Moving backup drives 50m away

[Greenytica]

In light of the recent LTT video, it got me thinking of something I have been looking at. I'm trying to move my external HDD's that I backup to every day down to the shed. 2 x 16TB HDD, USB 3.0 and they cop up to 100-200gb changes. Just measured it at 40m at a minimum but lets say 50m to be safe. Is there anything that could convert with full speed that isn't going to cost me an arm and a leg? Prefer to not have to make a NAS just for backups.

[Lurick]

Just so you know, you're looking at $200 to 400+ dollars per optical USB cable for 50m of distance. So lets say around $600 all in, and you're looking at about 80MB/s (640Mbps) of transfer speed for USB 3 in the real world on average.

Compare that with an ethernet solution with a small NAS and see how the cost would compare and determine which is more cost effective.

[Greenytica]

Pretty fair point. Vs running a network cable down there and using something as the cheapest NAS possible with a couple of USB's. Or do I just suck it up and shuck the drives then put them in a synology or something?

[Lurick]

47 minutes ago, Greenytica said:

Pretty fair point. Vs running a network cable down there and using something as the cheapest NAS possible with a couple of USB's. Or do I just suck it up and shuck the drives then put them in a synology or something?

It depends, if you got the drives already and no data I would say you could give shucking them a try, not done it myself but hopefully the drives don't use proprietary connections. I would definitely google the model and shucking or something to see if anyone else has had issues. If no issues then a 4 bay synology would be great I think or QNAP.

[Greenytica]

Both drives have a decent amount on them but they are a back up of other data so I could copy it back onto a NAS after it's set up. Annoying but not a deal breaker. I'm probably like 90% sure these WD drives are a normal drive in a box so shucking them shouldn't be the worst.

 

For what I can find locally, this is the cheapest I can get a 2.5 ethernet jack.

 

https://www.centrecom.com.au/qnap-ts-433-4g-4-bay-arm-4-core-4gb-ram-tower-nas

Not sure if I could add another 2 drives to this later though without upsetting it? Honestly not that knowledgeable about NAS set ups. It's kind of a miracle that Limbo worked in the end (It's obnoxious overkill to the extreme).

[mariushm]

Or a cheap refurbished machine for $100-120, put the hard drives in it.  Ethernet works up to 100 meters (328 feet)

If 1gbps is not enough, add a 10g ethernet card at a later time for 30-50 bucks.

 

Could use wake on lan to turn on the pc remotely, or you could maybe have a wireless on/off mains socket or extension cord and you can configure the machine to start automatically on power received. Or just leave it running 24/7. Considering the power consumption it could be entirely passively cooled.

 

for example  $100 for dell optiplex 9020 : https://www.newegg.com/p/1VK-0001-6H8U5

Has proprietary psu, but there's adapter cables if you want to use regular atx psu.

 

or $130 for system with standard atx psu : Dell Optiplex 790 Desktop Tower PC, Intel Quad Core i5 (3.10GHz) Processor, 8GB RAM, 2TB Hard Drive, Windows 10 Home, DVD, Keyboard, Mouse, WiFi - Newegg.com

 

 

 

 

[Greenytica]

Australia here, so pricing would be a bit more.

Could use something like this: 

https://www.cashconverters.com.au/shop/phones-cameras-computers/desktop-pcs-monitors/desktop-pcs/desktop-pc/003900470617

https://www.cashconverters.com.au/shop/phones-cameras-computers/desktop-pcs-monitors/desktop-pcs/desktop-pc/003900470547

This one looks like it has networking already.

Power usage might add up over time though, it costs us about $1000 per quarter on power as it is.

[mariushm]

 

The first one consumes a lot of power, the second is a bit expensive.

 

This one is a bit cheaper and should be ok : https://www.cashconverters.com.au/shop/phones-cameras-computers/desktop-pcs-monitors/desktop-pcs/desktop-pc/029900073686

 

Should be a i5 3470 with 8 GB of memory (DDR3) and mobo that supports up to 4 sata ports . Heres the specs page which also includes pictures of motherboard : https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03786884

 

 

[Greenytica]

https://www.amazon.com.au/Beelink-Processor-3-40GHz-Computer-Business/dp/B0C52YWT23?

Short window for this deal.

 

Wondering if this would work on a network cable and then just the external USB's into the USB3 ports?

Or maybe https://www.amazon.com.au/GL-iNet-GL-MT3000-Pocket-Sized-Cybersecurity-Tethering/dp/B0BPSGJN7T? plus https://www.amazon.com.au/ORICO-External-Enclosure-Support-Aluminum/dp/B08625PLHK?