Alternative to NAS for TB3 dock desktop setup

[coolajami]

Here’s the thing
I have a home desktop setup that is based on a Caldigit TS3+ dock where I connect my MB Pro. I have a number of accessories installed on the TS3+ but my main problem is how to work comfortably with external hard drives that are attached to the TS3+ directly.

evidently they need to be unmounted every time I disconnect the laptop. While this is fairly simple, I tend to forget doing it at the end of the day. As a result I already ruined couple of the external hard drives that I’m using for keeping backups

I believe the only solution to my problem is a NAS drive, however are terrible expensive and ridiculously slow in the read/write speeds. The alternative is the use of WiFi hard disk but again is not much of a progress compared with NAS.

I was wondering what other people doing on this? NAS drive seems like the way to go, but I thought to check if there alternatives I haven’t think of.

 

[Stephen.R]

There are a couple of macOS utilities to unmount all external disks in one click. OWC make one, it can be scripted via the shell or AppleScript, I believe there's a way to do it via launchers like Alfred etc.

A NAS isn't necessarily going to help - it should still be unmounted before you disconnect from it.

 

[coolajami]

There are a couple of macOS utilities to unmount all external disks in one click. OWC make one, it can be scripted via the shell or AppleScript, I believe there's a way to do it via launchers like Alfred etc.

A NAS isn't necessarily going to help - it should still be unmounted before you disconnect from it.

Wait,what?

I thought that you could pull the tb3 cable from the MB without consequences if the attached external disks are network drives. Even without the TB3 connection the connection will remain through WiFi so the network drives should continue being visible. My understanding was that if you loose network connection completely, the NAS disks should stay powered up for a bit before hibernating by it’s controller, or at least is what I though. Unmounting of the drives from the network computers is not necessary for the safety of the integrity of the NAS drives. Am I wrong on this?

regarding the utility, thanks, that’s a good suggestion, there is one available from Caldigit.

 

[Stephen.R]

Yes, you could just unplug the TB3 cable and if the NAS is connected via Wifi, it'll still be connected. But if you unplug it because you're going somewhere, macOS will complain about the drives being disconnected once you disconnect from that wifi network (or more likely if you close it, when you open it at the next location it'll complain about them being unavailable).

 

[coolajami]

Yes, you could just unplug the TB3 cable and if the NAS is connected via Wifi, it'll still be connected. But if you unplug it because you're going somewhere, macOS will complain about the drives being disconnected once you disconnect from that wifi network (or more likely if you close it, when you open it at the next location it'll complain about them being unavailable).

Thanks for the info.
For anyone who care, I got the WD MyCloud Ex2 Ultra as a NAS and the Mypassport Wireless Pro and connected both on the network. They work with no problems (Recognised as network hard drives, (the Mypassport wireless is permanently connected in power) and I found that I don't get any warnings when I disconnect the laptop from the network for any of the devices and also both are appeared immediately back as network devices when I'm back on the network.
I believe that is a good solution for now

 

[chabig]

While this is fairly simple, I tend to forget doing it at the end of the day.

Not all problems require complicated solutions. Just put a piece of tape around the end of your a Thunderbolt cable so that every time you go to unplug it, you are reminded to unmount the drives.

 

[coolajami]

Not all problems require complicated solutions. Just put a piece of tape around the end of your a Thunderbolt cable so that every time you go to unplug it, you are reminded to unmount the drives.

LOL, actually that is a good idea, I did something similar, "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" sticker on top of the cable as a reminder! I didn't bought the NAS just for saving myself for unmount the external disks, but for improving my workflow, but it is also resolve that issue for me (no, the RBF sticker stayed).