Do you have too many external hard drives? QNAP TR-004 DAS!

[@genn-mariusdelapena8652]

Finally! An easy to understand, straight to the point, good quality sounding explainer about this product. Thank you! I've liked and subscribed 👍👌👏

[@forestchaput]

Thanks for sharing!

[@finn4240]

Thanks so much! I've watched so many videos and it was all so confusing, but this is really well explained by far the best! its going on my Christmas list for sure.

[@jesusnoriega8411]

So you're a photographer, eh? Well, you're an excellent teacher also. Good job!

[@forestchaput]

Thank you!

[@Jabid21]

In addition, I believe the TR-004 runs on a SATA 2 controller. So, the drives are limited to a theoretical maximum speed of 3 Gbps or 375 MBps. I don't know if the higher read speed of RAID arrays actually gets realized here. I personally do not mind the speeds that I get with my DAS in RAID 5.

[@Fabian-jw5ih]

Where did you read this? They don't explicitly say SATA 3 on there website but hint compatibility with 6gbit drives

[@Jabid21]

@@Fabian-jw5ih it’s in their user guide. You can search “qnap external raid enclosure user guide.” The fifth page (page number 4) of the pdf file has the product overview. The fourth line of the specifications shows TR-004 has 4x3.5-inch SATA 3 Gbps bays. It also notes that it is still compatible with 6 Gbps drives but you will be limited to 3 Gbps speed.

[@Jabid21]

@@Fabian-jw5ih probably my reply got taken down but it’s in the qnap external raid enclosure user guide, it’s in the product specifications on page 4.

[@Fabian-jw5ih]

Got it, so the 2 bay version has 10gbit usb and SATA3, and the 4 bay has 5gbit usb and sata2 that's crazy...

[@Fabian-jw5ih]

Expect the 4 bays are connected by the same serial bus they probably thought they can anyway just delivery half the rate per bay so why not just choose SATA2 not recognising that you may not access 4 drives simultaneously all the time

[@knowledge4741]

In 2023, the problem isn't with drives failing. I've only had one drive fail ever in my life and I am constantly using them putting them under stress, that drive was also from the early 2010s. I feel like the main reason we might lose our drives is from fire or water damage. I feel most setups with a device like this will work out fine. I bought a 16-bay QNAP and still haven't bothered to setup RAID on it as I have my backup at home on another NAS just incase.

[@forestchaput]

I disagree. We have about 80 in-person photography students each year here at the school and usually see 2-4 drives fail per year. Definitely less frequent that it used to be, but it still happens.

[@trolldatshityeahyou4001]

2 of my drives failed this year

[@alex_montoya]

I'm quite a noob here, but can you use 20TB drives on this thing? Thanks!

[@forestchaput]

Maybe! I would reach out to QNAP and ask what the maximum storage capacity is.

[@alex_montoya]

That would be great, thanks a lot!

[@jamegumb7298]

With the trend toward smaller cases and computers, it is nice to have mass storage on the desktop still, this is ideal. What annoys me to no end though, is the lack of an ssd space. Every time I have to wait on my hdd's to spin up and show the files. With a cache drive, no such issues. For external drives you have to either not use one, or use one of the not so nice workarounds to do that (reset cache on each connect, buy Primocache to set it to use cache on connect, that sort of thing). If a case like this came with that by default, would be nice.

[@forestchaput]

I agree!

[@AndreDieudonne]

Don't buy this shit, because TR-series are unable to work with all disks at the same time, latency will be huge and speed will decrease if you use 2 or more disks at the same time. Don't trust me ? Buy it and test it, you will see... RAID 0 cannot have same speed than RAID 1...

[@forestchaput]

While that might be true (I’m not sure), I’ve had very good luck with mine. It’s been used daily since this video was posted. I have mine configured in RAID5.

[@TimothyWestPhotography]

Thanks to your video...I bought one :) It arrived today! Installed the hard drives...awesome. Question....what would you recommend for incremental backups. For example. I have a folder of videos. I'd love to leave this Qnap plugged in and allow it to automatically backup the whole video hard drive inside my PC. Windows seems to want to only backup the PC/Windows etc. What would you recommend to automate the process of backing up? Thanks again :)

[@forestchaput]

I love a program called SyncBack! kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpWraZufmNyHpLM

[@Dobrufusnoretro]

An accidental touch on the switch and all is gone? Damn scary stuff. Still a very cool product

[@forestchaput]

I believe there is an additional safeguard of a certain button press combination as well. I don't remember for sure though.

