External HD size for U9 - still 4TB?

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Hey Guys,

Suddenly i have five, 4 TB Western Digital my books full of 4k content lol. I need to buy yet another one - can i go bigger than 4TB? No worries if not!
 
Hey Guys,

Suddenly i have five, 4 TB Western Digital my books full of 4k content lol. I need to buy yet another one - can i go bigger than 4TB? No worries if not!

You can :).

(I switched to dedicated NAS some time ago as I had an increasing number of external HDD's like you & I was only going to end up with more the way things were headed lol ;). It made sense in every regard to go with NAS instead.). The problem isn't resolved outright as I now have multiple NAS's instead lol ;). But, it's much better than having a load of individual external HDD's all over the place & obviously all data is centralised for easy access from any device too :).

However, I previously used 2 x 8TB Seagate Backup Plus drives ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-De...te+8tb+backup&qid=1568126256&s=gateway&sr=8-2 ), & 1 x 8TB WD MY Book with my U9-H. They all worked perfectly :).

If you're ending up with a large collection of external HDD's ultimately you would be much better off considering buying something like a 4 bay NAS & populate it with the largest drives you can afford. (You could even shuck the drives from the caddies of your existing external HDD's so they're recycled into a NAS too :).)

NAS would be your best bet ;).
 
You can :).

(I switched to dedicated NAS some time ago as I had an increasing number of external HDD's like you & I was only going to end up with more the way things were headed lol ;). It made sense in every regard to go with NAS instead.). The problem isn't resolved outright as I now have multiple NAS's instead lol ;). But, it's much better than having a load of individual external HDD's all over the place & obviously all data is centralised for easy access from any device too :).

However, I previously used 2 x 8TB Seagate Backup Plus drives ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Desktop-External-Creative-Photography/dp/B01IAD5ZC6/ref=sr_1_2?adgrpid=52866757333&gclid=CjwKCAjwk93rBRBLEiwAcMapUX0vqyaIgNgqn9rIMvpHmZVHKkOrygfbZHgJDQuPsEjvFHESBlvghBoCu30QAvD_BwE&hvadid=259041995456&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=9044891&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=b&hvrand=14024204718496502488&hvtargid=aud-613328383199:kwd-298312342998&hydadcr=24134_1752533&keywords=seagate+8tb+backup&qid=1568126256&s=gateway&sr=8-2 ), & 1 x 8TB WD MY Book with my U9-H. They all worked perfectly :).

If you're ending up with a large collection of external HDD's ultimately you would be much better off considering buying something like a 4 bay NAS & populate it with the largest drives you can afford. (You could even shuck the drives from the caddies of your existing external HDD's so they're recycled into a NAS too :).)

NAS would be your best bet ;).

I'm so deep in externals lol! Honestly my wife and are so use to the externals, we will never go NAS. We have them labeled pretty good and its quite easy to switch.
I thought i could only use 4TB. I will only buy Western digital HD's. Interesting to know i can buy a 6 gig or even an 8 gig...
 
Hey Guys,

Suddenly i have five, 4 TB Western Digital my books full of 4k content lol. I need to buy yet another one - can i go bigger than 4TB? No worries if not!
Hi.
As @ArcticWolf said i also use NAS.
I used a long long time ago external hdds but since the beginning of XBMC (more or less, 2003 :)) i changed first to ethernet (i used a normal PC as a server) and later to NAS (ethernet gigabit)

Also as @ArcticWolf said is much simpler/better using a NAS, instead of external hdds.
If you use external hdds you are limited.

With a NAS you can buy more hdds, with more capacity, buy/add another NAS (if the first is full) and continue like this.
It is just a matter of network configuration, you can watch your 4k content, keep personal data, etc.

I did not answer your question because i dont know the limit of the device (u9h) for external hdd.

I advice using external hdd for this:
-Second backup of your most important data, because the first backup is recommended in another second NAS :), even if the first NAS uses SHR, RAID....
 
