Need enclosure for single 8TB Seagate HD

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MichaelZ

New Member
Hi..

So, I got this Seagate Archive 8TB to serve me as a backup HD.
I know that this kind of capacity is not supported by every SATA enclosure. Plus, this HD is 'different' from the rest, which puts it into the 'finicky' category.
For example, even though the Icy Dock internal enclosure / caddy supports drives up to 10TB, with this one I have to do a hard reset whenever I want to get it online. With all my other hard drives (incl. 4TB) this issue is non-existent.

From the get-go the plan was to put the 8TB into a suitable enclosure and store it away from the computer, because that's what you're supposed to do with your backups. So, now I'm looking for one but I ain't too happy with what I see... Maybe someone here can help me out. I need:

• A powered, ventilated (fan) enclosure that's made from aluminum or steel.
• Smallest form factor available. Weight - irrelevant.
• USB3 is a must. eSATA and USB3 is much preferable. *I would consider a eSATA-only enclosure.
• 100%, tested and confirmed compatibility with the Seagate Archive 8TB.

I had something like this in mind but it says "up to 6TB":
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...47&cm_re=HDD_enclosure-_-17-182-247-_-Product

Please, don't say something like: "If it supports 2TB then it supports 8TB".

I need to know for a fact that the enclosure supports my 8TB drive.

Thanks!
 
M

MichaelZ

New Member
johnb35 said:
It's not ventilated but don't see why you really need it.
Click to expand...

So that the drive wouldn't overheat, shorten its life and expire before its time.
In the specs it says 4TB. I take it that you're recommending this enclosure because you personally have used it in combination with the Seagate 8TB drive, without any issues. Not that I'm interested in buying, how did it feel to the touch?
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
No, have not used it. I do use one comparable to that one though. You have to remember, the newer drives don't get hot like the old drives used to.

I'll keep looking though.
 
Intel_man

Intel_man

VIP Member
MichaelZ said:
So that the drive wouldn't overheat, shorten its life and expire before its time.
In the specs it says 4TB. I take it that you're recommending this enclosure because you personally have used it in combination with the Seagate 8TB drive, without any issues. Not that I'm interested in buying, how did it feel to the touch?
Click to expand...
Judging by how that thing has vents and looks like it is constructed entirely of a metal (aluminum) material, it'll just act as a giant heatsink which will be sufficient to cool a harddrive inside. Their company website also shows it supporting 8TB drives so he should be fine.
 
M

MichaelZ

New Member
Intel_man said:
Judging by how that thing has vents and looks like it is constructed entirely of a metal (aluminum) material, it'll just act as a giant heatsink which will be sufficient to cool a harddrive inside. Their company website also shows it supporting 8TB drives so he should be fine.
Click to expand...

Take it from me; this particular drive gets REALLY hot. Plenty of people have reported frying this HD inside a non-ventilated enclosure. You can google it. So for me, if it doesn't have a fan - it's out.
You can tell me about heat sinks, heat dissipation and what not. All I know is: If it has a fan it'll last longer. Period. Please, don't waste your time suggesting no-fan enclosures.

I know it from experience that manufacturers like to play it on the safe side. Most enclosure specs are very dated. For example, if a certain enclosure is rated for 3TB, there is a good chance that it will support a 4TB drive and, possibly, beyond that. In the link that I provided, the Rosewill enclosure is rated up to 6TB. In actually, it can probably take larger capacity drives just fine. If what I had was a 'proper' 8TB HD, then I would simply order the enclosure and that would be the end of this headache. However, I know for a fact that my particular Seagate Archive is a finicky one. There's a good chance that it'll do fine in an enclosure such as this, however, I'd say there's about an equal chance that it will not. While, technically, it may 'work', there could be all sorts of issues with this combination and I don't want ANY problems with my backups.

So, I guess, at this point, I need to find someone who actually owns this specific HD and has experience operating it in an external (ventilated) enclosure, even if that enclosure is rated for capacities below 8TB.
 
Intel_man

Intel_man

VIP Member
If you want to be a dick about it, your very first problem is that you bought a Seagate. And not that the enclosure has no fan.
 
Intel_man

Intel_man

VIP Member
Darren said:
Sounds like you know how to fix your own problem and just want others to do it for you...?

Good luck with that.
Click to expand...
No kidding eh? At those size capacity backups, I'd be looking at a NAS running an iSCSI target to his computer. Then create LUN snapshots every other week or month or something.
 
K

Klingbeil

New Member
I'm having the same problem finding a suitable enclosure. I think a very important item you left out of your criteria is that the enclosure must allow the drive to report SMART information. That is apparently a tall order, but is absolutely necessary if you are serious about your data and the condition of the drive. I need to put an 8TB drive in an enclosure that:

1. Has a fan -- I'm in a bit of a warm environment
2. Connects by USB 3.0 or eSATA or LAN
3. Will accept large capacity enterprise class drives
4. Will report SMART data
5. Will allow the drive to be removed from the enclosure, connected directly to a motherboard via SATA and have data still accessible.

When you try to come up with a solution, it will become clear why Item 5 becomes a problem.

Any ideas? Thanks
 
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K

Klingbeil

New Member
Perhaps yes, a NAS in JBOD mode might work but what NAS will allow the drive to be removed and accessed after being connected to another computer?
 
K

Klingbeil

New Member
Why would you need to hot swap it into a computer if your NAS would be accessible throughout the entire network?
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That would be needed if the NAS device itself failed. Rather than trust that the NAS manufacturer would always support the file structure, it would be good to access the data by a convenient means at hand. I'm still looking for an enclosure of some kind to back up my main storage (which is a NAS). My requirements for the backup drive are still the 5 items stated previously. I don't really see much of a solution.
 
Intel_man

Intel_man

VIP Member
Then just get a cheap backup NAS and have your primary NAS rsync to the cheap one. Chances of you having multiple NAS failures is very slim. Also, run your drives in raid 1.

I'll be more worried about drive failures more than NAS failures.
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
Klingbeil said:
Rather than trust that the NAS manufacturer would always support the file structure, it would be good to access the data by a convenient means at hand.
Click to expand...
Most of them utilize Linux and associated 'Linuxy' file systems like ext4 that aren't natively readable in Windows, which probably skews your question a bit since you could certainly access the contents when using a live CD.

If you're using some RAID level on the NAS and its controller based instead of software/mdadm, then you'll realistically need a backup NAS to transplant the drives into.
 
K

Klingbeil

New Member
Then just get a cheap backup NAS and have your primary NAS rsync to the cheap one. Chances of you having multiple NAS failures is very slim. Also, run your drives in raid 1.

I'll be more worried about drive failures more than NAS failures.
Click to expand...
That's of course entirely reasonable. The chances of a NAS failure over a drive failure are indeed slim. Since I haven't purchased yet, I just figured there was no point in skipping any possible failure points no matter how remote if they could be avoided. Mediasonic has updated their forum instructions for their HUR3-SU3S3 two-bay enclosure. According to their latest posts, Hard Disk Sentinel software can read the SMART info if run at the command line and it should work via GUI at next release. That enclosure will also allow drives to be used with ordinary Windows formatting as long as a non-array mode is used. The thing is only $60 so I'll give it a try.
 
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