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Which dual enclosure?

C

claimed4all

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 26, 2008
414
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I am looking to digitize most of my dvds and get rid of my DVD players. I am going to install 2 Apple TVs, just waiting till next month to see if they will be updated when iOS5 is released. I currently have a 2011 21" iMac, dual band N network. I need hard drive space to store my movies though.

I want to Firewire connect the enclosure to the iMac. I also want a 2 disk, raid 1 system to protect against hard drive failure. Which enclosure would you recommend? I don't want to spend alot. I have looked at a drobo, but that might be overkill and is more than I want to spend.
 
Drobo has the advantage of being very flexible with what disks you install and how you manage it. Its a great system. The well known tradeoff is performance but I've been using it for streaming and its fine for up to 3-4 HD streams.

Netgear, Qnap, and Synology are all well regarded brands but I'm not personally familiar with their enclosures.
 
I think you are looking for Direct Attached (Firewire or USB) rather than NAS. Check out the enclosures available at Other World Computing - macsales.com

I would suggest that using Time Machine to back up to a second external drive is a better option than RAID 1. RAID 1 is useful for mission critical systems. Your movie library is most likely not mission critical. Backup and RAID are not the same thing, even though RAID 1 writes to 2 discs at the same time. An example - if a file gets corrupted or deleted, it is corrupted or deleted on both of the discs in the RAID Set. RAID did not protect you from user error or software error - backup would have.
 
Panch0 said:
I think you are looking for Direct Attached (Firewire or USB) rather than NAS. Check out the enclosures available at Other World Computing - macsales.com

I would suggest that using Time Machine to back up to a second external drive is a better option than RAID 1. RAID 1 is useful for mission critical systems. Your movie library is most likely not mission critical. Backup and RAID are not the same thing, even though RAID 1 writes to 2 discs at the same time. An example - if a file gets corrupted or deleted, it is corrupted or deleted on both of the discs in the RAID Set. RAID did not protect you from user error or software error - backup would have.
Click to expand...

I do not want NAS, I would prefer a Firewire 800 connection. I do understand that Raid 1 is not a backup, I would prefer it if Time machine handled everything inside my computer (os, apps, files, pics) and the enclosure (music, movies) was just protected against a drive failure.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/MirrorRAID/
Thats what I want, but I want it without drives so I can install my own.
 
claimed4all said:
I do not want NAS, I would prefer a Firewire 800 connection. I do understand that Raid 1 is not a backup, I would prefer it if Time machine handled everything inside my computer (os, apps, files, pics) and the enclosure (music, movies) was just protected against a drive failure.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/MirrorRAID/
Thats what I want, but I want it without drives so I can install my own.
Click to expand...

You mean like this one? http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MEFW936AL2/

Edit: Nevermind
 
Last edited:
claimed4all said:
I do not want NAS, I would prefer a Firewire 800 connection. I do understand that Raid 1 is not a backup, I would prefer it if Time machine handled everything inside my computer (os, apps, files, pics) and the enclosure (music, movies) was just protected against a drive failure.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/MirrorRAID/
Thats what I want, but I want it without drives so I can install my own.
Click to expand...

Very weird - I think this is the only enclosure they don't offer in a 0GB (no drive) option.

This is similar, but black and branded...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/GM8QKIT0GB/
 
Haven't used that Enclosure, but I've used a couple of Newer Tech devices. They seem solid and I've never had any problem. Other World has a good reputation, but I don't know that it would extend to every brand they sell. There is a Reviews section on the product page - might want to take a look there.
 
I've used heap of enclosures & really like Icy Dock, like this -

ICY Dock Firewire dual drive

They're quiet, simple, RAID, look good & have never given me any trouble - brilliant. They also require no screws or anything - drives just slide in & are securely held.

I've also tried a G-Tech which are pricey & beautifully engineered but their 3.5" drives seem noisy.
 
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Like the OP, I'm currently in the process of ripping all of my DVDs and encoding them for iTunes, so that I have a single media library (stored on a headless Mac mini with a 2 TB external HD) with all of my movies and TV shows (and music) that I can access on my iMac (via home sharing) and my Apple TV (2) that's hooked up to our TV in the living room. I'll then archive all of the DVDs in wallets, saving a lot of space. I also have a lot of archive photos and video on my iMac.

So my question is, what is the best, and most secure, backup solution for me?

I'm currently leaning towards dual 4-bay Drobos, one for data and the other a mirrored backup. The Mac mini they'll be attached to is on constantly, so there probably isn't any point in Drobo FSs.

