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| Thread ID: 139956 | 2015-07-29 23:57:00 | Storage advice | DeSade (984) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1405582 | 2015-07-29 23:57:00 | I have 3 or 4 HDD's I need to move from my main machine but still need access to them They are all 2TB each. Would a NAS be my best option and what is a good one? Any other ways to do this? |
DeSade (984) | ||
| 1405583 | 2015-07-30 00:11:00 | They might need to be formatted if put into a NAS. USB HD enclosures might be an option, and cheaper |
1101 (13337) | ||
| 1405584 | 2015-07-30 00:15:00 | Formatting would be an option, as nothing is installed to these drives and I do have another drive I could use to swap out to safe the data. Real pain in the ass thou.... I have a HDD dock but I don't want HDD's just sitting around and I want them to be always accessible, do not want to have to plug them in turn them on any time I want to use them. |
DeSade (984) | ||
| 1405585 | 2015-07-30 00:41:00 | What type of drives? Not all are really suitable for NAS use or 24/7 running. WD green drives for example are good for individual storage drives but not the best for any kind of RAID application. If you use them in a NAS you'll need to keep them as individual Volumes for best reliability. Also does your router have USB ports? You may be able to attach them via enclosures to the router for a basic cheap option. I recently bought a QNAP TS-231 NAS and 2 x WD red 4TB drives and after a bit of trouble setting it up am really liking it. It's a bit at the pricey end for 2 Bay NAS enclosures though. D-Link make a couple of cheap enclosures I hear good things about if you want a cheap NAS, they don't perform quite as well but are quite a bit cheaper. I regret not getting a 4 bay NAS for future proofing though. I'm using RAID 0 in the NAS for performance and 4 x 2B WD greens in an old PC as a backup for now. Another option I'll mention is you could look for a cheap old ex-lease PC or re-purpose an old PC you have to use as a NAS, either just via windows file sharing or one of the many free NAS OS solutions like FreeNAS. It's not really worth building a new machine for it though, you'll never match the efficiency & price of a purpose built NAS unless you are looking to go for massive storage. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1405586 | 2015-07-30 00:49:00 | Not really interested in raid, I just want all the drives accessible as they are and out of my machine. | DeSade (984) | ||
| 1405587 | 2015-07-30 01:07:00 | Not really interested in raid, I just want all the drives accessible as they are and out of my machine. If you';re windows based I'd look at a piece of software called drivebender. It'll take all those drives and join them into one big drive....and allow you to specify certain folders etc be duplicated on mulitple drives. I use it with about 6 drives of varying sizes. It keeps them as NTFS so if there are any issues the drive can just be removed and plugged into another system....and the content is still there. |
psycik (12851) | ||
| 1405588 | 2015-07-30 05:16:00 | From my unlimited ignorance...what about a Server Box. PJ | Poppa John (284) | ||
| 1405589 | 2015-07-30 06:38:00 | From my unlimited ignorance...what about a Server Box. PJ Don't under estimate your knowledge PJ. Thats actually a very good idea :thumbs: If you have a old XP or Vista or seven or linux laying about gathering dust you can easily turn it into a NAS server. Simply install the OS, Kill the internet options, but allow the LAN, attach drives - Instant NAS. It can sit where you want out of the way, run headless (no KB/Mouse or Monitor) , you install something like Team Viewer to do remote desktop from another LAN PC if you want. Works great, done it several times for customers. Cost = next to nothing. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 1405590 | 2015-07-30 23:02:00 | Not really interested in raid, I just want all the drives accessible as they are and out of my machine. Then why not external USB enclosure (not just a dock), and have the USB's allways plugged in. Its the easiest way. Or start hunting for a raid enclosure that can definitely use the drives as is, you'll have to do some research to confirm that . Some RAID systems expect to write config info to the HD, so may or may not want to wipe the drives . Or just buy a WD or Seagate single drive home NAS units . They arnt that expensive compared to 'real' multi drive NAS enclosures . www.pbtech.co.nz |
1101 (13337) | ||
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