• Happy holidays, folks! Thanks to each and every one of you for being part of the Tom's Hardware community!

Question NAS type HDD in an USB box

Oct 17, 2024
2
0
10
Hello all.

I wanna do an external HDD for my back up using an internal HDD inside a USB box

Is it possible to put a NAS type HDD inside a box with a USB connector to my computer? Will it be reliable like a normal HDD inside the same USB box?
 
I've been doing this for about a year and haven't had any problems. My latest addition is the WD Red Pro 16TB and I also have a WD Red Pro 8TB that's about 5 years old. I used to have the Red Pro 8TB in an Synology network box but Synology's software is annoying and complains if the disk is more than 80 percent full so now I just use a usb dock. Originally I used closed usb enclosures but they're mostly plastic and they amplify the sound of the drive. So I switched to open docks which are much quieter. Plus open docks leave most of the drive exposed so it doesn't heat up as much.