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External Enclosure w/ Raid

UhFive

UhFive

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 17, 2013
168
135
Texas
I currently have a 2tb WD MyBook but I'm running out of space pretty quick so I need a new External drive. I haven't been able to find what I'm looking for prebuild, so I believe my best solution is to build my own by purchasing an external enclosure and the drives I want. However, I need some suggestions on what external enclosure to buy, here are the minimum features I need:

Raid 1
USB 3.0 (Thunderbolt preferred and no NAS's)
3.5 and 2.5 drive compatible
 
You didn't mention how large the storage capacity should be and though you identify USB3 and TB, is speed a serious requirement? I only ask as the latter might suggest a 4 bay enclosure running RAID 10 (as example) or running 2-3 drives as RAID 0 and the last drive set aside that equal the total volume of the RAID 0 that those drives are backed up to on a regular basis.
 
phrehdd said:
You didn't mention how large the storage capacity should be and though you identify USB3 and TB, is speed a serious requirement? I only ask as the latter might suggest a 4 bay enclosure running RAID 10 (as example) or running 2-3 drives as RAID 0 and the last drive set aside that equal the total volume of the RAID 0 that those drives are backed up to on a regular basis.
Click to expand...

I am looking to run 2 drives, 4tb apiece in Raid 1...but if I could find an enclosure with 4 drives for raid 10 as you described, within my budget, I wouldn't be opposed.
It will be connected to a MacMini and is used solely at a Plex server so TB is not extremely important, more of just a bragging point.
Budget is under $200
 
UhFive said:
I am looking to run 2 drives, 4tb apiece in Raid 1...but if I could find an enclosure with 4 drives for raid 10 as you described, within my budget, I wouldn't be opposed.
It will be connected to a MacMini and is used solely at a Plex server so TB is not extremely important, more of just a bragging point.
Budget is under $200
Click to expand...
Stick with your idea of RAID 1 with a 2 bay enclosure. It doesn't have to be the fastest either if it is only serving up media files.
 
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I'm going to ask the obvious question - Why Raid 1? Do you really need that level of fault tolerance? Raid is not a backup since overwriting a file on one drive overwrites it on both. Loss of the device loses both copies. Proper backup is separate devices with off site storage for at least one copy.
 
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glenthompson said:
I'm going to ask the obvious question - Why Raid 1? Do you really need that level of fault tolerance? Raid is not a backup since overwriting a file on one drive overwrites it on both. Loss of the device loses both copies. Proper backup is separate devices with off site storage for at least one copy.
Click to expand...
Reason for Raid 1 is not the backup, but that I've found my drives fail more frequently when I've gone over 2tb. At least in Raid 1 it is simply a matter of swapping out the drive and not restoring from a backup.
 
UhFive said:
Reason for Raid 1 is not the backup, but that I've found my drives fail more frequently when I've gone over 2tb. At least in Raid 1 it is simply a matter of swapping out the drive and not restoring from a backup.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that's a good reason. I get concerned when people want to do it thinking it's a backup strategy. I did the same thing with a NAS I have in my motorhome. Since we can be on the road for months at a time, restoring a backup could be a royal pain.

I have a number of 2 and 4tb drives and haven't had any failures. Both Seagate and WD. Maybe I'm just lucky.
 
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