Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed

Need Suggestion, to go with a PC already owned and attached Sata enclosure with USB or get a Synology NAS

Hey guys, i have this dilemma. I'll try to explain it as clearly as possible.

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Currently what i have:

A spare HP Elitedesk 800 Ultraslim desktop (it doesn't have extra drive bays)

2 x 4 TB WD RED Nas HDD's

2 x 2 TB WD regular desktop drives

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Now my question is:

1- is it better to get a Sata enclosure with 4 bay's (probably cost like $100-150) and hook it up to the PC i already have, so my net cost will be whatever i pay for the enclosure.

2 - Get a Synology NAS, DS918+ cost about $600 after taxes so my option there will be to get a DS220+ for $330 after tax and install the 2 x Nas HD's in it. That will also leave me out the 2 x 2TB desktop drives.

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My usage for a NAS will be data trasnfer over Samba or Plex server with occasional phone pictures backup.

What do you guys suggest?

If you suggest the Sata enclosure, any recommendations there would be appreciated. And what operating system would be best for this. The PC is already running on Windows 10 and has a 512 GB hard drive. It has 8 GB of DDR3 ram and an i5-4570S . Amazon suggestion is this: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=4+bay+hard+drive+enclosure&qid=1593899852&sr=8-4 looks nice enough with LED indicators being nice and all.

If you suggest the NAS, do you think the Synology is good enough for the Plex transcoding? Or other NAS are also welcome. I am really trying to stay under the $300 price point.

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Thanks!

Mediasonic

The ones I've seen like this Mediasonic are fine and include the fan. Multiple drives aren't meant for passive cooling, they do need proper airflow to work.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_AJwxEb7RT2DQA

Thanks! I've definitely looked at it before, but haven't attempted to dive in. I will check out those videos, but let me ask this before I start diving too deep.

I have this HDD enclosure connected via eSATA and not using any RAID. Basically it is just 4 HDDs connected to the motherboard. Would Unraid be able to be used in this setup?

My first go at a Plex server was a 2012 an i5 2600 gateway laptop, actually still have it and use it from time to time for stuff. Had a Belkin 6 port powered USB 2.0 hub with 4 2tb drives it worked well for a family of four. Then I started using these and shucking the WD drive.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_DSQLEbSADXH14

If you're very tight on budget, consider not doing a complicated NAS setup for now. Get an 8 TB Easystore or whatever you can afford, and keep it as an external to back up your files.

Later, evaluate your actual storage needs to see what you'll actually need in the medium term and start saving up. Maybe you need a huge Raid setup. Maybe you only need something like the Mediasonic that just holds a few drives with zero bells and whistles.

Either way, if this isn't time sensitive, this sub absolutely explodes every time there's a big sale on Easystores, so maybe wait for that?

How are you planning on connecting all the assorted harddrives? If they're all external drives, that's one thing, but if they're a bunch of bare drives I would recommend looking at something like this.

A bit pricey, but I've been using one for years with only minor issues (use-case issues, not bugs or functionality). As a bonus, you could "shuck" your external HDD's and add them into here as well.

I have 64 usable TB on my system on two volumes. I have a 4x 29TB JOB raid backup enclosures using 4x https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4 with 4x 8TB drives each

Similar setup would work for you. I have the drives in the enclosure set as essentially raid using windows storage space. I have a script that then backs up the different shared folders I have to the different external enclosures

If you don't need an actual NAS I would shuck the drives and put them into a mediasonic 4 bay enclosure... More than 4 drives get a second mediasonic 4 bay enclosure. Uses 1 power supply, and 1 USB 3 port.