[@CW-Design]

Very helpful video explaining it all clearly. I’m a motion designer and editor and looking for a backup / archive solution just like this.

[@forestchaput]

Glad it was helpful!

[@marc-aureleversini6876]

Thank you, very nice done, I understood pretty much everything you said. A question, what about the noise of the fan, is it heavy?

[@forestchaput]

The fan noise isn't bad at all!

[@forestchaput]

It's not that heavy either.

[@attorianzo1]

I find quite scary that if someone touches the dip-switches I would lose everything. I have kids at home, that thing needs more protection.

[@JohnSmith-zl8rz]

Is possibly do it via software, but I don't know the difference, I don't know if do it via software disable any move on the dip-switches.

[@Ali_ReBORN]

Exactly. You would think they would consider putting a lid cover or flap on that switch array lol..

[@natem2367]

Agreed

[@ryansulak]

I’d immediately put gaff tape over it after I set it

[@TheSecurityAgency]

RAID is about an interraptible data delivery 24/7 given that your NAS/DAS is functional, otherwise your DATA is gone, but if you don't have any RAID configuration, you can still use any SATA-USB adapter to access your data any time. You need an external backup in both cases, to protect your data from NAS/DAS failure (RAID) and from disk failure (no RAID).

[@forestchaput]

True!

[@timmy7201]

Most NAS enclosures use software raid, not hardware raid. Usually it's the Linux mdadm, so recovery after a NAS failure could be done on whatever Linux computer you've around. However, some manufacturers create their own (needless) proprietary layer on top of mdadm which can't (as easily) be recovered from other systems... This is the reason why I avoid proprietary (raid) systems such as Synology Hybrid Raid, I don't want to be tied down into some corporations stupid eco system...

[@wipatriot510]

Great video, but I wish you would've touched on Qnap's software raid solution as much as you did on the hardware raid aspects...

[@forestchaput]

Great idea! I just always prefer hardware RAID so that was my default.

[@wipatriot510]

@@forestchaput I get that, it just important for other people to know and understand there are multiple ways of configuring and monitoring a raid setup with the Qnap TR-004 and the Qnap TR-002...

[@pipefittermike636]

SO.... IF I GET THIS TR 004, PUT IN THE HARD DRIVES....( I HAVE 4-6TB HARD DRIVES) SET IT TO RAID 5, LET THE MACHINE DO ITS BUSINESS, WHEN DONE I CAN PLUG IT RIGHT IN TO THE BACK OF MY ASUSTOR NIMBUSTOR, THEN GO TO THE MENU IN MY MANAGEMENT MENU, LOOK UP THE EXTRA STORAGE, IT SHOULD CONFIGURE FROM THERE? JUST LIKE MY OTHER EXTERNAL SSD'S I HAVE HOOKED UP? THANKS, MIKE GREAT VIDEO BY THE WAY......

[@forestchaput]

That's how it should work!

[@RaduUrsache]

turn off your caps lock maybe

[@pipefittermike636]

@@RaduUrsache sorry, i am an old guy 66 with bad eyesight, it helps me see the words as i am typing them, and i can correct my mistakes which there are many,thanks for noticing, i will try to communicate to this channel in lower case from now on.... Mike

[@rickgear2579]

I probably wont get an answer to this, but Ill ask anyway. I have it set to hardware RAID1 with only two drives so I have the option to add two additional drives down the line. However, I would like to know if I add the two drives of the same size, will they automatically be configured to RAID1 or will it wipe out my existing array? This is extremely important!

[@forestchaput]

Honestly, I have no idea. In theory that should work, but I would 100% reach out to QNAP and ask before putting data on the 2-drive array.

