[phi]

Hey Mac peeps,

I believe that the vast majority of you have at least some form of external storage. The HDD space that comes with your Mac, short of the Mac Pro, should not be sufficient right?

Because I am using an iMac, the non user-upgradability forces one to resort to external drive solutions. In the past, when my storage requirements were lower, 1 or 2 enclosures each housing a single drive would suffice. However, I realized that as my storage needs grew, I could not continually add more drives via enclosures each housing an individual drive.

This is not a viable option in the long run. I look set to purchasing 2 more external HDDs. Since the iMac comes with only 3 USB2.0 ports, I would definitely have to use them in conjunction with a USB hub.

* Is it silly to connect 5 external HDDs in their respective enclosures to the Mac through a USB hub?
* Does using several external HDDs connected to a USB Hub slow down performance?


There would be too many enclosures, each requiring their own power point. Some had to be (I naively bought USB2 enclosures as they were cheaper) connected through hubs. Moreover, it made for crazy cable management on my table. Lastly, I am not sure if I have been pursuing the right storage solution.
I look to use my external storage as a

* Backup solution. I plan to use SuperDuper! to store a clone of my hard disk.
* Music storage. The iTunes music library would be housed externally as the current size of my music library negates the meagre size of my existing internal hard disk.
* Media storage. Videos, TV shows, Movies, Ripped DVDs, Video Podcasts and the like.
* If possible, I would like the above media to be accessible from other Macs in the household via the wireless-G network I have at home.


While the accessibility from other Macs is nice, speed is important too. Currently, USB2 does not cut it. For example, I wanted to transfer the contents on one drive to another; it was around 100GB and it took more than a day!

* My media collection is already very large. Do you guys actually make a backup copy of your media collection? I am not referring to precious photos but your mp3 and video collection.
* Is replacing all my enclosures with FireWire ones and then daisy-chaining them a viable solution?
* I have read up about RAID but am still confused. Do I need it?
* What are the setups that you guys have? I’m open to anything. I just hope that it would not involve spending too much money cause I don’t have that much to spend.


I would really like to hear from you guys.

Thanks all!

[mduell]

There's something wrong with those transfer speeds. USB2 should be able to burn through 100GB in about an hour and a half (~20MBps).

Chaining FireWire drives won't be much of an improvement either. They're all going to bottleneck down to the final connection.

What size drives are you using? I've seen people with literally a dozen 60-250GB drives that could be replaced with a pair of 750GB drives.

[phi]

You are right.
However, I have noticed that the USB2 speeds are very inconsistent and erratic. I use Path Finder and it allows me to monitor transfer speeds.
During that time when I had transferred the 100GB worth of files, the transfer speed started off at a healthy ~18MBps. Grabbed a cup of coffee, came back it was crawling at ~7MBps. I thought it was momentary. I went out for a run, came back and it was at 674.2KBps! Man, I was crazy.

[phi]

Could you elaborate more on what you meant by the 'final bottleneck' part.

• Assuming we have A, B, C, D time connected to a USB hub ( they are now external USB enclosures). If I were to read/write to all 4 of them, the speed would be 480/5 ~96mbps? (theoretically, I know its not so in reality and that is the burst speed) Is this the same if I were to read/write to A, B, C, D (which are not external FW enclosures and daisy-chained together). If I were to read/write to all 4 of them, the speed would be 400/5 ~80mbps?

[Big Mac]

Are there other devices connected to that USB port? It's possible that you've got another device connected to the same bus that is causing speed to drop considerably.

[OreoCookie]

Drives in iMacs are user-replaceable. However, you can only fit one drive at a time. I would advise against connecting that many drives via a USB hub. It will degrade performance if you want to use several drives simultaneously.

Perhaps you might be interested in these threads that discusses user experiences with different configurations, ranging from having single drives to hardware RAID 5s:
This is a general overview where other members present their solutions and why it worked for them
solution involving several separate disks
earlier thread by the same member

Edit: It would also help if you were to quantify `large', i. e. tell us exactly what amount of storage you need for which application.