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/

(I've got both the older USB 2 version amd the USB 3 one above and I've never had a problem with them)

Current Specs:

• Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5 Ghz
• 6 GB (3 x 2 GB), no idea what brand or speed. Also, one dimm is not working, hence the 6 and not 8 GB
• Silicon Power 256 GB SSD (No DRAM cache, so it kinda sucks, but currently OK as a buffer and boot drive)
• Insignia 2x USB 3.0 PCIe card

I currently have only a 2 TB External hooked up to this thing and it's far from full, but I would like to at least look into getting a DAS. I found one on Amazon for $99 that has pretty good reviews.

I have 2 of these hooked up to a data controller, really helped when I outgrew my tower

Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.JbrEb236V1CP

Your going to outgrow those 2 internal sata connections very fast.

I have 2 of these connected to my usb 3.1 ports., each with 4 drives, a total of 8 and no need to compromise my moatzerboatds ports.

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

Something external is probably the move. You could feasibly squeeze a second drive or move to 2.5 drives to squeeze but if you are already filling up fast you may be better off investing in something external that can fit a few extra drives for the future (unless you plan on upgrading your system all together before then). The only issue I can see is that it appears you only have USB 2 connection on this thing but you may be able to squeeze a USB 3 card or better and get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?keywords=external+drive+bay&qid=1583154799&sr=8-7

By no means do I reccomended that product but it's just to give you an idea of what I'm thinking I'm sure there's more/less complicated types at various price levels. Ultimately it depends on what you want to do. I'm thinking in the area of buy a larger internal drive and just use something like this to archive/back up data or for stuff that is less important/less accessed.

Well I already have the three externals [2TB, 4TB, 8TB], figured I'd shuck them and either put them in the MATX case itself (maybe nix the 1TB internal drive) if they can fit or get something like this to consolidate:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/?coliid=IGNB72CEVNBU8&colid=2FSK020JDXDM2&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Edit: To add, may even decide to get rid of the 2TB since it's my oldest external that I'm using (I think I have a 512 GB FreeAgent drive in my basement I'm not using lol).

The externals currently hide behind my monitors that are on the arm stand. It's just that having those extra plugs freed up would be nice :D

Not quite. I have an external enclosure that is connected via SATA. It even has a "sync" mode that normally works as you described.

However, if the unit loses power, it just stays off until you press the power button. Really bad design for when you aren't home.

I would recommend a Mediasonic 4 bay enclosure. It connects through one USB port, so your Mac Mini will not max out.

Put 4 drives in there and you are good to go for a while.

I believe this one holds drives up to 16 GB x 4:

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1584976586&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A2886967011&s=pc&sr=1-1

I like the ProBox enclosures but they're not cheap. A USB3 4 disk enclosure is around $99 retail. You might be able to find a used one cheaper. I think Sabrent might also make a similar enclosure for a bit less.

Example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4

I love questions like this.… it lets us talk about our servers!

In my opinion a dedicated pc is best. I’ve had several Plex servers ranging from a 2012 i5, QNAP 451+, and now an intel NUC. The only one that felt underpowered was the QNAP which sucked because it was pretty expensive.

Right now I am super happy with an Intel NUC with 2TB SSD and then an external drive enclosure with space for four hard drives. (A lot of my library is also on a share on the QNAP but served by the NUC) I’m really happy with the performance of the NUC and so far the external drive has let me expand as my collection has grown.

The NUC handles Plex, Jellyfin, sonarr, radarr, lidarr, dizquetv, Tdarr, xteve, and locast2plex no problem and is super compact.

The 4 bay enclosure I like is a mediasonic. $99 Amazon link

I spent $100 and bought this for my old drives. Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_xQWrFb371MZB8

I just use it in spanning mode so that if I have a 1 4tb, it’s 4tb. If I upgrade my NAS, I take the old drive and put it in (say 6tb) I’ll have 10gb total storage. I then just plug this into the Synology.

That being said, only use it for buffer storage or data that I don’t particularly care about losing. For example, I’ll use Synology cloud sync to sync my google drive to it. It’s already backed up in the cloud, so I don’t need raid, but at the same time it’s nice to have all the files readily available without having to spot download them.