[@timmy7201]

Or just put together a custom desktop for about 450$, with Openmediavault on it as OS... It's cheaper, has better hardware specs, it's up-gradable in the future, can easily be repaired when out of warranty, takes more disks (usually 6 or 8 by default) and can house a sata pci-expansion card if required. For about 800$, you could've an I7 or ryzen 9 NAS with 64GB ram and run Proxmox VE on it, hosting your own mini data-center from home... Those pre-manufactured NAS boxes are usually an overpriced proprietary ripoff, resulting in needless e-waste down the line...

[@forestchaput]

Love this! Very true!

[@RichardRostant1]

I currently have a QNAP TR-004 connected as external storage to my QNAP TVS472XT NAS (it's connected directly to the NAS via USB 3.2G1). I backup 10TB from the NAS via QNAP HBS 3 to the TR-004. Unfortunately, I can't use Backblaze as Cloud storage because it's a NAS (unless I use Backblaze B2 at 10x the cost). I'm wondering if I should connect the TR-004 directly to my IMac and use it as a DAS, still to backup the NAS but this would allow me to use the regular Backblaze ($7/month). Not sure if there is a real advantage to having the TR-004 connected directly to the NAS. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[@forestchaput]

I like your new plan! Connect it as a DAS and get that cheap Backblaze backup! That's what I do. I have a NAS and a DAS and they are connected separately for this exact reason!

[@ICThruU]

I'm completely confused. You didn't mention RAID 1. I just want backup. I know you lose 50%, but It is the simplist way to have a mirror. If I have raid 5 or 10 and it shows only one drive... and one of the physical drives fails, How do I regenerate my redundant data? Why not just use Raid 1. Finally, like most people, I already have a few external drives. I'd like not to waste them. Can I pull them out of the enclosures and put them in? Do they have to be identical?

[@forestchaput]

RAID 1 is great, the only real disadvantage is storage efficiency (like you said). RAID 5 will give you 75% of your total storage as usable, while RAID 1 (or 10) will give you 50% usable. In the event of a drive failure (in RAID 0, 1, 5, or 10), you would need to replace the broken drive, and wait for the unit to rebuild the RAID array. This process usually takes about a day (depending on the amount of data) and will require that you replace the dead drive with another of equal or larger size. It's important to point out that even in RAID 1, you will still need to allow the system to rebuild the RAID array in even of a drive failure. Here's a great thread on the QNAP forum that discusses this: forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?t=168006 Finally, you might be able to use your old drives. Some drives have protections in place to prevent you from "shucking" them, and some don't. You would need to do a bit of research on your specific drives. If they are compatible, you will need to erase them to use them in the new system so you would need another drive to temporarily hold your data when implementing the new system. They don't have to be identical, but you will lose storage efficiency if they aren't. Your total storage will be a multiple of the smallest drive in the system. For example if you fill the DAS with a 2, 4, 4, and 4TB drive, your total storage will only be 8TB (2TB x 4) compared to using a 4, 4, 4, and 4TB which would give you 16TB of storage (4TB x 4).

[@lohlundgames]

Raid 5 doesnt leave you 75% in most cases. It just takes 1 drive so when you have 100 drives, you get 99% useable space.

[@forestchaput]

Very true!

[@philburke1902]

How can 1 drive mirror more than 1 drive (if they are the same size)?

[@lohlundgames]

@@philburke1902 I dont really know... All i know is that it works... somehow.

[@darioncolbert2997]

@@philburke1902m not expert but it’s my understanding that RAID 5 isn’t mirroring the data but instead dividing the data among all of the drives and creating an additional file that can be used to reconstruct missing data from 1 drive as long as the data from all of the other drives is intact. For example, if you stored a list of numbers with each on a separate drive then on a backup drive stored the sum of the numbers, as long as you were only missing one of the drives you could calculate the missing number.

