Best Value External Raid Drive Enclosure?

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jpsulisz

jpsulisz

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Jun 5, 2013
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Im in need of a somewhat cheap RAID Enclosure for my little home server. If the choice is good i plan to buy 2 of them. I would like for the enclosure to hold anywhere from 2 to 4 3.5 hard drives and preferable have a Firewire connection but is not required. My budget for the enclosure is $75.
 
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Well the first one is a complete no-name brand with first-from-asia right on the front so I would put absolutely no faith in it, even more so for supporting mac.

The second one is that mediasonic/media pro brand that I had not heard of until searching for enclosures. The fact that it has 4 stars with over 100 reviews is a little more promising even though it only has 66% 4-5 star reviews. Between the 2 I would go with this one hands down. On amazon it has similar level of review but a lot more of them: http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436565915&sr=8-1&keywords=Mediasonic+HF2-SU3S2
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boosted1g

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Jun 12, 2013
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Firewire connection???
Don't think that has been on hardware for 5 years now, anything in the last 3-5 years will be USB 3.0.

Might be able to find 2 drive enclosures for around $100 but definitely not 4 drive bays

Is there a specific reason you want raid enclosures that require separate power and need to be plugged into a computer vs just getting a good PC case and having it in the computer?
I have my server in a Fracital Design Define R4 case which holds 8 hard drives on toolless trays. It also supports 2 SSD or 2.5" hard drives on the back. For the cost of those enclosures you can get that case and an SSD drive for your OS.

The other thing I did is in one of the 5.25 drive bays I have a $20 hot swap caddy that allows me to just throw in a blank drive if I need to transfer mass files to a bare drive.
 
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jpsulisz

jpsulisz

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Jun 5, 2013
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I have 2 Mac Mini's ( A G4 and a C2D) that have built in software that can enable all the other Mac's in my home to easily do Time Machine backups (Done this on a 320gb hard drive but it filled up with one Mac). Firewire connection would allow me to daisy chain multiple drives together instead of using a USB Hub.
 
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boosted1g

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Jun 12, 2013
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Ohh ok, you are using mac computers/software.

I cant really find anything in your price range that I would put faith into, even with USB 3.0. I also searched thunderbolt enclosures, but as if by magic all the results 2x-4x in price.

Here is the only 2 inexpensive enclosures I would feel like at least as the potential to be reliable for you:
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-SuperSpeed-Enclosure-U357-002/dp/B00IOXVX7Y/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1436563565&sr=8-6&keywords=2+bay+enclosure
http://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-Enclosure-Removable-RX305-4B/dp/B00S7UTX26/ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1436562436&sr=1-8&keywords=2+bay

Neither of them are firewire though. Only cost effective one I could find with firewire was MediaPro, a brand I have never even heard of that only got 2.5-3 stars.
 
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jpsulisz

jpsulisz

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Jun 5, 2013
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I happen to find these 2 on Newegg, are these good solutions even through USB?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA14J1XT2473&cm_re=external_hard_drive_enclosure-_-9SIA14J1XT2473-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817576009&cm_re=external_hard_drive_enclosure-_-17-576-009-_-Product

They both have 4-5 stars on Newegg.
 
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boosted1g

Titan
Jun 12, 2013
14,846
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74,965
Well the first one is a complete no-name brand with first-from-asia right on the front so I would put absolutely no faith in it, even more so for supporting mac.

The second one is that mediasonic/media pro brand that I had not heard of until searching for enclosures. The fact that it has 4 stars with over 100 reviews is a little more promising even though it only has 66% 4-5 star reviews. Between the 2 I would go with this one hands down. On amazon it has similar level of review but a lot more of them: http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436565915&sr=8-1&keywords=Mediasonic+HF2-SU3S2
 
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