Video Archival - NAS or Hard Drive Enclosure

CC268 · September 13, 2018

Alright...I know I am beating a dead horse here. Hoping this will be my last thread. You guys have been very helpful and my original thoughts on how to handle this have evolved since hearing your guys' opinions.

I've been getting into videography (just on a hobby level) and desperately need to update my storage. Right now I have a 250GB SSD (OS/programs) and a 1TB WD Blue on my desktop. No external HDDs - nothing.

Now I want to make it clear that I am trying to upgrade my storage on a budget. I'd like to keep this under $400-$500. Cheaper the better (of course I don't want to buy complete junk though).

I originally thought I would just get a SATA dock/WD Reds and simply archive my video footage and store the WD Reds in my safe. I would then backup with BackBlaze. The more I have read, the more I have realized that storing bare drives on the shelf may or may not be a very reliable solution. Also, BackBlaze requires external hard drives to be hooked up at least every 30 days otherwise it will assume the data is gone and delete it from their cloud. So...I am thinking it might be best to get something that is externally hooked up all the time. That way I don't have to worry about plugging and unplugging hard drives sitting on the shelf.

So now I am debating whether or not I want to go with a Synology NAS or just a Hard Drive Enclosure like a MediaSonic 4 bay (http://www.mediasonic.ca/product.php?id=1515799029) or something from OWC (more expensive) (https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MEQCTJBT00/)

If I am going to go with an NAS then I want at least a 4 bay. I would likely go for the DS918+, which is $539 with NO drives included of course. It's truthfully way outside of my budget and I am not sure if an NAS is really the way to go for simple video archival.

Keep in mind, I could always add and NAS down the road. In the meantime I could use a nice 4 bay Hard Drive Enclosure for video archival and keep it backed up with BackBlaze. If I started with a 4 bay enclosure now and added an NAS later, it would put me in a pretty good position, as I would essentially have three backups (NAS, 4 bay hard drive enclosure, BackBlaze).

What do you guys think? Am I on the right track here? Are there any other 4 bay Hard Drive Enclosures I should be looking at?

Thanks!

Radium_Angel · September 13, 2018

22 minutes ago, CC268 said:

Thanks

The more involved you have to be with your data backups/uploads, the less you will do it, humans are the weak link here.

Buy a pair of used NAS enclosures, and populate with cheap drives. Use one to back up the other.

I have 3 ReadyNAS NV+ NAS units. Each unit set me back (used) ~50$ and populated with fresh drives, offers excellent backup and RAID and management on a budget.