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vim147

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 14, 2011
236
1
Can anyone recommend a HHD caddy which i can house 2 3TB WD hard drives which will be using to store movies/music with plex ?

ideally inexpensive but reliable and able to use with MAC and Windows computer.
 
It would be helpful if you defined "caddy" and "inexpensive". Are you looking for a NAS drive that can be attached to your network and accessed by anyone on the network? Are you looking for a NAS that will also run Plex so you don't need Plex running on 1 of your computers? Or are you looking for a USB enclosure? Or even a USB dock like this?

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Exte...490618217&sr=8-7&keywords=usb+hard+drive+dock

Ultimately, for holding 2 hard drives and accessing via Plex, any of the options I mention will work. Some better than others.
 
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Can anyone recommend a HHD caddy which i can house 2 3TB WD hard drives which will be using to store movies/music with plex ?

ideally inexpensive but reliable and able to use with MAC and Windows computer.

I have the Synology DS216play NAS and it is a joy to use with my Apple TV4 and iMac. Synology also has an app for the ATV4 (DSVideo) that works really well streaming from the NAS. Only thing I don't like about it is that your TV episodes will autoplay and there is no way to tell it not to. It grabs metadata for all your shows and movies just like Plex. Also finds subtitles.

Synology also has Plex server that can be installed on the NAS box and it also works flawlessly.
 
Plex sent out an email today to their PlexPass members which gives a 20% discount on the PR2100 and PR4100 at the Western Digital Store.
 
Not cheap, but will run Plex on the NAS itself with transcoding:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_price-asc-rank?keywords=wd+pr2100&rh=i:aps,k:wd+pr2100&qid=1490663273&sort=price-asc-rank

Highest performing Plex NAS device that I know. When Plex announced it they offered a 20% discount. I tried to purchase it but it was sold out. Evidently it's still in high demand as I haven't seen any discounts for the PR2100 or PR4100.

That is a great (probably the best) NAS for Plex however it's kind of lacking in other NAS related features compared to less expensive NAS unit like expandability or App Store size and quality of the apps, btfs, etc.

If Plex is your main concern you can get a SFF computer that is much more powerful and maybe less expensive (than the pr2100) for a Plex server.
 
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I don't want a nas.

Am planning on building a htpc which will house 2-4 hard drives when funds become available but in the meantime i need extra storage as am running out of space and a enclosure case to run off my existing computer with plex.
 
I don't want a nas.

Am planning on building a htpc which will house 2-4 hard drives when funds become available but in the meantime i need extra storage as am running out of space and a enclosure case to run off my existing computer with plex.
This might be what you want. It supports RAID as well. Or you might consider two separate enclosures if it is temporary. However, if I were you I would seriously consider a NAS at some point instead of a HTPC (do not kill the messenger).

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-P...9&sr=8-9&keywords=hard+disk+2+drive+enclosure
 
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am looking for a temporary fix so a enclosure case is 1st choice.

still prefer to build a htpc then get a nas. more powerful unit, able to upgrade components and use it as a computer.
 
Oyen Digital has a number of products:

https://oyendigital.com/mobius.html

I have used their 5 bay USB-3 to deliver large Blu-Ray libraries for Plex. It supports RAID, although I have used it as a JBOD for my 2 Time Machine Backups, Plex, and other backups. USB-3 has more than enough bandwidth to meet my needs.

They also have a lightning version which only works as a JBOD, and a 2 bay USB-3 version. You don't have to fill all of the bays in the 5 bay if you are using it as a JBOD so it's great if you anticipate adding additional single disks as time passes.

Their support is excellent.

The only issue is that I have to disable "put hard disks to sleep when possible" as it can cause issues with unexpected unmounts. Before you buy any enclosure make sure to check that there are no reports of unexpected ejects. It's a common problem for external disks.
 
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