[@philburke1902]

@@darioncolbert2997 Thanks for that explanation. I came across the paragraph below and it lines up with your comment... "RAID 5 uses parity instead of mirroring for data redundancy. When data is written to a RAID 5 drive, the system calculates parity and writes that parity into the drive. While mirroring maintains multiple copies of data in each volume to use in case of failure, RAID 5 can rebuild a failed drive using the parity data, which is not kept on a fixed single drive"

[@harryvendryes]

Nice video. Three points as a regular Linux home user: 1. Someone breaks in and steals the damned thing. At least with a few small HDD's I can spread them about and hide them places. With this permanently attached lightweight device, the whole lot will be guaranteed gone. 2. I keep reading about how rebuilding the disks is so intensive in time and computing power, that it's not uncommon for another disk to fail during the rebuild. This can in itself spell catastrophe if you have no other backup, which of course you should. 3. They (all brands) appear to be cheaply made and expensive for what they are. Used server hardware is the way to go as it's heavy and built like a tank... except for the electricity costs. So... maybe not the way to go in 2023 😞 As it is I have backup DAS HDD's (USB), plus an LTO-5 tape drive (connected via SAS cable) archiving everything. Must confess though, I think a NAS would be groovy.

[@forestchaput]

Great insight! Thank you.

[@JamesBannon-fz6qo]

You forgot 1 thing: do NOT use RAID5! I wish manufacturers would stop pushing it as a viable option for data protection. I also wish KZbin influencers would stop doing the same thing. RAID10 is a much better option.

[@harryvendryes]

Ha, ha... I got to the point of just about understanding what all that RAID stuff meant, then chickened out at the last moment. With the yearly saving on my electricity bill, I've been able to go on a round-the-world cruise, buy an Aston Martin V12 with cream leather interior, and hang a modest Rolex off my wrist. Of course I'm exaggerating... it's a V8 Aston Martin. However, once they start pumping out 100% silent, low energy, small form factor servers, I''ll return for sure. There's still the issue of such value tied up in something so tempting to a thief. I know that RAID is not a backup, but the idea of owning all my data on my own machines appeals. So, that's another server required just for backup.

[@JamesBannon-fz6qo]

@@harryvendryes 😀 Or you could invest in a bomb-proof, magnetically shielded data safe (with two copies of each stored drive in its own magnetically shielded case). Don’t forget to periodically refresh each drive. 😉 Seriously., though, there comes a time when you have to say enough. Sure, it’s your livelihood, then some kind of off site storage should be in a disaster recovery plan, but for the rest of us mere mortals, a safe RAID backup should suffice.

[@harryvendryes]

😄 You are right. It's easy - especially with the Internet - to succumb to paranoia. Every now and then I have to stand back and remember those 'end of the world' survivalists who prepared for nothing but wasted time, food and ammo. I'm guessing there's also companies who folded due to having the latest and greatest bank busting IT systems, but took their eye off the need to turn a profit. All I can say: good job I don't understand or even follow politics. My will is feeble, and I'm easily led. Never a good combination.

[@marcelijzerman]

Thanks for the review! Are you sure it's bottlenecked by USB 3.2 G1? Its max speed is 5Gb/s (625mb/s)

[@forestchaput]

True! I'm not sure if it's the USB bottleneck or something else internal, all I know for sure is that regardless of what RAID configuration I had it set to it was capping at about 220MB/s. Could be the internal RAID controller, or connection type, or something else. There are a bunch of threads on Reddit with users trying to diagnose, definitely worth a look if you interested!

[@lordofnothing.]

welp. just bought this. been running for an hour now. still not showing up on my pc. status leds are all green though. (2x16tb drives), config is raid 1.

[@forestchaput]

Weird! Is it showing up in Disk Management?

[@AbuSayed189]

Which DAS is best for 4k video editing...??

[@forestchaput]

This one would be fine, although with the limited speed of 180MB/s, it's more suited for archive use vs. active editing. You could look into a NAS, or even a DAS from Pegasus. They are pricey, but much faster!

[@zeniktorres4320]

Thank you sir, very good video. I shall get one of these as I don't need a NAS. I may set to Raid 1 or 10.

[@forestchaput]

Nice! I hope you like it!

[@smallbizdigitalmedia]

Great educational video considering it was sponsored and you are a fab presenter 👏 If I am the only user and I want enough speed for 4K video is 1. Is DAS a better choice than NAS and 2. Does the DAS need to be always on and if so how noisy are these QNAP DASs?

[@forestchaput]

This would be an excellent choice for 4K video. A NAS would be fine, but you would very quickly want to upgrade your network infrastructure to 10Gb to be able to seamlessly edit. The DAS is always on if it's plugged in and is fairly silent. Under load it can get loud, but at idle it's almost inaudible.

