Raid Case for 2 HDDs

[FloRolf]

Hey peeps!

 

i'm looking to expand and save my current storage Situation. Currently i'm running a 250gb SSD for my boot drive (i will Keep it that way) and a 1TB HDD (WD Green) for mass storage.

The 1TB only has 20gb left and recently the drive made funny noises so i want to have a dual HDD Setup in RAID 1 to gain some safety.

I also want to move the HDDs out of my ITX case because that'd improve my cooling aswell (could Reposition the Radiator) and well, i can't even fit 2 HDDs in my case.

 

I was looking into the WD My Book Duo with 2x4TB. That'd be enough storage for the next years to come, it has WD Red NAS drives, is apparently pretty quiet and even looks good.

Additionally it's "only" 350€ and each drive alone is 150€ so that's only 50€ for the case.

 

Anyone with different Solutions/ideas/other raid cases?

 

Thanks and have a great day!

 

 

Oh btw, does the My Book Duo come with Software that lets me automatically copy all my data from the current HDD onto the Raid 1 Array? Or any Freeware to go with that'd maybe let me select what exactly i want to

copy.

[Oshino Shinobu]

I currently use an IcyBox 4 bay RAID enclosure (USB 3 and eSATA). Works very well, haven't had any issues with it yet. 

 

EDIT: As you're moving to external storage, have you considered spending a bit more and getting a RAID/NAS enclosure? Depending on your usage, the extra cost may be worth the NAS features. 

[FloRolf]

6 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

I currently use an IcyBox 4 bay RAID enclosure (USB 3 and eSATA). Works very well, haven't had any issues with it yet. 

 

EDIT: As you're moving to external storage, have you considered spending a bit more and getting a RAID/NAS enclosure? Depending on your usage, the extra cost may be worth the NAS features. 

You mean this one right? (just with 2 instead of 4)

Does it start up with the System? or do i have to manually start and stop it?

https://www.amazon.de/Icy-Box-IB-RD3620SU3-Externes-Aluminium/dp/B00I3M72HG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1466161032&sr=8-5&keywords=Icy+Box

 

Well i was also thinking about something like the My Cloud Duo that makes you have it all as cloud storage aswell. But that's even more expensive, runs all the time and i don't really Need a NAS.

Or do i .... I'm thinking, because i have two PCs and it would be cool to have them, synced. Can i however play the same game off of the HDDs at the same time? that'd be pretty nice.

Also, how are Access times over Network? Some games have pretty Long loading times already.

 

[Oshino Shinobu]

11 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

You mean this one right? (just with 2 instead of 4)

Does it start up with the System? or do i have to manually start and stop it?

https://www.amazon.de/Icy-Box-IB-RD3620SU3-Externes-Aluminium/dp/B00I3M72HG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1466161032&sr=8-5&keywords=Icy+Box

 

Well i was also thinking about something like the My Cloud Duo that makes you have it all as cloud storage aswell. But that's even more expensive, runs all the time and i don't really Need a NAS.

Or do i .... I'm thinking, because i have two PCs and it would be cool to have them, synced. Can i however play the same game off of the HDDs at the same time? that'd be pretty nice.

Also, how are Access times over Network? Some games have pretty Long loading times already.

 

Yep, that looks like the one. It starts up and shuts down (more like goes into idle, where the disks don't spin) with the system. Only time you need to turn it on manually is if it looses power, as that causes it to turn off completely. It also seems to go into idle (spinning down discs) when it hasn't been accessed for some time. Saves the discs and saves power. 

 

If you only have two PCs that access files, and one of them is going to be attached to the storage anyway, you may as well do what I do and have a Windows shared folder which can be accesses with a username and password. I have my entire external 4TB enclosure mapped as a network drive so I can access it from my laptop, phone and so on when I need to. 

 

As for access times. Over eSATA (and most likely USB, but I prefer using eSATA for permanent storage) the drives are the limiting factor. I notice no real delay or anything different from having them internal. Over LAN, it really depends on how your network is set up. Wireless transfer speeds are not great on my network, but it seems to be more of an issue with something other than the network, from what I can figure out. For wired connections, I get the full Gigabit that the network is wired up for. I've only run a game over LAN once (Outlast on my laptop) and it worked pretty well. I'd imagine large games like GTA V would take noticeably longer to load. 

 

With external enclosures, be aware that you often can't use both/multiple interfaces at once. On my IcyBox, only one of the two interfaces can be active at any time. 

[FloRolf]

5 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Yep, that looks like the one. It starts up and shuts down (more like goes into idle, where the disks don't spin) with the system. Only time you need to turn it on manually is if it looses power, as that causes it to turn off completely. 

 

If you only have two PCs that access files, and one of them is going to be attached to the storage anyway, you may as well do what I do and have a Windows shared folder which can be accesses with a username and password. I have my entire external 4TB enclosure mapped as a network drive so I can access it from my laptop, phone and so on when I need to. 

 

As for access times. Over eSATA (and most likely USB, but I prefer using eSATA for permanent storage) the drives are the limiting factor. I notice no real delay or anything different from having them internal. Over LAN, it really depends on how your network is set up. Wireless transfer speeds are not great on my network, but it seems to be more of an issue with something other than the network, from what I can figure out. For wired connections, I get the full Gigabit that the network is wired up for. I've only run a game over LAN once (Outlast on my laptop) and it worked pretty well. I'd imagine large games like GTA V would take noticeably longer to load. 

