sectors OTB, or is generating them at a quick pace, it will seem like the firmware isn't remapping the drive. Either way, the disk is junk, but the causality may not be the firmware, but poor QC in platter production.

Sudden failures tends to be a controller or mechanical failure, not platters (board, servo, heads, or spindle motor dies - platters = good, so the data is still intact). But unless there's a backup, it means either trying to replace the broken part yourself, or sending it in to a Data Recovery Service (expensive).

 

[ICY DOCK]

Thanks for the info. What would you say the advantages are between your unit versus the Sans Digital TR4MP or TR4U? The Icy Dock option is more costly, so I'd like to have your ideas on what you feel justifies the price gap.

EDIT: Also, when it says that the unit supports 2TB drives, does that mean it won't support 3TB and up in the future?

First off, I'd like to say happy holidays to everyone! I cannot say much in detail regarding Sans Digital products (I don't know them too well), however, I will note that the MB561US-4S-1 uses full aluminium body and some plastic in the design, so the build quality is already very good. If you check the materials used in different enclosures (doesn't even have to be Sans), they will list what materials they use and I am not sure that Sans Digital uses aluminum (not listed on Newegg or their site). Also, the design of our product allows for easy hot swapping, which is very useful for if you are backing up with more than just four drives. This is because the trays make the job very simple to do. With regards to 3TB support, we are currently testing and will update our page once it has been confirmed to be compatible.

Yeah I'd actually like to put in my gratitude as well: Nano, you are the most educated and helpful person on this forum - I can't count the number of times you've helped myself and others out. Props, man, props

The Icy Dock is $80 CAD more than the Sans Digital TR4MP on Newegg, but features both USB and eSATA, which I like a lot, as I'll likely use USB, but having eSATA is great for the future. Honestly, TM is probably going to be fine with USB (except the initial backup, ugh). A four bay is actually going to be perfect for me, as I can pull the current drives from my MP and get to 4TB with a slot to spare. I don't know if the dual interfaces is worth the premium to me, but I like the styling and size (it's tiny!), and I can set the adjustable fan to low (all that's needed for TM, resulting in hopefully a low noise floor). I'm going to see what the Icy Dock guy has to say about the price gap versus any features I may have missed before I go ahead with a purchase.

Actually I have one more question for the Icy Dock rep: does the unit power up with booting up the computer and shut down when the computer shuts down? I believe the Sans Digital unit does this, and the place where I'll be putting the unit is makes it a little awkward to reach the back of it.

EDIT: Just noticed that the Icy Dock unit has a 3 year warrantee versus the Sans Digital's 1 year - that brings it up in my estimation a little, as it should be indicative of a better quality unit or they'd be shooting themselves in the foot.

Along with the materials used in our enclosure, anytime when there are multiple interfaces with these kinds of products, there is a chipset requirement, this goes for all enclosure manufacturers. In regards to your question about the power, the unit does not shut off as the power switch is on the back of the enclosure. It is independent of what the computer does, from a on/off standpoint. There will be no HDD access at this point, even if the power is on. Just to add about the fan, theres also the auto mode where it reads the temperature of the unit and adjusts accordingly. Something that I find with computers, it gets dusty after awhile and so goes the same for enclosures! So our fan is detachable which will allow you to clean it (may or may not be a breaker for you).


Hope this helps explain the differences to consider when purchasing any kind of enclosure!

 

[NoManIsland]

First off, I'd like to say happy holidays to everyone! I cannot say much in detail regarding Sans Digital products (I don't know them too well), however, I will note that the MB561US-4S-1 uses full aluminium body and some plastic in the design, so the build quality is already very good. If you check the materials used in different enclosures (doesn't even have to be Sans), they will list what materials they use and I am not sure that Sans Digital uses aluminum (not listed on Newegg or their site). Also, the design of our product allows for easy hot swapping, which is very useful for if you are backing up with more than just four drives. This is because the trays make the job very simple to do. With regards to 3TB support, we are currently testing and will update our page once it has been confirmed to be compatible.

Along with the materials used in our enclosure, anytime when there are multiple interfaces with these kinds of products, there is a chipset requirement, this goes for all enclosure manufacturers. In regards to your question about the power, the unit does not shut off as the power switch is on the back of the enclosure. It is independent of what the computer does, from a on/off standpoint. There will be no HDD access at this point, even if the power is on. Just to add about the fan, theres also the auto mode where it reads the temperature of the unit and adjusts accordingly. Something that I find with computers, it gets dusty after awhile and so goes the same for enclosures! So our fan is detachable which will allow you to clean it (may or may not be a breaker for you).

For the approximately same price as your unit, I can get the Sans Digital TR4UTP, which is an all-aluminum box that connects via USB 3.0 or eSATA, includes a 6G eSATA PCIe card, and has hardware RAID 5 built in. Could you please explain what features your device has that match or exceed these abilities and justify the feature disparity?

