I'm stuck: I need to choose between four models available in my region for my home DAS.
The DAS will have two 22TB drives in it (one Toshiba MG10ATA22TE SATA III (I already have it now) and another drive later). I'm not planning on any RAID config, since the purpose is purely archival and the DAS is not going to be on 24/7 – most of the time it will just be sitting on the desk unpowered. Nevertheless, first I will do stress-tests of the drives in the enclosure, then at the point of gathering all data from my multiple externals onto this 22TB it will be on for significant amount of time (copying data from 13 externals), and later when the second drive is added, the data from the first drive will be mirror-copied to the second drive (as a backup). For sure I will use another drive for the third copy, but it will not sit in the same enclosure of course.
Having done my own research I ended up with four candidates that tick my boxes, which are:
- work in individual mode;
- be able to handle drives larger than 20TB (22TB in particular);
- have sufficient thermal characteristics (a dedicated fan and preferably metal chassis);
- have a dedicated power switch;
- have USB-C out
These four models are:
QNAP TR-002 (individual mode, 22TB explicitly supported (even my specific model), power switch, fan, USB-C, and the only feature missing is metal chassis)
OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual w/3-hub (OWCMEDCH7T00) – all boxes ticked except for power switch.
TerraMaster D2-320 – same as QNAP (non-metal body while other boxes are ticked)
ICY BOX IB-RD3720-CU3 – quite a new model, not widely available as I can judge, but this one ticks ALL the boxes.
The cheapest is IB-RD3720-CU3. But...
What I really care about is the reliability of the thing: it will hold my home archive with most valuable (for me) data, so the last thing I want to happen is drives corruption or anything of this sort – either because of a faulty chipset or sudden disconnect or thermal problem.
Which one would you recommend to choose based on your immense hardware experience? Any caveats with any of the above? All suggestions will be highly appreciated.
OS: macOS (Monterey 12.7.2 on MacBook Pro 15" 2016 and Ventura 13.7.6 on MacBook Pro 13" 2019)
Thank you.
The DAS will have two 22TB drives in it (one Toshiba MG10ATA22TE SATA III (I already have it now) and another drive later). I'm not planning on any RAID config, since the purpose is purely archival and the DAS is not going to be on 24/7 – most of the time it will just be sitting on the desk unpowered. Nevertheless, first I will do stress-tests of the drives in the enclosure, then at the point of gathering all data from my multiple externals onto this 22TB it will be on for significant amount of time (copying data from 13 externals), and later when the second drive is added, the data from the first drive will be mirror-copied to the second drive (as a backup). For sure I will use another drive for the third copy, but it will not sit in the same enclosure of course.
Having done my own research I ended up with four candidates that tick my boxes, which are:
- work in individual mode;
- be able to handle drives larger than 20TB (22TB in particular);
- have sufficient thermal characteristics (a dedicated fan and preferably metal chassis);
- have a dedicated power switch;
- have USB-C out
These four models are:
QNAP TR-002 (individual mode, 22TB explicitly supported (even my specific model), power switch, fan, USB-C, and the only feature missing is metal chassis)
OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual w/3-hub (OWCMEDCH7T00) – all boxes ticked except for power switch.
TerraMaster D2-320 – same as QNAP (non-metal body while other boxes are ticked)
ICY BOX IB-RD3720-CU3 – quite a new model, not widely available as I can judge, but this one ticks ALL the boxes.
The cheapest is IB-RD3720-CU3. But...
What I really care about is the reliability of the thing: it will hold my home archive with most valuable (for me) data, so the last thing I want to happen is drives corruption or anything of this sort – either because of a faulty chipset or sudden disconnect or thermal problem.
Which one would you recommend to choose based on your immense hardware experience? Any caveats with any of the above? All suggestions will be highly appreciated.
OS: macOS (Monterey 12.7.2 on MacBook Pro 15" 2016 and Ventura 13.7.6 on MacBook Pro 13" 2019)
Thank you.
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