I just got a few weeks ago a basic 4 bay hard drive enclosure. I wanted a simple way to use a bunch of old hard drives I had in storage. I got a Mediasonic ProBox. They have a ton of models to fit your needs and they are decently priced. This is the model I have: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_gtqSEbRXGHDJR

Normally I’ve seen it range from $99-129 on Amazon.

So to clarify, I don’t have a usb hub, I have an enclosure, I don’t know if it makes a difference on what the box can read or not; do you think it would then be worth the price just to buy/build a mini windows machine that can definitely read all hdds and support ntfs?

Not sure how critical built in raid is to you but could also consider the media sonic 4 bay boxes as well (3.0 = $99, 3.1 = $139)

I’ve been using one for a few months and it is working well.

Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_19GoEbGC2HQ4P

If you're familiar with Windows, you can go the Windows route.

I ended up using Windows 10 Pro as my main file server, and use DrivePool with SnapRAID with an external USB backup drive.

It's easy to setup and sounds like a good use case for you.

I use the Fractal Design Node 304 case because it's compact and can house six 3.5" hard drives no problem. The Node 304 is designed for Mini ITX which looks like that's what you have.

if you need more drive space, there is the Fractal Design Node 804 which can house 10 3.5" or 2.5" HDD's + 2 2.5" HDD's. Slightly bigger, but more room for drives. I just ordered one because I'm quickly expanding past my 6 drive need.

For backup I use the MediaSonic ProBox 4-drive bay: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4

They sell them with fans as well. Just search for hdd enclosure fan. There's plenty of options for if you search for JBODs as well https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_10puFb52R8N5E

I wouldn't personally be too worried about heat because in the original hub I linked, all the drives are open to air so passive cooling will probably be enough for them as long as you don't put a blanket over them.

In that case, you should definitely just pick up something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4/

I've been using this exact model for ~two years and haven't had any problems aside from the obnoxious LEDs (which I've covered with velcro strips). Just slap some large capacity hard drives in there and plug the whole enclosure into the back of your computer, set your computer up to the TV with an HDMI (or you can use a quality monitor, as well), and run Kodi. This will be much, much simpler than fighting with servers and other wireless solutions.

General operation is simple. The hard drive enclosure must be turned on manually, but turns off when you shut the computer down. While turned on, the hard drives are seen as a bunch of external devices. Literally just point and click.

*Note: I use a Windows computer. I don't know if there are weird quirks to other operating systems.

Sorta - I use this external 4-bay hard drive enclosure with mine, but I specifically picked it because it doesn't have hardware raid built in, since I wanted a software solution instead.

With that, OMV detects each drive separately, and I use mergerfs to pool them together so they appear as a single drive, and snapraid with a parity drive so I can recover in the event of a drive failure. And I use rsnapshot to keep backup copies of all my main folders from each of the past several days, weeks, months, and years.

An enclosure like that would also work if you wanted to just simply mirror 2 drives with rsync, like the other comment says, or rsnapshot. I believe actual RAID via USB is not recommended though.

A real 4-drive enclosure with fans and USB3+eSATA is $99 which is also about $25/drive. Doesn't work as a duplicator though.

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

thats the cheapest one I found with decent reviews. There's more expensive options if you search amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_16?dchild=1&keywords=probox&qid=1599659390&sr=8-16

Then maybe this Would work for you? It's a external HDD enclosure that supports 4 drives and is just plug and play into your pc. It's like a NAS just without the connection to the router/network.

or something like this might be more appropriate / easier

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

it's a separate box that you would put the disks in, then one usb-c cable connects to your PC for all the data transfer. Might be easier to keep your main pc separate from the data storage (makes pc less heavy for sure)

I have 3 of these MediaSonic ProBox's connected to my Plex server via USB3. My computer has one more available USB3.0 port, so I can get one more box to expand.