 

[ICY DOCK]

For the approximately same price as your unit, I can get the Sans Digital TR4UTP, which is an all-aluminum box that connects via USB 3.0 or eSATA, includes a 6G eSATA PCIe card, and has hardware RAID 5 built in. Could you please explain what features your device has that match or exceed these abilities and justify the feature disparity?

Hey NoMan,

I have checked through Sans Digital website for this model and wasn't able to find any information regarding the material used. I believe this is an important point, so I had verified with a tech support from the company that the material they use is SECC, a metal composite coating (May want to double check just in case). While there are differences you mentioned between the two products, many products have different targeting points. The Icy Dock four bay, we wanted to aim for something that is well built, hence the use of aluminum. We also wanted users the ability to hot swap easily, and the trays we came up with is something to address that. You already know about the fan and design as well as the post purchase service. That being said, we also wanted the user to select what kind of RAID controller card to use, because not all of them perform the same in the long term or if you already have one, generally speaking, there may not be a need to have an extra for example. Therefore, the focus of the product was to create an enclosure with quality material and design and with ease of hot swapping.

These are some things to think about. Not every product is going to have all you need and want from features to price. There may be even some drawbacks, but look at what you need and make the best decision for you. Hope this helps!

 

[NoManIsland]

Icy Dock, I read online that your unit has a port multiplier built into the unit, so that I needn't have port multiplier support on my eSATA card - is this correct? Would I be able to use something like this to connect to it?

 

[ICY DOCK]

Icy Dock, I read online that your unit has a port multiplier built into the unit, so that I needn't have port multiplier support on my eSATA card - is this correct? Would I be able to use something like this to connect to it?

Hey NoMan,

You're correct about the unit having port multiplier (PM) built in. However, port multiplication with eSATA allows the single connection to contain data for four hard drives, in this case. You actually need the port multiplier support on both sides. Think of it like a key to a door; only the key you use to get into your house will work with the right door, it's not going to work for your car, etc (hope the analogy helps!). In other words, normal eSATA ports will not work unless they have the PM technology on the computer side. In the case of the product you mentioned, the specification lists that the "(NOTE: does not support port multiplier cases/enclosures.)".

Hope this helps!

 

[nanofrog]

...so that I needn't have port multiplier support on my eSATA card - is this correct? Would I be able to use something like this to connect to it?

The card must have Port Multiplier support for it to work. As it happens, newertech makes such a card (here - it's what you were looking at with the addition of PM support, and will work with the Icy Dock or other PM equiped enclosure).

 

[FireWire2]

Best quad Interface hardware raid 5 bay?!

OK - DATOptic T5-R5-eSUF was here over a week. Finally I can get my hand to it

A quick summary:
It is well built, a bit big and heavy, I don't think it was intented for moving around. Love quietness and the LCD! It is easy to see what is going on with raid and individual drive

It even has the thermal sensor to monitor the internal temperature

Correct me if I'm wrong - As far as know no other enclosure can see more the TWO HDD under FireWire connection, but this enclosure seeing all five
under 1393 connection

Here are the speed I have tested.

Turn on, Insert 5x Samsung 1.0TB - I know I will have 2.0TB soon -
Plug to FireWire port - about 45sec FIVE individual drive shows up it DU

With AJA - it shows over 60MB/sec.

Here is the test screen

Did the same with USB2.0 and eSATA - All five HDD shows up. Although USB2.0 it seems a bit slower respond

Where eSATA is much faster

One thing I noted with eSATA and USB2.0 I can hot swap any SATA drive, but with FireWire connection the hot swap seemd does not work right.
Every time I remove a HDD, all five drives is disconnect and reconnect.

RAID5 - It's a fantastic - easy setup and fast
This box allows me to create a raid5 in 45sec Yeap! 45sec instead of hrs from HPT controller.

Since it claims as a hardware raid and independent from OS. Does it mean it can run by itself - So I broke the raid and let it rebuilt, in middle of the rebuilt; I turn off my MAC - IT'S STILL REBUILT THE RAID and display the progress on the LCD - That is cool!

I end up used as a Raid5 with 4x HDD and the 5th slot use it as hot swap drive for archive data via eSATA connection

Hope this help

 

[barmann]

OK - DATOptic T5-R5-eSUF was here over a week. Finally I can get my hand to it

A quick summary:
....

Thanks for that !

One question , did you try it with other external FW enclosures ?

I have a similar Datoptic unit, and when I use it on FW800, it dismounts all its drives when I turn off any other FW enclosure .