I've estimated that all my media will occupy about 2 TB all in, by the time I've ripped it all (~750 GB TV series, 1 TB movies and 250 GB music), and I guess that will grow as I add to it.
 
Panch0 said:
Very weird - I think this is the only enclosure they don't offer in a 0GB (no drive) option.

This is similar, but black and branded...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/GM8QKIT0GB/
Click to expand...

Yeah they used to offer it 0GB ( I have one) but no longer. I asked OWC tech support why since I wanted another, and basically said they can be finicky with user supplied drives and now only supply pre-assembled and tested (I think they use hitachi or caviar blacks). I originally used it via firewire off a mini for HTPC duties, using WD green drives and for the most part is OK. But I did experience some random drive ejections, where one disk would eject itself from time to time. My mini HTPC is "always on" but programmed to idle sleep and I never unmount the drive otherwise. I cannot say for sure whether it was the enclosure. I have since decided to go with a Drobo anyway for the HTPC rather than daisy chaining/RAIDing (though I wouldn't use the Drobo for high performance stuff like video editing).

I still use the enclosure for time machine for my imac but personally I find the fan too noisy for desktop situation and only power it up for backups. It seems like firewire enclosures in general are harder to find lately unfortunately. Alas on mac no usb3, esata (mostly), and limited TB options.
 
Panch0 said:
I think you are looking for Direct Attached (Firewire or USB) rather than NAS. Check out the enclosures available at Other World Computing - macsales.com

I would suggest that using Time Machine to back up to a second external drive is a better option than RAID 1. RAID 1 is useful for mission critical systems. Your movie library is most likely not mission critical. Backup and RAID are not the same thing, even though RAID 1 writes to 2 discs at the same time. An example - if a file gets corrupted or deleted, it is corrupted or deleted on both of the discs in the RAID Set. RAID did not protect you from user error or software error - backup would have.
Click to expand...

I have a Mac Mini with a 320Gb HD. I put all of my iTunes media on an external 1.5 TB (firewire) and use time machine (for my mini and external) with a second external 2.0 TB. I use the OWC Mercury Elite Pro enclosures (which I can use with up to 3.0 TB disks). Works perfectly.
 
Can I just ask - is FW really necessary for this use? I use my FW drives for editing and slinging large files around, but for long term media / DVD storage, a USB enclosure is perfectly fine.

It's only storing DVD / movie / photos, and they will stay there years. A one-off transfer is fine if it takes a bit longer, and a 2TB transfer is going to be be overnight, whether it's FW or USB. For playback, USB has enough bandwidth to deal with it.

There are plenty of cheap non-USB enclosures out there - dual quad etc. And BTW I would NOT run RAID5 on a 4-disk array for home use. That's just too small, and there are too many things that can go wrong and propel you into a world of hurt. I speak from bitter experience. Keep it simple. A pair of giant HDDs in RAID 1 is fine, on the understanding that RAID isn't backup.
 
ThemacNub said:
What do you guys mean that raid isn't a backup. Isn't essential it a direct clone of the other disk. (RAID 1)
Click to expand...

RAID arrays only protect you from hard drive failures. They don't protect you from other things which can screw up the array. That could include a failure of the RAID controller, a system/application software problem, or simply a stupid user error. If any of those things destroys data, the damage will be perfectly mirrored on both drives.

My solution is a very simple one - I just have two media drives and do frequent synchronizations between the drives. I use the ChronoSynch program to do this, but there are several other good ways to do it, including the rsync command in a terminal window. If a drive gets damaged, I only lose the new stuff which has been stored there since the last synch. This solution is very effective and at $80-$100 for each 2TB drive, very inexpensive.
 
KevinC867 said:
My solution is a very simple one - I just have two media drives and do frequent synchronizations between the drives. I use the ChronoSynch program to do this, but there are several other good ways to do it, including the rsync command in a terminal window. If a drive gets damaged, I only lose the new stuff which has been stored there since the last synch. This solution is very effective and at $80-$100 for each 2TB drive, very inexpensive.
Click to expand...

I do exactly the same thing; I have a 2 disk Icy Dock firewire 800 housing configured as JBOD so I have 4TB storage for photos, music, files & films etc.
I then have a separate 3TB single disk enclosure that the key stuff is ChronoSynced to every night.

I see that Western Digital do some fairly reasonably priced very large drives - if I was to start again, one of these would be my backup drive.

Oh, I also have a Time Capsule, use SpiderOak for 100GB encrypted cloud backup & have annual backup drives sitting on a shelf.

That should just about do it ...

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Oh, and if you're ripping / capturing films I don't care how much storage you have - YOU WILL NEED MORE!
 
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