Best RAID enclosure and HDD

[ljcool_17]

Anybody know a good RAID enclosure? Preferably with USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt. And choosing between WD Red, SE, and RE for the HDDs. Will be attaching them to my Mac Mini home server. Need some help!

 

[FireWire2]

How about Thunderbolt | eSATA | USB3.0 RAID with 5 drives

Lacie RAID0/1

I would consider RAID5 for more space

 

[ljcool_17]

Thanks but I will only be running RAID 1 for backup purposes and already made a purchase for LaCie's RAID thunderbolt storage. Still debating though on swapping the installed drives for WD RE's as I run my Mac Mini 24/7.

 

[choucove]

If the price isn't a deterrent, then either the WD RE or the WD SE drives would be a great fit for a NAS device in RAID. The WD Red drives would do fine, but they do not offer the performance nor do they have the warranty length that the enterprise drives offer.

 

[ljcool_17]

The Red is great but only runs 5400 rpm. The SE is looking really good though. Just a bit more expensive than the Red but runs at 7200 rpm. I might settle for two of those instead.

 

[FireWire2]

Thanks but I will only be running RAID 1 for backup purposes and already made a purchase for LaCie's RAID thunderbolt storage. Still debating though on swapping the installed drives for WD RE's as I run my Mac Mini 24/7.

That's good. For backup RAID1, you don't need RE HDD. In fact TB is over kill for RAID1, RAID1 you can only get about 100MB/s max, which is easily handle by USB3.0

 

[ljcool_17]

I chose TB because of ease of expansion. I could purchase another LaCie TB Raid or other TB external drives or devices and just daisy-chain it instead of eating up all my USB ports.

 

[FireWire2]

I chose TB because of ease of expansion. I could purchase another LaCie TB Raid or other TB external drives or devices and just daisy-chain it instead of eating up all my USB ports.

Yes, you are right about that. but USB3,0 has USB3.0 hub
http://www.amazon.com/Anker%C2%AE-Uspeed-Bus-Powered-4-Port-Compact/dp/B00B7FOQCK

Just saying 🙂 both solutions work.
TB is nice, but USB3 lower cost - it's just me

 

[ljcool_17]

Hey, thanks for showing me that USB 3.0 hub. Might need it in the future. And no worries!