New External HDD backup device

Memnon · Tuesday at 3:31 PM

I currently have a DLink NAS ... but it is painfully slow (9-12MB/s) , it also needs SMB which is discontinued by Windows (have to manually enable it)

I have never done anything with NAS other than use to have file backups, so maybe I don't need to bother with a NAS and use an External HDD enclosure and USB3 connection instead.

I need at least a 2 SATA bay unit, seen that CENMATE do what looks like useful units, anybody have a view on CENMATE or suggest alternative.(I want empty unit to reuse existing HDD) Seen they do a 2+3 unit, which gives 2 x SATA bays, and 3 x M.2 SSD slots.
Is there any special way of using the M.2 & SATA in combination ... does it allow for example provide high speed dump of files into the SSD and then migrates to SATA ? ..... just not sure what the purpose is.

glasskuter · Tuesday at 3:50 PM

Are you confusing a usb hard drive docking station with a hard drive enclosure?

Memnon · Tuesday at 5:33 PM

No not confusing them.
As described thinking of CENMATE it can take 2 x SATA, and 3 x SSD
This is nothing to do with USB docking station.

Ghot · Tuesday at 7:13 PM

@Memnon

This one is 2xSata + 3xNVME

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR4168M8?ref=emc_p_m_5_i_atc

TerraMaster

www.amazon.com

gunrunnerjohn · Tuesday at 7:28 PM

The D-Link NAS was never a speed demon, consider a better NAS box. Even the inexpensive ones should give you 40-50MB/sec transfers. I have an aging 12 year old Netgear READYNAS with a pair of 8TB drives in it. For file transfers, I get in the mid 40's for any sizeable file transfers. I'm sure I could improve that with a newer box, but it's sufficient for what I used it for.

Banjoman301 · Tuesday at 10:15 PM

You might take a look at the Synology DS223j

DiskStation® DS223j | Synology Inc.

Compact, quiet, and energy-efficient storage

www.synology.com

Memnon · Wednesday at 4:34 AM

I looked at Synology & Ugreen NAS boxes, they are around 5 times the price of External HDD box..
Appreciate NAS gives the networking, but in 20 years, never did anything more than use the DLink to hold backups.

jimbo45 · Wednesday at 6:40 AM

@Memnon

Any old PC running Linux can act as a far better backup system than these dedicated proprietary NAS boxes often running incomprehensible OS's such as QNAP etc. Even those cheap minipc's are more than sufficient - you don't need a dedicated terminal / monitor either.

Simply attach your backup drives to it and run crontab (automated job) to backup as and when -- OR :

Otherwise what's wrong with a decent 2 / 4 bay HDD enclosure and use bog standard HDD's for backup -- note though do get HDD's with decent / fast cache sizes. You can get some really great deals on "old spinners" up to 20 TB !!!!!! and more than fast enough for running backups. Use Windows if on Windows to create automatic backup jobs or even mirror these things as RAID devices.

Cheers
jimbo

spapakons · Wednesday at 6:44 AM

I vote for external USB box. If you have a computer that mostly stays turned on, you can also put the disks there and share them to the network (transforming the computer to a NAS). I have a videos disk shared, so I can watch my videos from other devices in my home including my smart TV. If you don't leave a specific computer switched on, then the USB enclosure or USB docking station is better for sharing the data between computers.

Helmut · Wednesday at 8:22 AM

Memnon said:
I looked at Synology & Ugreen NAS boxes, they are around 5 times the price of External HDD box.

They are indeed pricey but these days they are much speedier, I have 2 bay 2012 Synology NAS ~30 MB/s, 2020 Synology NAS ~100 MB/s, thus the max possible with 1 Gb/s network.

They have been good for over 12 years, usage has changed to backups like images etc, but I would not swop to USB connected devices like HDD/SSD docks which I have, the reliability is rather dire.

Looking at the cost of your PC specs and internet speed and periferals, a new NAS box is relatively low cost compared to that lot.

spapakons · Wednesday at 9:17 AM

Helmut said:
They are indeed pricey but these days they are much speedier, I have 2 bay 2012 Synology NAS ~30 MB/s, 2020 Synology NAS ~100 MB/s, thus the max possible with 1 Gb/s network.

They have been good for over 12 years, usage has changed to backups like images etc, but I would not swop to USB connected devices like HDD/SSD docks which I have, the reliability is rather dire.

Looking at the cost of your PC specs and internet speed and periferals, a new NAS box is relatively low cost compared to that lot.

One more reason to think twice before buying a NAS. If he has given too much money already, he probably wants a more economic solution than buying a dedicated NAS device. For example connecting the drives in one computer and share with the rest or connecting them to a USB docking station but never leave them connected for too long. Just use them as needed and then disconnect them.