I currently have 10 HDDs in them for 38TBs of space. I use Stablebit DrivePool to put them all under one HDD (R:), so when I add a file to my R: drive, it gets put where it needs to be to balance the drives. There is space for 2 more HDDs before I have to get another ProBox.

The downside is there's no backup/redundancy at the moment. So if a HDD fails, I'm out of luck.

Something like this

Low power htpc questions

I plan on using a rpi 3 b+ running osmc to play my media i have on hard drives. I plan on getting a hard drive enclosure and getting 10tb hard drives for it to consolidate the various hard drives i have currently connected to a usb hub to save space and power. Would this work while using the linked hard drives as well as the linked hard drive enclosure with the rpi i have mentioned above? I also dont plan on doing any raid with the hard drive enclosure if that matters

Or are there better/cheaper options?

Enclosure in question

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_BpgTEbWX031NP

Hard drives in question

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H1VZ44S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_urgTEbN77RK3E

+1 to Mediasonic Probox. Don't know rate them soso, but I have eight 4 bay and 2 bay units and love them. The oldest are \~5-6 years old and *knock wood*, the only issue I've had is one the fans got noisy. A bit hard to find the slim size necessary (Mediasonic doesn't sell them directly anymore), but replaced the fan and I can't remember which box is the one I fixed!

Be sure to watch the prices though. The 4 bay non-RAID USB 3.0/eSATA (I use USB 3.0) should be \~$110-120 U.S., but the price keeps going up and down on Amazon.

Woot! It's down to $99 U.S. right now! The price they were last year before all the up and down. https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=probox&qid=1593576057&sr=8-1

Ordered two as spares!

External Hard Drive Enclosure

Cheaper Option

Something like this?

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I will do that. What about using something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=pd_rhf_ee_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=NB2875CW1DPT82752ZRG

YES you can buy it empty and add in a single drive
You can slowly move things over to the NAS to free up space in the NUC

What's your budget range?
You can buy something like a "4 bay empty "ICYDOCK" JBOD enclosure" for around $/£100 mark that will let you move those 2 drives over to the unit and have space for 2 more drives.

Here's a rebranded version of it: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/

As it's a JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Drives) unit so each drive is seen individually by the OS. it connects by eSATA (old) or USB3. That will free up USB connections, and no raid rebuild required.

I may be missing something, but a USB dock or multi-disk USB enclosure does what you need. My personal preference is the Mediasonic Probox. I have multiple 4 & 8 bay boxes and have have been using them for years. https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mediasonic+probox&qid=1590606802&sr=8-1

*Knock wood* So far, the only issues I've had with them the fan on one wore out and was noisy. I found a replacement (it's thinner than the usual case fan) and spliced the proprietary two wire connector. Another box started acting up, sometimes not recognizing drives, but I swapped places with another one and both are working fine.

You could buy a new case + PSU and build your own DIY DAS, like this https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/guide-how-to-build-a-8-bay-das-enclosure-sata-sas.3666/ I did something similar with a Fractal Node 804 case.

If you want a USB enclosure, I've had some experience with these https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4. It worked fine enough but speeds were meh, and there was no SMART data on the disks so when one died there was no warning.

I think most people are looking at enclosures and not docks a la:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4

Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable leaving $400+ enterprise drives exposed in a dock in that kind of config.

Edit: OP did specify docks though, and you're right. I just assumed HDD enclosure would be interchangeable (which may not fit their use case).

I believe, raid will only allow on "Raid Support Model" only.

For example, if you purchased https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4.

Raid will be not supported.

You need Raid support model.

Note:

I had that before and returned, because there is no way to extend or raid setup. it will only support each drive and cannot be extended or raided

There are external enclosures with fans. Example: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1587933751&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A2886967011&s=pc&sr=1-1

The problem being is an ATX power supply won't power on without a motherboard connected to it, or a some sort of controller logic.