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I did not answer your question because i dont know the limit of the device (u9h) for external hdd.

MINIX officially support HDD's up to 2.5 TB with the U9-H. (Obviously end users have reported successfully using much larger drives themselves :).)

I'm so deep in externals lol! Honestly my wife and are so use to the externals, we will never go NAS. We have them labeled pretty good and its quite easy to switch.
I thought i could only use 4TB. I will only buy Western digital HD's. Interesting to know i can buy a 6 gig or even an 8 gig...

Read the above regarding the maximum size MINIX "officially" support with the U9-H :).

Personally, I had the Seagate & WD 8TB external HDD's working fine myself & you have the 4TB WD working fine too, but that's not a guarantee that a 6TB will work (if you follow?).

Having said that, I think it would be a reasonably safe assumption that if the 8TB Seagate, & the 4TB & 8TB WD external HDD's work fine with the U9-H, the 6TB versions probably will as well :). (Purchase from Amazon lol, if a 6TB doesn't work for any reason you can immediately return it no questions asked ;).)

Fair enough if your current system of multiple HDD's is working for you :). I'm not going to try to flog you NAS or endlessly preach to others to convert lol ;).

Obviously I was in a similar situation to you myself & based upon the capacity of my current NAS I would have ended up with at least 12 x 8TB external HDD's by now lol.

The other major factor for me to swap over to NAS along with the other considerations is that using RAID/parity on the NAS gives you a backup of all data if an HDD in the array should fail. If an external HDD dies you can wave goodbye to X TB's of data ;).

Whatever works best for your situation/circumstances at the end of the day.

Enjoy :).
 
The problem is also i have bought 3 of the HD's in the last few months - over $100 each. I can't re-use them, correct? I would have to start over with new HDs?
 
The problem is also i have bought 3 of the HD's in the last few months - over $100 each. I can't re-use them, correct? I would have to start over with new HDs?
You can re-use your hdds.
Take a look on Synology NAS, ds418 for example (4 bays) .
That particular NAS uses SHR, synology hybrid raid , that means different hdds, different sizes with redundancy, etc....
 
The problem is also i have bought 3 of the HD's in the last few months - over $100 each. I can't re-use them, correct? I would have to start over with new HDs?
Sorry but i forgot to say this:
You can re-use the hdds but the system will format them in order to work.
You need to backup first as you can , it is better, because you might be lose everything.

SHR mode only needs two hdds.

Ds418 have others management system but i advice you SHR.
 
Interesting, i guess i'm confused what NAS even is.
So NAS is a bay station that i put all my HD's into? I guess i don't realize the benefits for paying a lot of money for the NAS base station, what am i missing? I would take the NAS base station and keep it beside my Minix/TV, or i keep it over in my PC area? What's the benefit? Right now i simply have all my HD's behind my TV - each day i grab one and connect it to my PC when i get new content to download. I have a power supply by my TV and one beside my PC.
 
Interesting, i guess i'm confused what NAS even is.
So NAS is a bay station that i put all my HD's into? I guess i don't realize the benefits for paying a lot of money for the NAS base station, what am i missing? I would take the NAS base station and keep it beside my Minix/TV, or i keep it over in my PC area? What's the benefit? Right now i simply have all my HD's behind my TV - each day i grab one and connect it to my PC when i get new content to download. I have a power supply by my TV and one beside my PC.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage

Nas is a file server.....

You must connect a NAS to a router/switch....
 
8TB external drives DO work. I must have about a dozen 8TB drives full of HD and 4K content now. I use a dual SATA dock, so usually have 16TB in the dock, plus 2 or 3 2TB external USB portable drives, all plugged into a powered USB hub.

As for NAS, I'll pass. I did look into them but have been totally put off from what I have read. I have all my drives cataloged, so finding any particular movie or TV series is very easy. I do not run any kind of a home network and have only 1 TV.
 
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