Question What to do with SATA drives?

[Glowball]

Hey all, I am moving from a desktop computer to a laptop as my main machine, but I'd like to retain the RAID and storage space. I'd also like to reuse my SSD if I can, though that isn't important. I have a 500GB SSD, 2 1TB SATA mirrored drives, 2 2TB SATA mirrored drives, and 1 3TB drive I've been using as a backups drive (it's in an enclosure). It seems like a NAS would be good, but I don't think I have the right drives (they are all just standard Seagates). In the end, I'd like to back up to the 3TB drive still and use the others as storage. What should I do? Thanks!

 

[popatim]

You really don't need any special drives for a home nas like you want. You can even just start using the desktop as-is as the NAS.

 

[Solandri]

If you go the NAS route, both QNAP and Synology offer a custom RAID config which will allow you to mix drives. So you could have 2x1TB and 2x2TB drives in there and have 3 TB of mirrored storage. It's been nearly a decade since I used a Synology so I don't remember exactly what the options are. I think you could even do a 4x1TB volume (equivalent to RAID 5) + 2x1TB volume (equivalent to mirroring), for a total of 4TB of redundant storage unlike the 3TB you get with just mirroring.

Depending on how old the drives are though, you may just want to retire them and get new, bigger drives. 4 TB HDDs are down to about $75 now, and 6 TB drives are pushing $100 on sale.

I have to ask though, if you're making backups to an external drive, why are you running a mirror? The reason to run mirroring or RAID 5/6 is to prevent downtime. Even if a disk fails, your array continues to operate. This can be crucial for businesses, but it's rare to need this at home. Most home users are fine with just making regular backups.

If you don't actually need to mirror the drives, then your solution could be as simple as buying a 4TB external drive and plugging it into the USB port of your router so it's shared over the network.

And I strongly recommend against using a desktop as a NAS. Most old computers burn close to 100 Watts at idle, while a NAS typically idles at 10-15 Watts. If you pay the U.S. average of 11.5 cents/kWh, then each extra Watt for a device left on 24/7 translates into almost exactly $1 of electricity over a year. So your desktop ends up costing you $85-$90 in extra electricity each year. And after 2-3 years you've wasted as much money on electricity as it would've cost you to buy a NAS. Only exception is if the PC is newer (starting with about Sandy Bridge, idle power consumption dropped to below 40 Watts, down to about 25 Watts today). But if the PC is that new, then you're better off selling it or donating it to a relative who needs one.

 

[USAFRet]

In the end, I'd like to back up to the 3TB drive still and use the others as storage.

There are several multi bay USB or ethernet connected drive bays.
Not a real NAS, but an enclosure for multiple drives.
I have a 4 bay MediaSonic. Will take whatever drives you put in it, and access as desired.

I also have a 4 bay QNAP NAS, but that is a lot more money.