Unless this is a 'woosh'... A disk shelf is usually just a different name for a DAS or Disk Attached Storage. I'm a fan of Mediasonic Boxes (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X26VV4/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A2WSTUX2A6RQ1A&psc=1) but they are kinda expensive at $99 for 4 disk over USB3.1

Warning - large wall of text incoming! :)

1. Yes. You want something like this, though since I have never used one, I cannot speak to its reliability.
2. Absolutely. Be careful with Seagate's HDDs, though, as many of them are SMR, which can be quite slow when writing to them. Once the data is written, however, read speeds are not significantly different from any other drive. I use an SMR drive in my own primary storage pool (which is mainly used for TV shows and movies). I let sabnzbd, Sonarr, and Radarr do their things while I'm sleeping, working, generally living life, and whenever I decide to make time to watch TV, my media is all there, ready to go. :)
3. RAID is really only for guaranteeing uptime in the case of HDD failure (RAID level selected, and how many drives are involved, dictate how many drives can fail before the storage pool goes offline). As I'm the only one using my server, I use StableBit's DrivePool. It's not free, but it's cheap (and a one time purchase). Lets me 'pool' any drive type and size into the pool, so I don't have to worry about matching drive sizes / etc. It also has a file / folder duplication feature, so if I do store something on the pool that I'd like some level of protection for, I select the file(s) / folder, tell it how many drives I want that data stored upon, and it does the rest. Much easier than dealing with RAID, in my opinion.
4. Depends. I have a secondary storage server (which is used as a backup for certain data I store) that runs XPEnology (the same software Synology NAS devices run). It has seven 4TB WD SAS enterprise drives installed, which is configured for RAID6. I have had no issues expanding the array (it started out as six 2TB drives, which I replaced as I could afford, and when all the 2TB drives were gone, I was able to expand the array, and the volumes located on that array, without issue). Some hardware RAID controllers do not have this functionality. StableBit's DrivePool also allows you to expand your storage pool. I have little experience with other software and hardware setups...

Raid: https://.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HFR2-SU3S2-PRORAID-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003YFHEAC

No Raid: https://amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

This will hold 4 drives, and you cans setup a RAID to have some redundancy. link

RPI4 has 2x USB 3.0 ports good for 5gbps so interface speed wise you're good there. Having multiple Elements externals hooked up is not great but is doable. My current setup is 4x 10tb MyBook over USB 3 to a sff HP. Much cleaner and simple is something like this is an external USB 3 enclosure.

In terms of software Open Media Vault with Mergerfs should have you covered. See a similar project here

One of these: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=mediasonic+probox&qid=1584911972&sr=8-3

Connect with eSATA and you should be fine.

EDIT: Derp. That's only 4 bays. I thought they had a 6 bay unit somewhere. Their 8 bay version is $400 :(

Assuming you're in the U.S., Mediasonic Probox for $100 new: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-p13n1_0?cv_ct_cx=probox&dchild=1&keywords=probox&pd_rd_i=B003X26VV4&pd_rd_r=70666f86-69b2-46f5-b845-529b1b12f9ab&pd_rd_w=AJF53&pd_rd_wg=BdbGw&pf_rd_p=13bf9bc7-d68d-44c3-9d2e-647020f56802&pf_rd_r=JVRECA25DSR93PV2664P&psc=1&qid=1596512638&sr=1-1-791c2399-d602-4248-afbb-8a79de2d236f

$87 used: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B072HW3C4C/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=probox&qid=1596512529&sr=8-6

\~$25/bay. Have multiple 4 bay and 8 bay boxes and have been using and loving them for years.

You could save a few dollar by getting a dock instead of an enclosure, but the heat the drives give off, plus the fact that bottom inch or of the drive is completely enclosed in the dock, makes a no-go for me, even though I have a two and four bay dock. Okay for temp use, but not for long term usage.

Someone claimed on another thread you could get used NAS enclosures for $10-15/bay, but that's a big YMMV depending on where you live.