 

[randy771]

Similiar situation

Folks, found this thread and thought I'd ask a question. I have the following config.
4 - 1.5 TB drives in my MP1,1
I use softraid to strip between HD 1 and 2 for a 2.7TB "user" partition
HD 3 and 4 are stripped for a 2.7TB "back up" partition
I then run chronosyn nightly to copy user to back up

I use a 64GB SSD as my boot drive connected to the internal Estata port and the other internal port goes to an adapter for external use. I occasionally attach to a hot swap bay for file off loads or to back up my boot ssd.

Sorry for a long history, here is the problem statement, I have managed to fill up user.

I was thinking that I would add an external jbod enclosure, reformat my current back up partition to "user 1" and have the internal 6TB then back up to this new device. I really don't see the need for raid on this device.

As it is just back up and I am not concerned about performance should I use firewire 800 or get an Esata card? Any recommendations on the enclosure. I think that the Qx2 or San Digital TM4 would fit the bill.
Should I set it up as one partition or do a d to d copy of each drive?

As an aside, I am about to upgrade my dual cores with 2 quad 5355's so I really want the back up solution to be fully functional prior to starting that project.

I have read this thread and just want to vet my thought process before I pull the trigger.

 

[FireWire2]

Thanks for that !
One question , did you try it with other external FW enclosures ?

There is no other enclosure that supports FIVE drive JBOB mode in FireWire, that I'm aware

Accordance to tech support, engineers are working on the FW to solve the dis/reconnected when remove a drive. I do not use FireWire port much so it not really a big thing for me.

BWT, did you try it under raid mode?

randy771

I would highly recommend to use the HW raid to protect from HDD failure and the raid0 as an off site BU, so this has to be small eclosure like:
http://www.caloptic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=42_44&products_id=57

 

[barmann]

There is no other enclosure that supports FIVE drive JBOB mode in FireWire, that I'm aware

Accordance to tech support, engineers are working on the FW to solve the dis/reconnected when remove a drive. I do not use FireWire port much so it not really a big thing for me.

BWT, did you try it under raid mode?

Nah, I don't use Raid; the JBOD function is why I got it, I'm using Superduper to clone stuff .

I heard about the attempt to fix the firmware; with my enclosure, any external Firewire HDD, when I turn it off, disconnects the drives in the Datoptic unit.

How about eSATA - is that working better, can you hotswap a drive without the other ones disconnecting ?

 

[etachi]

How about eSATA - is that working better, can you hotswap a drive without the other ones disconnecting ?

Yes, with eSATA you can freely remove and replace drives without affecting the other drives.

 

[FireWire2]

Yes, with eSATA you can freely remove and replace drives without affecting the other drives.

Yeap! Confirmed

 

[barmann]

Thank you !
Now I only hope I'll get the eSATA module for a good price - there is one for my enclosure supposed to come soon - after all the firewire issues .

 

[joe22790]

4 bay storage

Great thread, I learned a lot. THANKS!!!!

Has anyone used this? It offers Firewire which I could plug into my mac mini that I use as my media center.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816322001

 

[FireWire2]

Video Update

Come across this little video from Youtube about DATOptic RAID box.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb7dnrpBQiY

It tells you how easy to set up and how fast for HD editing

 

[barmann]

Come across this little video from Youtube about DATOptic RAID box.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb7dnrpBQiY

It tells you how easy to set up and how fast for HD editing

Well, my Datoptic UF8-R5J is still suffering from Firewire firmware bugs, only works in FW 400, sort of, and there hasn't been a fix for a year, even though it was promised.

Great on paper, but poor support and not Mac friendly .

 

[joaoferro37]

I am surprised watching this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb7dnrpBQiY
Trayless design for RAID!!!!
Trayless= no tray housing=vibration=death to the RAID.

Since when RAID solution provider had become Lego builder.

 

[nanofrog]

I am surprised watching this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb7dnrpBQiY
Trayless design for RAID!!!!
Trayless= no tray housing=vibration=death to the RAID.

Since when RAID solution provider had become Lego builder.

That's not a top-tier product, but rather a consumer level product (makes a decent, low cost backup solution).

Nor is it that critical with a small number of SATA drives (small enclosure), and even less so with enterprise models (as they have the additional sensors to compensate for vibration conditions). Once you're over say ~8 disks however, and particularly if faster RPM models (i.e. 10k and 15k RPM SAS disks), vibration can be a real issue. This is why the top-tier products do take vibration more seriously.

 

[joaoferro37]

That's not a top-tier product, but rather a consumer level product (makes a decent, low cost backup solution).

Nor is it that critical with a small number of SATA drives (small enclosure), and even less so with enterprise models (as they have the additional sensors to compensate for vibration conditions). Once you're over say ~8 disks however, and particularly if faster RPM models (i.e. 10k and 15k RPM SAS disks), vibration can be a real issue. This is why the top-tier products do take vibration more seriously.

Thank you for the info.
^__^

 

[nanofrog]

Thank you for the info.
^__^

NP.