What to do with old disks?

[ed.j]

I have just upgraded my storage on a DS920+ from 4 x 4TB to 2 x 4TB + 2 x 16TB. So I now have 2 x 4TB disks unused, and although I don't need the space, it's only a matter of time before I switch out the two remaining 4TB disks for 16TB ones - and so have 4 x 4TB spare.

My question is - what to do with the old drives?

The easy answer is to sell them but a) I hate selling old stuff and b) I reckon I can put them to use - but I'm not sure how...

I'm keen to buy a box of some kind to put them in and use them as backup - mainly because my DS416slim that is offsite is stuck at a max capacity of 4 x 2TB due to slim drive restrictions - but I'm loathe to spend £200+ on something that I want to use as pure backup. IE, could be connected directly to a router etc.

I don't see the point in buying an expansion unit because that doesn't mitigate the fire loss risk.

Has anyone bought any cheap multi-bay enclosures that they have been able to use as (ideally offsite) backup destinations?

Or.... any other ideas?

At the same time I'd be willing to help out a junior/hard up user with them if they would help mitigate costs and get them set up. But I don't just want to add to a data hoarder's pool!

 

[Rusty]

My question is - what to do with the old drives?

get a used syno box and use it as a backup destination. I always use "old" drives for various, non-prod tasks.

 

[fredbert]

You could use them as cold archives for important data. Just needs a USB enclosure. This is simple non-RAID and fairly risk free, short of EMP warfare , or being roughly handled.

Or basic NAS option for backup destination. Can be used for various tasks: main NAS; Mac time machine; PC backup app via SMB; etc.

 

[Telos]

You could use them as cold archives for important data

I've done this with an external USB drive dock, so I can easily switch out backup drives.

 

[Jan Janowski]

As laptop drives upgraded to SSD’s the removed spinning drives after testing, became gifts in USBV3 shirt pocket enclosures for others.

The two 1TB Seagate’s just installed in 720+ spent a lifetime in video editing system as Raid0 pair, that were retired when 2x SSD’s were acquired and replaced them. Another 2 in Raid0 remain in the edit system if needed.

 

[Dr_Frankenstein]

My drives tend to get retired into my old 1815+ and then any extras I use as cold backups – for example I have an encrypted 4tb drive in the boot of my car with about 20 years of home video and photos archived. I rotate it out once a month with any updates.

 

[Phone Guy]

Cheapest thing would be to buy a external enclosure of some kind, 1 bay or 2 bay or even 4+ bay and use them in that... Or dig in, get another used nas (think ebay) and throw them in there to use. I am in a "can't have enough nas's" phase, so my opinion may be biased. Another fairly inexpensive option is looking for a old pc, you may even have one, or look at garage sales, facebook, friends, co-workers, ebay, etc... and install TrueNAS on it and use them in that... it would be cheaper than another "nas" box, and people buy those old optiplex boxes for <$50 all the time, the slim ones wont hold 4 hdd, but an old desktop probably would... or you can install proxmox, then run truenas (or any nas software) plus a pi hole, pfsense, any number of things.... Lots of possibilities. Keep us posted on your decision.

 

[fredbert]

I am in a "can't have enough nas's" phase, so my opinion may be biased.

I’ll admit I’m still it this phase too

 

[ed.j]

Thanks for all the input - I think I will go with this enclosure, mainly for the USB 3.2 Gen 2 and it seems pretty cheap for the specs. Don't think I can justify the need/expense for another NAS...!

Amazon product ASIN B01LZMZR4U

I have an encrypted 4tb drive in the boot of my car with about 20 years of home video and photos archived.

This sounds like a horrendous idea to me, having a drive rattle around in the boot AND it's encrypted (so more susceptible to failure?) must be a disaster waiting to happen?!?!

 

[Dr_Frankenstein]

Thanks for all the input - I think I will go with this enclosure, mainly for the USB 3.2 Gen 2 and it seems pretty cheap for the specs. Don't think I can justify the need/expense for another NAS...!

Amazon product ASIN B01LZMZR4U


This sounds like a horrendous idea to me, having a drive rattle around in the boot AND it's encrypted (so more susceptible to failure?) must be a disaster waiting to happen?!?!

It's not literally loose bouncing about, it's in a drive case inside a soft padded caddy—This is a final resort backup should my in house backup / off site cloud backup and the 3rd backup at my parents fail. I should have mentioned it also contains 20% PAR2 parity data, so I can check for bitrot and if required repair.