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Tagged: hard drives
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Ma Arn.
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December 17, 2025 at 7:29 PM #2156584
Is your failed 20TB hard drive and external USB ?
If so, you should try taking it out of the enclosure (the black box) and using a USB device like this to try and plug it into your computer.Often those external USB hard drives are fine inside.
December 17, 2025 at 7:30 PM #2156585December 18, 2025 at 12:04 AM #2156600i have been looking into the NAS
i will have to put that one the back burner for now
thank youDecember 18, 2025 at 1:16 AM #2156605@digitalzombie, My experience with a NAS is a big nope! For a business where you're constantly moving lots of data it makes sense but at our level of use all it does is introduce another level of potential failure....the controller. That's what happened to me. The Sabrent drive caddies make the most sense for an individual user. They're reliable, inexpensive AND you're not tied to one type of drive. They'll see and use whatever you stick in them....(kinda like my first girlfriend). 😉
December 18, 2025 at 2:00 AM #2156606for the online storage i am not a fan of
but i did hear of many put everything online and they get locked out and they are not helping to get there accounts back, i like my stuff at home ,hard drives 17 years old and still working,wow along time
December 18, 2025 at 2:39 PM #2156689I not only keep everything on at least two separate HDDs, I keep them on two separate computers (one is a NUC used for dedicated backup purposes.)
This way if my main machine gets compromised or hit with malware, I at least have an untouched backup (the backup server pulls from the computers it backs up, which prevents malware from reaching out and wrecking shares sitting on the backup server.)
December 18, 2025 at 4:01 PM #2156698NAS is way too slow for direct access by DAZ.
It's fine for backup.
(though remember that, NAS is still a hard drive and can fail)December 18, 2025 at 4:03 PM #2156699I discovered a while back that there's something called 'bit rot' that can slowly change a few ones and zeros on a drive. You can use parity programs to check a drive every year and fix any of these small errors.
I saw someone talking about a backup & recovery FAQ on RenderHub. How about if we make one here? We certainly have plenty of knowledgeable and experienced folks. I don't think that RH (or anyone else) really gives enough of a shit to make one or support it.
December 18, 2025 at 4:27 PM #2156700No need for a NAS. Just buy some HDD's and a docking station.
🙂December 18, 2025 at 6:35 PM #2156706I's really appreciate any help setting up a good -and reasonably priced- backup system; my homemade methods are getting a bit too cumbersome as storage volume increases.
December 19, 2025 at 2:53 PM #2156788A cheap USB 3.0 docking station and some WD Enterprise HDD'S are the way. Both can be bought used if you're on a budget 🙂
December 19, 2025 at 4:00 PM #2156790Yup! I'm told by the IT folks that Sabrent docking stations are quite reliable. They're also reasonably priced. An advantage of doing this vice a NAS box is that if the controller goes bad, the drives are still readable since they're regular old NTFS format, not some weird Raid format that can be a HUGE pain to recover.
December 19, 2025 at 6:54 PM #2156801An advantage of doing this vice a NAS box is that if the controller goes bad, the drives are still readable since they're regular old NTFS format, not some weird Raid format that can be a HUGE pain to recover.
This cannot be repeated enough. Using funky formats, complex RAID levels, and such only works if you have like equipment to recover it with, and unless you have literal enterprise-grade gear w/ a contract attached to it, that's not likely at all after a year or two has passed.
In my case, I have a simple rig: A laptop w/ a WD 14TB USB drive on it, and a Intel NUC with a 14 TB USB drive on it. It's all synchronized w/ FreeFileSync (a free utility) and its batch file capability, with each batch file kicked off by a Windows Scheduled Task (look for Task Scheduler - you'll already have that installed.) The two are connected via Windows file shares on the laptop, over the house WiFi network (with one hell of a strong password.)
It's simple: if the laptop blows up, I have the USB HDD still intact. If the laptop gets malware, I can reformat it all and have the backup server to recover from. If the laptop USB HDD dies, I have the backup server to recover from. If the backup server dies, I replace it, plug the backup server USB HDD into it, re-make a few Scheduled Task tasks, and re-make a few FreeFileSync batch files for it to run. If the backup server external HDD blows up, I can recover it from my laptop one.
Works pretty well all around.
December 20, 2025 at 2:47 AM #2156822Anyone would think you're storing the nuclear target launch codes GOF:)
I think people should be asking themselves what of this bloated 14TB do I actually use, and when did I last use it. If the answer is 2 years ago or more, just ditch it. You're never likely to use it again.
December 20, 2025 at 6:01 AM #2156827Nice setup, pooper. I hadn't thought of using a mini computer.
Frank, that's a great quote, but as almost all quotes we must take them with a grain of salt, the Internet is full of trashy quotes that sound great but, in reality, do nothing but rot the brains of people who spend too much time on social media platforms.
I don't think this one in particular is a bad one. On the contrary, I agree with it... up to a point, but the total lack of attachment to anything, to anyone, is a bit like giving up on life; I have many files -books, movies, documentaries, software, whatever- that are like old photos on an album I like to rewatch or reuse from time to time. And, as years goes by, they end up taking a lot of space. It is also a matter of preservation; anything that is only on the Internet can suddenly vanish forever depending on the whims of the corporations that owns those files.
So, summarizing, I'll reply you with another quote from Aristotle: "Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency"
Best regards,
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