[@sleekimagesphotography]

Trying to figure out the best options for my workflow, so pardon the dumb question. I think I would like to run this in a raid 10 configuration. Putting my edited images on one drive and have them mirrored/backed up to a second drive. Can this device be used with only two hard drives in the enclosure??

[@forestchaput]

If it is configured in RAID 10, the device will show up as one hard drive to your computer, but every time you put anything on it, it will be mirrored to all of the drives in the enclosure.

[@kengur3403]

Does it matter if Erp is enabled or disabled in Bios for this device when Pc is off?

[@forestchaput]

Not sure on that one!

[@mistertwo6113]

Thanks for this. I'm thinking of getting a NAS and using a DAS as the backup - would that work?

[@kengur3403]

When shutting down Pc after all tasks finished do we need to click safe eject every time or just shut down Pc is ok?

[@forestchaput]

Just shutting down the PC is totally fine.

[@kengur3403]

Thank you. I'm asking because when all is turned off Status light blinks green. Somewhere I read that safe eject needs to be clicked...but thats for "disconnecting", same for example a Usb stick (safe removal). I'm talking about when Shutting Down my PC😊 Hope you get what I meant. Thanks again!

[@dallmo]

thanks for the video, would you mind to share if you have any idea about : 1. how to update firmware ? the user guide didn't touch on this ; 2. how would you know if any one of the drive fails ? any email notification in such events ( can only be configured with the External RAID Manager, if applicable ) ?

[@ryansulak]

I think it would be good to clarify, I think since posting this video, now backblaze b2 exists, which is a cloud backup option for NAS, if you decide to go that route

[@forestchaput]

True! But the B2 storage is still much more expensive compared to their DAS friendly options.

[@veredictum4503]

Good, thanks! I understand RAID1 means if a drive fails, it can be quickly replaced, then replicated. However, I've also read horror stories of how, if it is the box's controller that fails, and if data is encrypted, then data cannot be retrieved even if disks were working. So my question is - does this box do automatic encryption? Or is it an option we can turn on and off? I used to think encrypt everything was a good idea. After reading 4 such horror stories, I'm rethinking that, because non-retrieval is as bad as total loss. Relatively few things need encryption - passwords, financials - they can be handled in special way and quadruple guarded!

[@forestchaput]

I'm not sure about that actually! You'd have to reach out to QNAP and ask them. If you are worried about it though, you could just configure the TR-004 as JBOD, and do your RAID in software on the computer. I think that would avoid losing data if the controller failed.

[@jessicaalvis7063]

What happens to my data if I buy a TR-002 and set it to Raid 1 with 2x8tb hard drives. Then I decide to upgrade to a TR-004 and so I put my 2x8tb hard drives full of data into the TR-004 along with another completely new 2x8tb hard drives and set the TR-004 to Raid 5? It is because I do not have the money for a TR-004 and 4 hard drives. So I want to start with the 2-bay solution and then later on upgrade to the 4-bay solution.

[@forestchaput]

I would imagine you would need to start from scratch when inserting those drives into the TR-004. I don't think there is a way to migrate drives from one unit to another without erasing all of the data.

[@KGNYC112]

Thanks, I appreciate this great tutorial video. SUBSCRIBED! I have another question- what's the maximum hard drive capacy that this DAS can handle on each tray? Thanks 🙏

[@forestchaput]

Thanks for the sub! I don't think there is one. You could fill it with 20TB drives in each bay and you should be good to go.

[@kanyetory9989]

Can i use it for gaming?

[@forestchaput]

Sure, but it’s not going to give you the fastest load times.

[@TheDarbanville]

Thanks, ypu helped me to understand how it works but i sttil dont get somethings. First of all i have 4 8TB disks, two of the seagate 2 of them WD. Can i use them in raid modes? I dont get how u can have 75% of data in raid5. Lets say i have 4 8TB disks, in this scenario i will have 24TB storage. And when i stored 22TB data in this config, how does it mirrorinng this data in case of failure. It seem not possible.

