Organizing external hdd/ssd devices.

[psycoperl]

As time has gone by and projects, backups, Time Machine, Carbon copy cloner and the lack of expandable internal storage on Apple devices. I have an ever growing collection of external usb hdd/ssd devices. (4 and counting - some usba (with usbc adapters) and others usbc)

I am looking for suggestions on storage/organizing them and having them connected to my MacBook Pro.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

You need to provide more information:

• Are you looking for suggestions like consolidating all this data down to maybe 1 or 2 big HDDs?
• Or suggestions for hubs so you can connect all 4 at the same time?
• Or maybe a NAS big enough to hold it all in what seems to be one big volume?
• Or how to keep up with what is on each but leaving them "as is"?
• Etc.

What's the goal(s) here? What do you want to do?

 

[BrianBaughn]

You didn't get specific about what's connected, which is kind of important.

I decided that I needed to get rid of USB housed mechanical HDs being always connected to my M1 Mac Studio as they were slowing down the Finder. Still use them for some connect-backup-disconnect

I have two NVME SSDs in 40gpbs housings always connected via a Thunderbolt 3 hub. I have 3 SATA SSDs connected via USB3 to SATA cables.

You say you have a MBP. Is it that you take your MBP on "the road" but need a quick connect solution for the drives when you're at your desk?

 

[psycoperl]

I do have a synology ds418play nas that I use for some storage (basically my Blu-ray and DVD collections (playable via plex) and for one set of carbon copy and Time Machine backups). I recently upgraded the HDDs from 4x4TB to 4x12TB.

I have two external drives that I use for a second carbon copy and Time Machine backups ( one each)

I have others that contain media and project files.

If I am going to be away from home for more than a day or so, I would bring one of the backup drives with me. I may also bring media files with me especially if I am going to a location without good internet connectivity or where I am limited to my cell service only.

Part of my current quest is to find ways to organize my physical desk space as I am doing my work space. So a new hub might be a good idea.

I have a Caldigit thunderbolt 4 dock, which I am using to connect my laptops (I have a personal MBP along with a work issued Surface Studio Laptop 2 and Dell laptops) to my two 34” displays, headset, printers (both normal and label maker), keyboard & mouse, Ethernet, Blu-ray/DVD drives.

Especially since I would like to avoid having my personal external drives to be seen by my work laptops as anything on those computers are potentially subject to FOIA and monitoring. So I am not sure if keeping the drives connected to the dock is a great idea. Especially since I frequently will switch between work and personal laptops. (Ie on the mbp start converting a video) then go back to my windows work machines.

 

[MacFarmer]

oh, I feel you man. I have 15 USB3 external drives (from 2 to 5tb each). 7 SSD drives ( from 1 to 2 tbs) and a NAS with 2x18tb. And the data management is getting tiring. I'm thinking of new NAS with 4x20TB drives, but the prices now on HDD are crazy. I might go with 5 or more bay NAS and more lower capacity drives, but in the end it cost almost the same. Plus takes much more electricity.

 

[throAU]

As time has gone by and projects, backups, Time Machine, Carbon copy cloner and the lack of expandable internal storage on Apple devices. I have an ever growing collection of external usb hdd/ssd devices. (4 and counting - some usba (with usbc adapters) and others usbc)

I am looking for suggestions on storage/organizing them and having them connected to my MacBook Pro.

<removed already covered stuff>

To avoid work machines (or anyone else) seeing your personal data on your drives make sure to set up FileVault on them (and make sure to back up the passphrase to unlock them in a password manager!).

 

[MarkC426]

To avoid work machines (or anyone else) seeing your personal data on your drives make sure to set up FileVault on them (and make sure to back up the passphrase to unlock them in a password manager!).

Agreed this is good advice

But OP note this process can take some time.
I have just encrypted a 500GB container with 170GB data on it, which took 24 hours.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Add a computer for personal so you can physically keep work "eyes" and personal "eyes" fully apart. Connect personal data drives to personal computer and work drives to work computer. A Refurb Mac Mini was just $319 this week. and the latest one new is $500. Pick up one of those and segregate drives accordingly and then you don't need to worry about prying work eyes.

For drive capacities, don't buy "what I need now" capacities but "what will I ever need" capacities. With this approach, you don't fill them up too soon and then have to buy another (to ultimately end up with a number of drives to juggle).

There are now up to 28TB single drives for sale. Maximum capacity is more expensive but notches down from that are not. Conceptually, you could pick up 2 maybe 20TB drives (one of many examples) and probably consolidate all personal drive data to one drive "A" and optionally- but ideally- duplicate it to "B" for offsite backup. If you have comparable work file total size, 2 more would do the same for work files. Now in just 4 big HDDs, you've got capacity for all files you have now plus backups to store offsite (ideally regularly freshened up so that they are always close to up-to-date for any fire-flood-theft scenario). And 20TB drives probably have abundant free space to cover storage needs for many years to come. In this approach, almost all of the time, you'd have just one external drive in play for each of your work and personal computers. The second for each would only be used for very brief periods to freshen it up with new files added since last backup... then back to the offsite secure location. No need having to come up with documentation to keep track of which files are on which drives because all files are on one drive.

