hey guys, do you have any recommendation on external raids?
I'm using a mac as my "NAS like" server, storing all my videos, photos and stuff. since it's just a file server with one single gigabyte output, speed isn't my top priority. and my drobo 5D will be running out of space soon, and I'm not planning to add larger hard drives into drobo (they have a 16tb single volume limited, if you exceeds that, drives will be split into two volumes, which would be a pain to efficiently use all spaces).
so here's my 'ideal' enclosure
1. at least 6+ bays (since drobo is already 5 bays, 6 bays won't make much difference)
2. has to be stable (i haven't used any iscsi drives yet, but since they are connected via ethernet? can they be mounted/accessed as stable as DAS?)
3. has raid function, HW or SW raid doesn't matter. since OS X only has raid 1 or 0 build in, it will be either too risky or waste too much spaces.
4. MUST has future upgradability, just say like drobo, i don't have to insert all drives now, i can put more drives later, and i won't have to destroy all data to do that. (mix capacity raid support is definitely a huge plus)
i guess that's a lot to ask, but i really don't want to spend 4k or 5k on just a raid system (otherwise i can just go buy a dedicate NAS and connect to mac, it will be slower and less reliable, but a lot cheaper)
i've tried some cheap $100-200 8bay enclosures from amazon, and they worked, just work, but not well. one major defect is the hard drive in the enclosure never spin down, and there's no way to set up an upgradable raid 5 from it..
I'm using a mac as my "NAS like" server, storing all my videos, photos and stuff. since it's just a file server with one single gigabyte output, speed isn't my top priority. and my drobo 5D will be running out of space soon, and I'm not planning to add larger hard drives into drobo (they have a 16tb single volume limited, if you exceeds that, drives will be split into two volumes, which would be a pain to efficiently use all spaces).
so here's my 'ideal' enclosure
1. at least 6+ bays (since drobo is already 5 bays, 6 bays won't make much difference)
2. has to be stable (i haven't used any iscsi drives yet, but since they are connected via ethernet? can they be mounted/accessed as stable as DAS?)
3. has raid function, HW or SW raid doesn't matter. since OS X only has raid 1 or 0 build in, it will be either too risky or waste too much spaces.
4. MUST has future upgradability, just say like drobo, i don't have to insert all drives now, i can put more drives later, and i won't have to destroy all data to do that. (mix capacity raid support is definitely a huge plus)
i guess that's a lot to ask, but i really don't want to spend 4k or 5k on just a raid system (otherwise i can just go buy a dedicate NAS and connect to mac, it will be slower and less reliable, but a lot cheaper)
i've tried some cheap $100-200 8bay enclosures from amazon, and they worked, just work, but not well. one major defect is the hard drive in the enclosure never spin down, and there's no way to set up an upgradable raid 5 from it..
Oh you need backup, buy another set and use CCC to backup the primary. Thats over $5k but what the heck. What would it cost you to set up a hardware Raid5 or 10 box that provides a 48TB volume? And then how do you intend to back it up?