[@forestchaput]

Yes, mixing drives should work. It's not ideal, but again, it should work fine. Yep, 4 8TB drives in RAID 5 will have a total usable storage of 24TB. Essentially three of the drives each store 1/3 of a data packet, the fourth drive stores the sum of the data packet. If any of the four drives fail, the data packet can be rebuilt by the information on three of the drives. It's pretty cool tech and works great!

[@andyshillito2228]

Shame the informative video didn’t address the issue of lots of ‘existing’ drives as the title suggested? I was hoping to hear how the unit worked with different drives of different capacities and manufacturers?

[@forestchaput]

Sorry about that! I can see how someone would interpret the title and thumbnail that way. I meant it as a way to consolidate many external drives into one unit by copying the contents of each external onto one larger device.

[@Anonymous-m9f9j]

When in JBOD mode does this system expose the drives properly to something like Windows storage spaces? I hate the idea of having a hardware specific raid controller. If it breaks you can’t move to disks to form a raid unless it’s an identical raid controller. Single point failure where was software raid is way more portable and modern performance is identical on decent hardware

[@forestchaput]

I'm not sure how JBOD is handled on Windows. I would reach out to QNAP support and ask them. I've have great experience with them in the past.

[@DaciaProject]

There is no RAID 1 option?

[@forestchaput]

There is 1/10.

[@DaciaProject]

@@forestchaput I’ll be going with a Glyph RAID then…

[@retrogamer6209]

Is the tr002 and tr004 plug and play or dus it need power all the time and no worries if it loose power and dus it need a pc to run it or can it stand alone with out pc conected

[@nerkymusselman8843]

excellent video, thank you! question, my use would be simply playing my movies & tv shows via my mac mini on plex server. there would be no external use, just in house. i’m a first time user as i now just have some external ssd drives attached to the mac min for using plex. this das appears perfect for my use or am i missing something?

[@forestchaput]

You're not missing anything! That's actually what I use it for now and it works perfectly. It's plugged into a Mac Mini that I use as the server and the DAS can easily provide enough data for 4K streaming without any issues.

[@evallefoto]

Wow, you really KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! Amazing video, new sub, like and share buddy.

[@forestchaput]

Much appreciated!!

[@AZMTB]

I have a RAID 5 array of 4 drives running internally in my tower via an older LSI MegaRAID controller card. The disks have a copy of my backup data on it, basically my "warm backups" as opposed to my 2nd copy on a NAS I keep offline most of the time. I'd like to get this array migrated into a DAS but I am wondering if Windows will see the array and allow me to import it or not.

[@forestchaput]

Not sure on that one.

[@cayrick]

With Qnap TS-004 is it possible to use say, raid 1 with one drive on the PC and the mirrored drive in the enclosure or do both have to be in the enclosure?

[@jamegumb7298]

You may need to force it but yes should be possible. If we are talking Windows, set it to use drives in single/JBOD mode in the enclosure, go into drive manager, make dynamic disk, RAID 1, use on internal 1 external drive, it may moan or refuse, so use Powershell to force it to. On linux that means just setting up a RAID 1 and using 1 internal 1 external disk. Alos expect many, many errors and maybe nagging if you do not have the external drive connected. Also it may see the disconnect as unintentional so the drive being reconnected is the failed drive, refusing a rebuild. So reset/wipe the drive serial number inside the os, maybe each connect maybe just set it as default (like a cronjob) on disconnect. Ths also means a full check on data integrity on each connect if not a full rebuild (99% that can be disabled). But that means it _must_ be done in software and software only. Obviously it cannot be done by the controller in the housing as it clearly is not controlling the drive inside the pc. I am ging to assume you were that far already. If I were you, I'd skip this nonsense. Just get an app that writes data to the external drive as needed if you want it to mirror a drive inside the pc. This is not copying or moving software, not backup software, but explicitly file syncing software: FreeFileSync, rsync, SyncThing. Synkron seems to still be popular but it has not been updated in over a decade so skip it. I set mine to monitor changes realtime so it can be kept up to date with any small changes (which includes deletes so careful!) that is a thing that you can do as well and functions similar to what you want.

[@player1tv]

Qnap warranty is shite!! One month out of warranty and they want u to ship unit to Taiwan for $2000 repair, plus $400 shipping to get a $700 board replaced. Avoid them at all costs. Absolute crap after sales service. You cannot get any parts. Even at their local reseller. My $12000 unit is a sea anchor now.