If work eyes are so prying, I would expect the same employer to provide the work drives you need, so the real expense may be only 2 personal drives for personal files. Retire the rest of the drives and/or fill them with one more backup of either personal or work (or perhaps parse some of them out to each type) and then mostly retire them except as one more towards last resort backup to tap to recover in a big data loss scenario.

 

[pmiles]

Is it possible some of what you are "keeping" doesn't need to be kept at all? I remember keeping everything I ever worked on in storage just in case I needed to revisit it again for some reason. Truth be told, I never once looked at it again, but still had it sitting in data storage. It took me over 20 years to finally decide I didn't need it anymore. I think if everything I had on data actually took up real space in my home, it would have been purged long ago.

We tend to be packrats by nature... which is why you see so many self-storage places all over the place.

The mere fact that you are noticing the clutter begin to build up says you are subconsciously realizing that maybe it's time to deal with it... only one always seems to choose more storage rather than less junk.

 

[Siliconguy]

I decided that I needed to get rid of USB housed mechanical HDs being always connected to my M1 Mac Studio as they were slowing down the Finder. Still use them for some connect-backup-disconnect

The spinning platters still work fine for connect-backup-disconnect. For big file writes the hard disks aren't that slow. Or maybe the SSDs on big writes are not all that fast. It's the random reads of small files where the SSDs are really better.

 

[BrianBaughn]

The spinning platters still work fine for connect-backup-disconnect. For big file writes the hard disks aren't that slow. Or maybe the SSDs on big writes are not all that fast. It's the random reads of small files where the SSDs are really better.

It was the "access" delay when I had mechanical HDs attached that annoyed me. Sometimes it took several seconds to open a new Finder window or the open/save window in applications.

 

[psycoperl]

It was the "access" delay when I had mechanical HDs attached that annoyed me. Sometimes it took several seconds to open a new Finder window or the open/save window in applications.

While I am enjoying this discussion on storage devices… ssd/hdd/nas … what I originally looking for was how do you organize/store the actual devices to help keep the desktop space organized.

 

[MarkC426]

While I am enjoying this discussion on storage devices… ssd/hdd/nas … what I originally looking for was how do you organize/store the actual devices to help keep the desktop space organized.

I have mine stored in a cupboard.
They are only used for backups/clones.

Just have active storage and TM drive on my desk.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

While I am enjoying this discussion on storage devices… ssd/hdd/nas … what I originally looking for was how do you organize/store the actual devices to help keep the desktop space organized.

Again OP, you have to provide key details to get good help. Do you want to store them someplace while they are still connected to your Mac? If so, that would be wherever you can route cables and power. Depending on your situation, you might be able to drill a hole through a wall and store them in a neighboring room/closet... or drill a hole in the back of a desk and hide them in a drawer. There are mounts that could hang them on a wall... or velcro them to the back of a monitor or back/side of the desk. There's a little shelf that can hang off an iMac/ASD stand that holds & hides an enclosure or two. You could buy monitor stands with shelves and store them in the shelves (one of many examples). You could buy a shelf to attach under the lip of the back or side of the desk and store them all there (one of many examples). Rolling cart that tucks under the side or back of desk (one of many examples)?

Though I haven't tried it (and formatting may be an issue), I believe you can connect a multiport USB hub (one of many examples) to your Synology and then connect each USB enclosure to it and it will make them like their own mini NAS storage drives. You might be able to do the same trick if your router has a USB port (easy enough to try).

Or do you mean when disconnected? if so, that can basically be anywhere in your home: closet, pantry, fire safe, hidden safe, under a bed, cabinet, etc. Try to avoid places with extreme temperature variations, high humidity and/or strong magnetic fields.

If bare drives, you can buy big JBOD boxes (one of many examples) and store them in the slots. Or plastic cases. If they are all in their own enclosures, see above.

 

[BrianBaughn]

While I am enjoying this discussion on storage devices… ssd/hdd/nas … what I originally looking for was how do you organize/store the actual devices to help keep the desktop space organized.

Sorry to hijack the thread! Truly…I am the worst person to ask about organizing a desk. Mine's a wreck although many of the drives are out of site…but that's only because I have my Mac Studio on a small 3-tier table under my desk. My SSDs are down there, too, since the cables are too short to put them anywhere else.

 

[ShiftHappens]

Interesting discussions - I can definitely relate to the problem…
One related issue, once you’ve perhaps managed to consolidate to one or two big storage solutions, is how to safely erase the data on the now redundant drives before disposal… Any recommendations on good SW for secure data erasers?

 

[Siliconguy]

It was the "access" delay when I had mechanical HDs attached that annoyed me. Sometimes it took several seconds to open a new Finder window or the open/save window in applications.

I was experimenting on my 2010 Mac Pro which books on an SSD but has multiple HDD as well. The delay in opening a finder window on a 3/4 full 2 TB HDD is about a second. The 1 TB HDD might be a hair faster, but there are only 8 folders in the root directory.

The SSD is APFS of course, but the HDDs are HFS+ with Journaling. HFS+ as old as it is is optimized for HDDs, while APFS is optimized for SSDs. That might be the difference. I have a Mini running Monterey on a Fusion Drive, and when the cache fills up you can see the transfer speed drop. APFS and HDDs do not seem to be a good match.

The Linux box also has an SSD for the boot and home directories and a HDD for bulk files. Ext4 seems to run equally quickly on both, no great delay accessing the HDD.