2-4 Bay External Network Drive Recommendations

THRobinson

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May 17, 2009
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Hey guys...

Been debating this for years now, and thinking I may finally go this route.

I use KODI, and I have a PC setup as HTPC1 (Primary) on my TV. I have a few tablets setup with access, and another PC (HTPC2) in the living room for the family to use as well. Problem is, some days I leave the HTPC1 on and no one streams anything, other days I turn it off and people complain they wanted to watch a movie or series and it was off. 

Was thinking of getting one of those 2-4 bay enclosures and attach it to the router and just leave it on 24/7 instead.

I have a 3TB HDD for movies, a 3TB HDD for TV-series. I also have a pair of 3TB external drives that I hook up every month or two to make a mirror copy of each drive as a backup, and keep those safe on a shelf. That way if a power surge kills the system, virus, or something like that... the backups are not attached to anything and safe.

Both HTPC1 and HTPC2 are now running LibreElec, but I know absolutely nothing about Linux/Unix. My main PC (which I will use to maintain the files with) is Win10.

Can anyone recommend a good cheap solution that will work with this setup?

Other reason I want to switch is that my HTPC1 is getting on in age. Core2Dual Quad... nice but BIG Silverstone case. In a trade for something with a buddy of mine I got an iMac Mini (2016) plus I have a Raspberry Pi... would be nice to switch to something smaller and far more quiet and energy efficient.
 

THRobinson

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May 17, 2009
689
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19,015
How about the WD MyCloud EX2 Ultra? Came across that one when searching, and about $200CAD, lots of reviews, not all good but still a lot of them so was able to get a better sense wether good/bad vs some that only has 2 or 3 reviews.

Software looked good, and said designed for media streaming... any experience with those?

Says will handle JBOD which I think is what I need for having each drive run independently and appear as 2 separate drives. Again, I have 1 drive all movies, 1 drive all TV Series... and I have a pair of 3TB external drives for mirrored backups so, would like to keep the 2 drives showing as separate. Though, I already assume I have to format them to work in the 2-Bay drive. Just hoping the chkdsk for those externals isn't lying and the backups are good. :D