[@forestchaput]

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience! I've had great luck with them so far.

[@player1tv]

@@forestchaput did they ship you the main parts or did you have to return to taiwan, for anything more than accessory repair.?

[@hankkingsley9183]

Are they supposed to extend your warranty out of pity? I mean because you are angry doesn't mean their support is bad. You can buy extended warranties from 3rd party companies, and write it off as a business expense

[@player1tv]

@@hankkingsley9183 What global company requires you to ship a critical part to another country for repair - I'll answer for you. A reterded one!

[@Teks123]

I have 4 different seagate hard drives. 2 8Tb, 1 14tb and 1 18tb. How does it work if i use this drives that have different capacities?

[@forestchaput]

That depends on which type of RAID you use. I would checkout my advanced photo storage series to learn more: kzbin.info/aero/PL8nbFT_WDPYZzU_hmG0Y7_C6sH5SbjkhP&feature=shared

[@carlosgouveia]

In RAID 5, if there is a drive failure, how will we be alerted?

[@forestchaput]

There is actually an audible alarm and visual indicator lights.

[@MrVidification]

What if I don't need network nas connectivity, and just want to use a drawer like enclosure as a das, with drives used independently? any better alternative? it's more down to wanting all drives in one place to be safer in a drawer, and I don't want a new larger pc case at the moment to just add drives to. most enclosures are expensive if I consider I won't ever need them as a nas raid for what they are, and the qnap ones seem to be built with a lot of cheap plastic. I suppose there's always the risk of a single enclosure corrupting every drive, whether it's used as a nas or das

[@forestchaput]

That's a great question that I really don't have the answer to. I would just recommend leaving all of the drives in a drawer and plugged into a powered USB hub. That way you could access any of them without disconnecting and reconnecting. Something like this would be perfect: amzn.to/3OdAkip

[@thereagancornelioshow1087]

Amazing Explanation! But I have a very important question i had this NAS tr004 for 4 years i think and i didnt use the full capability of it. I use it as a normal plug and play hdd .. So if im going to reset everything and follow your JBOD does it going to erase everything as well? or better to buy a new HDD so i could use this device properly? @rockymountainscoolofphotography Thank you in advanced! Cheers!

[@forestchaput]

Yes, a reset will erase all data! I would set it up as RAID5, that seems to be the best for this device.

[@kernzilla]

this is one of the more comprehensive reviews on this particular unit, and wanted to say it's appreciated! curious if you see any drastic drops in r/w speeds once the unit is 50%+ full? my Areca raid performs incredibly well, but in the 65-70% full range, I predictably see noticably slower performance. thinking about using this QNAP as a mirror to my RAID and don't need it to be mega-fast, but curious if you have any input on this aspect of this QNAP unit. thanks!

[@forestchaput]

I don't have specific numbers, but I use mine for storing my personal media library and it's 80% full. I don't notice any speed issues.

[@kernzilla]

@@forestchaput ah that's awesome to hear, thanks for the info. and man, just watched your latest video 😿 sending hugs from Florida, has to be a lot to process. cheers to to perhaps this opening some new doors!

[@JohnSmith-zl8rz]

is too noisy?

[@forestchaput]

Not bad at all!

[@BobbieBA]

Fantastic overview of this product and explanation of RAID and NAS and DAS AND the differences and pros/cons. I continue to buy external rugged SSD HD’s that I can out and use on trips. But, they’re getting pretty full and I was intimidated to go the RAID route. Question, if you start w 2 HD’s and decide to add another or 2 later, will it still configure as only one that your computer sees? Also, I would love for you to do a video one day on workflow to capture and edit in a smaller SSD and then merge seamlessly into your master LR catalogue and database. Thanks so much, Forest, you make things so understandable for us oldsters.

[@forestchaput]

Thank you! Hmmm, with something like this I would recommend starting with all four drives full as otherwise you won't be able to configure it in RAID 5 which is my recommended configuration. Great video idea, I'll add it to the list!

[@zeniktorres4320]

I think you can configure, for example, disk 1 & 2 as Raid 1. Later you can install two more disks 3 & 4 and set it up as Raid 1 also.

