Best JBOD Solution for Accessing Multiple SATA III Drives

[pi6xjdskfa]

I have 10-12 bare SATA III archival drives, and every time I need to access data from a specific drive, I have to remove it from its static-free case and connect it to a USB hard drive adapter. I’m looking for a solution that allows me to house all these drives in a rack or device, enabling access to them as a single data pool—similar to a NAS but without RAID.

What’s the best JBOD system that doesn’t require reformatting or complex setup?

Thanks!

 

[PaulD-UK]

You could try this sort of thing, https://icybox.uk/product/externe_speicherloesungen/IB-3810U3

Or two+ 5 bay USB 3 enclosures plugged into a single Thunderbolt 3* dock. That way the USB drives are more likely to not have unexpected dismounting problems.

* A TB3 dock, not TB4 or TB5, as these don't 'isolate' the USB enclosures from the Mac in the same way as TB3.

 

[Fishrrman]

Do you have any USB3/SATA docking stations?
(that may be what you're using now, if so, ignore this)

Cheap, many choices, easy-in, easy-out.

 

[BrianBaughn]

By "a single data pool" you mean you don't want 10-12 drives mounted on your Mac?

 

[pi6xjdskfa]

By "a single data pool" you mean you don't want 10-12 drives mounted on your Mac?

if there is a way to individually turn on/off each drive that would be great. Right now I just hate having to go to the closet, get drive out of anti-static sleeve, plug it into usb dock, spin it up, then do the reverse to put it away. i have 2 copies of data for each year and want to have one set in the unit and the rest off site. I have roughly about 200-300tb of image/video/personal data.

 

[macnavarra]

Cheap Home RAID 0,1-JBOD : https://i-tec.pro/en/produkt/camysafedualm2-2/

 

[BrianBaughn]

You can get multi-bay hard drive enclosure towers that have power switches for each individual bay.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I have roughly about 200-300tb of image/video/personal data"

I have to ask:
What does one DO with 200-300tb of "image/video/personal data..." ?
(other than to "store it"...)

 

[pi6xjdskfa]

OP wrote:
"I have roughly about 200-300tb of image/video/personal data"

I have to ask:
What does one DO with 200-300tb of "image/video/personal data..." ?
(other than to "store it"...)

i license video and still images and have an archive of footage/photos from 1996. Now shooting 8k video and 50 megapixel still images which take up a lot of space. Heck, RAW photo from iPhone 16 Pro Max is 70 megabytes. It adds up.