Removable storage options for offline backup

[Fardringle]

The small office where my wife works has been using a set of WD Black hard drives in SATA hot swappable drive caddies for their Server 2012 backups so the removable drives can be swapped out and taken off site in order to always have at least one copy of the agency data away from the building at all times, in addition to an online backup that stores a second copy of the most critical data.

This system has worked fine for them for several years, up until the handles on the removable caddies started breaking off recently so it's hard (or impossible) to insert and remove the drives any more, and the brand they are using is no longer being made so I'm looking for options to replace the system.

Option 1) Just get a new set of removable drive trays. (any suggestions for good quality equipment?)

Option 2) Use external USB drives instead of the drive trays and plug them into a USB hub so the person at the office who swaps the drives doesn't mess up the internal USB ports in the server. Both simpler and smaller than removable 3.5" trays, but I'm not sure about the reliability of these drives.

Option 3) Other suggestions?

 

[Elixer]

Do you actually want caddies that hold the HD, or, are you OK with units that have no caddies/trays, and you just stick the bare HD in it, and when done, you remove said HD.

Like so:

 

[Fardringle]

Do you actually want caddies that hold the HD, or, are you OK with units that have no caddies/trays, and you just stick the bare HD in it, and when done, you remove said HD.

Since it's a non-technical end user that does the drive swapping, a protective caddy is a better option for this situation. The one they are using now is similar to this but a different brand that doesn't appear to be in business any more. The drive goes in the protective caddy, which slides into the hot-swap enclosure in a 5.25" drive bay. It doesn't have to be this way, it's just what they use now and seems like a good option for people that aren't adept at handling electronics properly.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Just know that, back in the days of removal IDE "Mobile Racks", there was no SFF or ANSI or otherwise standard, for the connector pinout used by the mobile rack. Sure, they were approximately (or actually) a centronics connector, but every brand of mobile rack seemed to be wired slightly different.

Woe was the user that thought, "Hey, it fits!", and tried to cross-plug brands. At best, only the mobile rack would get fried. At worse, you would lose the HDD too.

Yes, I've done that myself, that's how I discovered that lack of standardization. (Most things are standardized in the PC world. Sadly, not everything was.)

So, don't go buying "New" mobile racks, and attempting to use the trays (with handles), with the existing mobile rack chassis part of the units. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

 

[Elixer]

In that case, something like this would be similar to what you have before.
http://www.kingwin.com/kf-91-bk-2/#tab-1443047560105-3-7
These are on sale for $15 at amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002474VM/
You can also get extra trays for them as well.

I don't know if these ones have plastic or metal ejection mechanisms, but, that is usually the main failure point, and that is why most places use something like what I posted, and just get a HD shipping 'bubble' to protect it while in transit.

 

[Fardringle]

Just know that, back in the days of removal IDE "Mobile Racks", there was no SFF or ANSI or otherwise standard, for the connector pinout used by the mobile rack. Sure, they were approximately (or actually) a centronics connector, but every brand of mobile rack seemed to be wired slightly different.

Woe was the user that thought, "Hey, it fits!", and tried to cross-plug brands. At best, only the mobile rack would get fried. At worse, you would lose the HDD too.

Yes, I've done that myself, that's how I discovered that lack of standardization. (Most things are standardized in the PC world. Sadly, not everything was.)

So, don't go buying "New" mobile racks, and attempting to use the trays (with handles), with the existing mobile rack chassis part of the units. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I wasn't planning to use new trays with the old drive bays. It would all need to be new. I'm just looking for suggestions of what to use to replace the old equipment..

 

[Fardringle]

In that case, something like this would be similar to what you have before.
http://www.kingwin.com/kf-91-bk-2/#tab-1443047560105-3-7
These are on sale for $15 at amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002474VM/
You can also get extra trays for them as well.

I don't know if these ones have plastic or metal ejection mechanisms, but, that is usually the main failure point, and that is why most places use something like what I posted, and just get a HD shipping 'bubble' to protect it while in transit.

That looks like it would work for what they need. I guess the question now is whether to buy this (and a half dozen additional inner trays) as well as new drives since several of their hard drives are starting to fail as well, or go with the simpler but possibly less reliable USB drive option...

Edit: This is the style of item I am looking for, but reading the reviews it looks like the eject lever is made of soft plastic and breaks easily so this specific item may not be the best choice even though the price is nice.

 

[FFFF]

What about this one: https://www.amazon.com/flexiDOCK-Trayless-Hot-swap-Docking-MB522SP-B/dp/B01LZJNR91/ ?

 

[Fardringle]

What about this one: https://www.amazon.com/flexiDOCK-Trayless-Hot-swap-Docking-MB522SP-B/dp/B01LZJNR91/ ?

I might like that one if I was doing the swapping, but I really want to avoid using bare drives in this situation.