[@PSYCHOV3N0M]

No such thing as SSD hard drives. Hard drives are slow and mechanical. Solid state drives are fast, solid, and quiet.

[@stevemuzak8526]

always get 4 drives setup. Yes, it’s expensive but it’s so worth it

[@gurgelj.776]

I understand it comes with a USB to USB-C cable but can we use a USB-C to USB-C cable instead? Is there any issues with just using our own cable to connect the DAS to our computer ?

[@mannguyetlau]

Been using USB-C to USB-C to connect the DAS to my pc just fine without any issue

[@aaroncatolico7550]

And true that this "QNAP" can simplify everything, you're still better off creating your own as it's cheaper, and you get better experience in control over a DAS server as well as better speeds. You should be using SATA or eSATA as your connectors to the DAS & client for much greater speeds.

[@forestchaput]

True! But for the consumer, this is an excellent way to get expanded storage very easily.

[@johnwilson6211]

Thanks for sharing; I have 10 plus external hard drives

[@forestchaput]

No problem 👍

[@UtubeMyAccountName]

7:07 that's if you're using 4 drives. If using 5 drives you get 80%, 6 drives 83.33%, 7 drives 85.71%, etc... RAID 5 is the best combination of speed + redundancy (as long as no drive fails). RAID 5 is the fastest, besides RAID 0. If you got similar speeds across all configurations, something is wrong with the device, or your methodology.

[@forestchaput]

Very true! However there has to be some bottleneck in the device limiting speeds, as RAID 0, 1, 5, and JBOD all had roughly the same speed.

[@UtubeMyAccountName]

@@forestchaput Yes USB 3.0 is definitely a bottleneck with a 625 MB/s max I/O speed, which it will never achieve real world. However RAID 0 should still be getting about 475-500 MB/s. Even though external RAID devices are more for storage & redundancy than performance, 2** MB/s is a lackluster performance for this device.

[@kennethgnielsen]

What is the maximum TB storage you can have with this unit?

[@forestchaput]

I’m actually not sure. I can’t find that spec anywhere which makes me think there might not be a limit (at least with currently produced hard drives).

[@KageBlink]

Says no longer available on the link provided

[@KageBlink]

Second link lol first one works :)

[@forestchaput]

Good! I'll update the links now. Thanks for letting me know!

[@helloitsmehb]

Faster DAS? Which one?

[@forestchaput]

Something like this would be a lot faster: bhpho.to/48mnCpy

[@GarryJantzen]

Can I use this to deliver video to my roku box?

[@forestchaput]

You could if you plugged the DAS into an old PC running Plex or Jellyfin.

[@garryej]

Thanks!

[@chadj.w.anderson5473]

thank you sir

[@forestchaput]

Most welcome!

[@karlweb1]

Great video thanks

[@forestchaput]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@bradl2636]

Spinning HDDs..? How quaint. Is there an SSD equivalent?

[@forestchaput]

Hahaha. You could just install SSDs and be good to go!

[@alexfitzroy5849]

I currently use my pc as my storage for Plex. i use this primarily to store data and watch movies in my house. Will this DAS be fast enough?

[@forestchaput]

Yes! I’m actually streaming a 4K movie on Plex that’s stored on this DAS as I’m writing this comment. So yes 😁

[@aaroncatolico7550]

RAID 6 is better than RAID 5 in most cases.

[@forestchaput]

Sure! But only if you need a two-disk failure tolerance. I would argue that RAID 5 plus a cloud backup like Backblaze would beat RAID 6 with no cloud backup any day.

[@LarsFerdinand]

Uninformative video. The best way to use this unit is with software control from QNAP RAID manager. Also, you never mentioned RAID1, which is the best use case scenario if you really worry about losing data. I have it set up on software control with 1 array RAID1 and 1 array RAID0, in which the RAID1 is the array is always protected because one disk is always the mirror of the other. So yeah, there's the option RAID1 with 1 or 2 arrays on this option which would be the safest way to go.

[@iamanowl26]

tried this, didn't even show up on my Mac...no help or anything online to fix the problem either. Don't bother with it, waste of money

[@forestchaput]

That's strange! What mode do you have it in?