I have a 2012 Mac Mini that I'm using basically as a NAS, it has a Drobo connected to it and I keep large files on it (until I get an LTO, but that's later), I work in the creative field, lots of video. It has a monitor so sometimes I use it as a computer for browsing or whatever else, so it's not completely just a NAS, and although the Mini could use a new internal hard drive (it's slow) it's nice to have as a flexible general purpose machine as needed.
The Drobo S has 4x 5TB Hard Drives and 1x 2TB hard drive, which gives me about 15.41 TB of storage space. I could add more but then it'll make another volume, I don't feel like messing with that.
My problem is that I don't really like the Drobo.
Why (this is jut me describing Drobos shortcomings, feel free to skip): Every time I update the OS (and sometimes for no apparent reason) I have to update the Drobo software or the Drobo volume disappears, and then I have this concern about terabytes of data until I get it back online. This also often means disconnecting and power cycling the Drobo and the Mac Mini until the Drobo software decides it wants to see the Drobo device. This never happens at a convenient time and it just breaks up my flow. I'm sure newer Drobos are better, but they've had their shot as far as I'm concerned. Also I know if I had a more traditional RAID 0 I'd be fine if the CPU died, but with the Drobo if the drobo unit goes down then I have to buy another Drobo to get at my data, I don't want to do that.
Possible solutions -
Build a new computer - I can build computers. I have a case that's not doing anything, a power supply, I can just buy a mobo. But all the solutions like FreeNAS are their own OS, really what I want is just a dumb, simple RAID that I can attach to the Mac Mini which is my portal to what's on the RAID, plus I can put Plex or whatever on the mini if I want to. I want it to be expandable with multiple mixed sized drives like the Drobo, but be more confidence inspiring than the Drobo is. I've heard UnRAID is kind of like this but I'm not sure about the implementation. Maybe I should just get a RAID-5 but I don't think I can expand a RAID 5.
Build a DAS - is there any product out there that's like a motherboard that you could use to build a RAID 5 out of a computer case and some hard drives and then connect it over USB to another computer that acts as the server? I don't think there is but thought I'd ask. I also don't envision this as being real reliable.
Buy something else - I've also heard good things about Synology, but that was years ago when I started and I got the Drobo instead. This also doesn't seem like it'd be cheap.
What are some of you doing? That'd be real enlightening. Are you using a Synology and it's cool? Did you use an UnRAID implementation? Maybe there's something I haven't thought of.
The Drobo S has 4x 5TB Hard Drives and 1x 2TB hard drive, which gives me about 15.41 TB of storage space. I could add more but then it'll make another volume, I don't feel like messing with that.
My problem is that I don't really like the Drobo.
Why (this is jut me describing Drobos shortcomings, feel free to skip): Every time I update the OS (and sometimes for no apparent reason) I have to update the Drobo software or the Drobo volume disappears, and then I have this concern about terabytes of data until I get it back online. This also often means disconnecting and power cycling the Drobo and the Mac Mini until the Drobo software decides it wants to see the Drobo device. This never happens at a convenient time and it just breaks up my flow. I'm sure newer Drobos are better, but they've had their shot as far as I'm concerned. Also I know if I had a more traditional RAID 0 I'd be fine if the CPU died, but with the Drobo if the drobo unit goes down then I have to buy another Drobo to get at my data, I don't want to do that.
Possible solutions -
Build a new computer - I can build computers. I have a case that's not doing anything, a power supply, I can just buy a mobo. But all the solutions like FreeNAS are their own OS, really what I want is just a dumb, simple RAID that I can attach to the Mac Mini which is my portal to what's on the RAID, plus I can put Plex or whatever on the mini if I want to. I want it to be expandable with multiple mixed sized drives like the Drobo, but be more confidence inspiring than the Drobo is. I've heard UnRAID is kind of like this but I'm not sure about the implementation. Maybe I should just get a RAID-5 but I don't think I can expand a RAID 5.
Build a DAS - is there any product out there that's like a motherboard that you could use to build a RAID 5 out of a computer case and some hard drives and then connect it over USB to another computer that acts as the server? I don't think there is but thought I'd ask. I also don't envision this as being real reliable.
Buy something else - I've also heard good things about Synology, but that was years ago when I started and I got the Drobo instead. This also doesn't seem like it'd be cheap.
What are some of you doing? That'd be real enlightening. Are you using a Synology and it's cool? Did you use an UnRAID implementation? Maybe there's something I haven't thought of.