Memnon · Friday at 5:34 PM

jimbo45 said:
@Memnon

Any old PC running Linux can act as a far better backup system than these dedicated proprietary NAS boxes often running incomprehensible OS's such as QNAP etc. Even those cheap minipc's are more than sufficient - you don't need a dedicated terminal / monitor either.

Simply attach your backup drives to it and run crontab (automated job) to backup as and when -- OR :

Otherwise what's wrong with a decent 2 / 4 bay HDD enclosure and use bog standard HDD's for backup -- note though do get HDD's with decent / fast cache sizes. You can get some really great deals on "old spinners" up to 20 TB !!!!!! and more than fast enough for running backups. Use Windows if on Windows to create automatic backup jobs or even mirror these things as RAID devices.

Cheers
jimbo

I am not familair with Linux and dont want level of complexity .. hence my simplistic thought of a the 2 bay (or more) HDD enclosure

spapakons · Friday at 5:46 PM

Like I have said in many threads, Linux IS NOT the magic tool for every problem. It's not Panacea. Inexperienced Windows users who have difficulties using Windows will face 10x times (I would dare say 100x times) more difficulties using Linux! DON'T do that mistake. Linux is not for everyone and is not as easy as Linux fans try to convince us. Install it on a virtual machine and use it for at least a month. I bet by the end of the month you will have changed your mind about how "easy" it is to use Linux, let alone the much smaller hardware and software compatibility. For me compatibility is very important and Linux will never be a match for Windows. I have read elsewhere that a guy managed to make his scanner work in Linux by letting an AI reverse engineer the Windows driver and using a Windows virtual machine to examine how the scanner behaves. If Linux developers start doing that, reverse engineer Windows drivers, and improve hardware compatibility, then it will make more sense to adopt Linux. They should also improve software compatibility and make it much easier. It is 2026, not the 70's. I think it is time to move along and get rid of the Terminal. They should make a GUI for EVERY single configuration the user wants to do. And all personalization should be built-in with the distro, not having an inexperienced user struggle to add the missing components just to change the color of the taskbar or any other simple change that in Windows would be a couple of clicks! For God's shake!

Once more, TRY Linux before switching, or you will be sorry! You have been warned!

jimbo45 · 2026-10-24T05:26:56-0400

spapakons said:
Like I have said in many threads, Linux IS NOT the magic tool for every problem. It's not Panacea. Inexperienced Windows users who have difficulties using Windows will face 10x times (I would dare say 100x times) more difficulties using Linux! DON'T do that mistake. Linux is not for everyone and is not as easy as Linux fans try to convince us. Install it on a virtual machine and use it for at least a month. I bet by the end of the month you will have changed your mind about how "easy" it is to use Linux, let alone the much smaller hardware and software compatibility. For me compatibility is very important and Linux will never be a match for Windows. I have read elsewhere that a guy managed to make his scanner work in Linux by letting an AI reverse engineer the Windows driver and using a Windows virtual machine to examine how the scanner behaves. If Linux developers start doing that, reverse engineer Windows drivers, and improve hardware compatibility, then it will make more sense to adopt Linux. They should also improve software compatibility and make it much easier. It is 2026, not the 70's. I think it is time to move along and get rid of the Terminal. They should make a GUI for EVERY single configuration the user wants to do. And all personalization should be built-in with the distro, not having an inexperienced user struggle to add the missing components just to change the color of the taskbar or any other simple change that in Windows would be a couple of clicks! For God's shake!

Once more, TRY Linux before switching, or you will be sorry! You have been warned!

Learn the art of the precis -- to overstate a case is to seriously undermine it !!!

Actually I also recommended a far easier solution too -- a 2 or 4 bay HDD enclosure for backup - runs on Windows and if you get one with RAID you can also mirror disks e.g RAID 10 so providing continuous backup.

The most expensive solution is in using those QNAP type things plus it's the most inflexible.

You don't also need to reverse engineer scanners etc -- good cheap piece of software available (runs on Windows etc) is vuescan which supports 1000's of old but still perfectly functionable scanners .

Cheers
jimbo

Memnon · 2026-10-24T10:46:35-0400

jimbo45 said:
jimbo45 said:

Actually I also recommended a far easier solution too -- a 2 or 4 bay HDD enclosure for backup - runs on Windows and if you get one with RAID you can also mirror disks e.g RAID 10 so providing continuous backup.

Click to expand...

Think this will be the way forward the 3 bay or 2 SATA and 3 SSD units are cheap ..... and that way I could run RAID 5

New External HDD backup device

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

aka Mama Glass

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Similar threads

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computers

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computer