Reddit reviews Mediasonic PROBOX 4 Bay 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support 12TB HDD (HF7-SU3S3)
We found 9 Reddit comments about Mediasonic PROBOX 4 Bay 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support 12TB HDD (HF7-SU3S3). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Support all brand of 3.5" SATA I / II / III hard disk drive up to 12TB per drive, and up to 4 x 12TB. (Not compatible with 4Kn Native Drives)Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps hard drive transfer rateTransfer rate up to 5.0Gbps via USB 3.0, Transfer rate up to 6.0Gbps via eSATASupport S.M.A.R.T. and Power SyncSmart Fan with built-in thermal-sensor, Auto & Manual modes, and 3 speed levels. One button interface selection.
Technically what you're talking about is a DAS (Directly Attached Storage). A DAS is some type of hard drive(s) enclosure that's connected to a computer system via USB, eSATA, SAS, etc. They don't have any OS on their own. It can be as simple as a portable USB drive to a 4 hard drive bay enclosure to a 84-bay enclosure. They are just an expansion of storage, they don't run any OS themselves.
A NAS (Network Attached Storage) is similar to a DAS but it can run standalone, and have other devices connect to it. Like the network in its name, any device on the same network (or any network that can connect to said network) can access the storage. A NAS is usually a purpose-built computer or server. They typically don't have a lot of processing power because all they are doing is allowing access to its storage. Some of the NASes available today use custom or stripped-down OSes but you could use a fully fledged OS, as some NAS offerings allow you to run other services.
the pi 4 is Much better than the 3 for this, kinda.
It has two usb 3.0 ports, and a gigabit wired ethernet controller. USB 3.0 caps out around 640Mbps, while the gbit ethernet will cap around 125Mbps.
a single sata 3 hard drive has a maximum transfer rate around 600Mbps, so without a major speed hit you can add one per USB 3 port. (usb 2 is 60Mbps, you won't enjoy using those)
if you intend to wired network connect it to a gig network, you can add about 5 hard drives total without a performance hit over the maximum ethernet transfer speed.
https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-PROBOX-SATA-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B01CFLOV4M one of these, or if you don't care as much about data speed, two of them should rock you fine at a cost of ~$25 over each drive. (roughly the cost of the cheap usb>sata adapters)
I like these. Just connects to your computer over USB 3.0 for easy additional storage, and works with Plex.
Not sure of the specs of your QNap (how much free space you have), but if you use the MediaSonic it'll just appear as four separate disks you can with as you please. You could pool them with Drivepool as suggested. I have a 130TB Drivepool array that works well made up entirely of multiple MediaSonic enclosures.
If you can use the QNAP as a backup, you could just not have disk redundancy with the MediaSonic. Drivepool only supports duplication, not parity, so double however much data you would put on it to see how much space you'd have left.
I have these enclosures x 8: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CFLOV4M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
After having the same issue, I finally bought this. Works great and allows 4 drives per one USB port. I have 4 8TB drives in it.
https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-PROBOX-SATA-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B01CFLOV4M
If you're connecting them to your computer, you could get a box like this one and add drives as you go. Always get the biggest you can afford, and get them one at a time (unless you get a great deal).
Probably best bet is looking at something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-PROBOX-SATA-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B01CFLOV4M/ref=sr_1_3?fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1564425562&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A2886967011&rnid=2886899011&s=pc&sr=1-3
There's quite a few different external enclosures available. Any of those should work.
The next step beyond that is a NAS.
Your options in this case are somewhat endless. There are hundreds of “right” ways . The only “wrong” one is the one that doesn’t work for you.
I started with Plex about a year and a half ago. As everything, the setup has evolved . Here’s some things I personally do:
1 - Put Plex data on another disk (SSD). This way, if you end up having to reimageplus, reformat, etc, you can just reinstall Plex, point the data directory and you’ll be up and running quickly.
2 - If you’re using Windows, make sure to avoid using drive letters, but mount the drives into sub folders . This will make for easier upgrade and switching in the future .
3 - Avoid using single drives, spanning multiple drives to look like one, or using software / hardware specific options (ie; raid). As your collection grows, you can expand your setup. My own rig (currently)
D: (50 gig SSD partition)
Each of those is mirrored onto another (larger) disk which can be swapped out in case of failure or space upgrade necessity.
I use a mediasonic probox ( rather 4 of them ) to store the drives and work with them. The USB interfaces make them hot swappable, though e-Sata not so much
Hope that helps in some way
If you want to go on the cheap end then most nas's allow you to create external raids through their USB ports. So you can buy this and be good to go.