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Need a 4-bay JBOD enclosure

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d33pblue

Senior member
I'm looking to consolidate 4 external hard drives into a single 4-bay JBOD enclosure. I plan on filling it with (4) 3TB WD Red drives. I don't need RAID, only individual disk access to each of the four drives over USB 3.0 or E-SATA. These won't be running 24/7. I'll only turn them on to back up data, then to turn them back off again.

Right now the best enclosure I can find is the Mediasonic HF2-SU3S2: http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HF2.../dp/B003X26VV4 . There are a few others on Amazon, but they seem to be less solid than this device (PSU failures, etc).

Any personal experiences to share? Are there any other enclosures worth looking at?
 
Why would you spend the extra money on 24/7 rated NAS drives (WD Reds) if you're turning them off most of the time and not using RAID?

Save $50 and get Greens.
 
I might still do that. A few users have reported issues with the drives disconnecting themselves and getting "lost" in the enclosure during extended transfers while using "Green" drives. Others suggest they are fine. I'll do some more research before purchasing.

The more pressing issues at the moment is the enclosure though.
 
No.

It's a simple 4-bay box, price is right, they get good reviews. The bridge chip they use is widely compatible.

I have the Sans Digital equivalent. It was a few bucks cheaper, same bridge chip, drives aren't hot-swappable, and has worse reviews (specifically for PSU failure. But that can happen to anybody, so I am nonplussed.)

I have a stack of Toshiba drives in it. I have seen the enclosure spontaneously drop its connection, but it only happened once and I'm not 100% sure it wasn't a loose cable. (My cat roots around back there.) It's the backup destination for my desktop and a couple laptops.

The drives are backed up to Crashplan, so they get constant low-level use as they back up and are backed up to.
 
Always loved that 4 bay Mediasonic box. I had one on my Ebay watch list that went for $46, so I should have bought it at that time.
Ended up settling for a 2 bay Mediasonic that I promptly outgrew, so I think you selected the best enclosure for your needs already.
 
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