 

With external enclosures, be aware that you often can't use both/multiple interfaces at once. On my IcyBox, only one of the two interfaces can be active at any time. 

Ugh, why would i lose power?  Does it do that often?

 

And how did you attach the storage to the network? Wouldn't you have to run the main ("host") PC in order to Access your stuff through your Laptop?

And if i would get the full NAS thingy, i'd only have LAN and no Sata/USB anyways i guess. But what do you mean by can't use both Interfaces? You mean i can't plug one PC through USB and the other one through Sata?

 

Can you try runnng outlast on your PC and your Laptop at the same time? ^^ i'm curious if that works and how the experience is with that. Because right now i'm seriously leaning towards a NAS so i can connect both my PCs and maybe my GFs Laptop to it for one central storage System and gaming library.

[Oshino Shinobu]

13 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

Ugh, why would i lose power?  Does it do that often?

 

And how did you attach the storage to the network? Wouldn't you have to run the main ("host") PC in order to Access your stuff through your Laptop?

And if i would get the full NAS thingy, i'd only have LAN and no Sata/USB anyways i guess. But what do you mean by can't use both Interfaces? You mean i can't plug one PC through USB and the other one through Sata?

 

Can you try runnng outlast on your PC and your Laptop at the same time? ^^ i'm curious if that works and how the experience is with that. Because right now i'm seriously leaning towards a NAS so i can connect both my PCs and maybe my GFs Laptop to it for one central storage System and gaming library.

Power cuts and acidently unplugging it with my feet are the only times I've had it lose power.

 

Yeah, the host PC has to be running. I have mine on most of the time in a low power mode when i'm not using it, so it works well for me.

 

You can plug them both in, but if you plug in USB first, then eSATA won't work unless the device connected via USB is turned off. That's one of the main reasons I decided to use a shared folder, as I originally intended to use the enclosure with both my laptop and PC, but turning off (or unplugging) my PC every time I needed to access the drives on my laptop wasn't practical.

 

I'll give it a go in a minute and let you know how it works. I don't have outlast installed anymore, but I'll try it with something else

[FloRolf]

11 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Power cuts and acidently unplugging it with my feet are the only times I've had it lose power.

 

Yeah, the host PC has to be running. I have mine on most of the time in a low power mode when i'm not using it, so it works well for me.

 

You can plug them both in, but if you plug in USB first, then eSATA won't work unless the device connected via USB is turned off. That's one of the main reasons I decided to use a shared folder, as I originally intended to use the enclosure with both my laptop and PC, but turning off (or unplugging) my PC every time I needed to access the drives on my laptop wasn't practical.

 

I'll give it a go in a minute and let you know how it works. I don't have outlast installed anymore, but I'll try it with something else

 

sooo... how did it turn out?

[Oshino Shinobu]

15 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

 

sooo... how did it turn out?

Trying it now with Bioshock. I tend not to run games on my laptop, and my game folder on my PC isn't shared to my laptop, so I'm moving things around. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

@FloRolf seems like it doesn't work. If you try to run the same game at once using the same account, it will disconnect one of the accounts from steam and basically closes the game. 

 

Same happens with running two different games. I assume it's done in order to prevent people from using one account across multiple people. You may be able to get round this by using family sharing. 

[FloRolf]

3 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

@FloRolf seems like it doesn't work. If you try to run the same game at once using the same account, it will disconnect one of the accounts from steam and basically closes the game. 

 

Same happens with running two different games. I assume it's done in order to prevent people from using one account across multiple people. You may be able to get round this by using family sharing. 

Thanks for trying! I'd actually have two accounts though, i guess you can't test that?

 

But i just realised with my current situation (i'm moving quite often) it's not really a good idea to have NAS now. However i can just get the normal My Book Duo and then later on turn that thing into a NAS through a dedicated PC or as an expansion for the EX2 or something.

 

Other than that you are satisfied with the external HDD solution?

[Oshino Shinobu]

4 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

Thanks for trying! I'd actually have two accounts though, i guess you can't test that?

 

But i just realised with my current situation (i'm moving quite often) it's not really a good idea to have NAS now. However i can just get the normal My Book Duo and then later on turn that thing into a NAS through a dedicated PC or as an expansion for the EX2 or something.

 

Other than that you are satisfied with the external HDD solution?

I only have one account right now. I could create another account, but it would take a while to get things set up. 

 

You can get NAS prebuilts that have external drive support, or if you custom build one, you can connect it like you would to a normal PC. 

 

I'm completely satisfied with my storage solution as far as the enclosure goes. I'm almost out of space and I want to re-do most of it (large, dedicated NAS, moving storage completely away from my PC and so on), but that doesn't really have anything to do with the enclosure. 

 

I got it just to move my mechanical drives out of my PC, as I didn't like how they looked and it gives me the option to move my PC around without any mechanical storage to worry about if I wanted to (just the potential of water leaks instead). For that purpose, the enclosure has worked perfectly. I don't know how it handles expanding a RAID array if you're using 1 or 5 (or JBOD), but you can probably find out in the manual somewhere.