[peeb]

Yes, the question in my mind is how big are those drives? What are you doing that you need all of them connected? Firewire is definitely the way to go, and it looks like you are video editing, but let's look at whether you are using the space optimally and having the smallest number of really large drives connected.

[Arju]

You might want to consider a NAS type solution although throughput can be limited by network speeds. Ideally an N router (new Airport Extreme comes to mind) and a gigabit switch for wired connections if there are multiple wired clients.

I have my HTPC with 900GB of space being shared on my network for Usenet storage and 802.11G wireless is the biggest bottleneck. I can easily stream video and audio to any wired computer but over wireless higher quality movies (1.5GB rips and larger) stutter once in a while. VNC connections over wireless from HTPC <-> MacBook stall frequently as well. And signal penetration is terrible in my house thanks to a renovated basement so I had to install a Wireless AP upstairs after running CAT5 three floors up.

I'm waiting for the 802.11N protocol to be finalized before I make a jump towards the newer wireless tech. I think it will solve most of these problems but I'd have to buy wireless adaptor cards (3 laptops in the house) and buy a gateway as well. For newer unproven tech its a little risky. And I want to replace my MacBook in a year so I'll wait a while.

[kamina]

I don't know how much your actual need for space is, but here's what my plans are.

Current:
Imac with a disk almost full. A 250GB external drive I don't keep connected to the computer (mainly contains extra backups and old trash). I also have a 300GB NAS connected to my router, and make backups of everything remotely importrant to that drive. It's also a practical way of making sure anything is available to my notebook. This way if my imac or external drive die I don't lose everything. I also Burn all the most important things (pictures and documents) and DVD and take them to the office. This is incase somebody would rob my apartment.

Future:
I hate having to think about what to keep, or if I have room to back up that extra dvd. I also tend to run out of USB ports on the iMac. I'm thinking of buying a 500GB LaCie mini Hard Drive & Hub and keeping it connected to the computer. I'll keep the 250GB one for junk (but end up using it alot less...). I'll also replace my current NAS with a 1TB model which supports RAID 1. This way I'll only end up with 500GB, but it can survive a disk breaking.

This way I won't end up with huge amounts of data, but all the important stuff will be more secure. This could also easily be extended if needed (the mini stacks up neatly on top of each other).

[phi]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Are there other devices connected to that USB port? It's possible that you've got another device connected to the same bus that is causing speed to drop considerably.

Hi,

Correct me if I am wrong, but I heard that on a i.e. 4-port USB2 hub, if there is 1 USB1.1 device connected than the speeds of the hub would be downgraded to USB1.1 speeds?

Currently, I have 1 4-port USB hub and 1 7-port USB hub. There are 3 external HDDs connected to the 4-port USB hub. Is this a problem?

Thanks!

[phi]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Drives in iMacs are user-replaceable. However, you can only fit one drive at a time. I would advise against connecting that many drives via a USB hub. It will degrade performance if you want to use several drives simultaneously.

Perhaps you might be interested in these threads that discusses user experiences with different configurations, ranging from having single drives to hardware RAID 5s:
This is a general overview where other members present their solutions and why it worked for them
solution involving several separate disks
earlier thread by the same member

Edit: It would also help if you were to quantify `large', i. e. tell us exactly what amount of storage you need for which application.

Hi,

I apologize for the lack of details.

I am using a 2.16C2D 20’ iMac that comes only with FW400, USB2 ports and a 250GB internal HDD that is partitioned 100GB, 100GB and 50GB.

My media, is spanned over a 40GB,40GB on an old Windows box, 160GB, 80GB on another Mac and 250GB + 100GB on my iMac. It is crazily messy.

My files, family photos videos have a 250GB drive for themselves and are nearly full.

Using SuperDuper!, I have another 120GB drive that acts as a carbon copy of my Macintosh HD.

Recently, I deleted/lost some files and am trying to recover them, for this I am using the remaining space on my iMac for file recovery from that old drive.

[phi]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Drives in iMacs are user-replaceable. However, you can only fit one drive at a time. I would advise against connecting that many drives via a USB hub. It will degrade performance if you want to use several drives simultaneously.

Perhaps you might be interested in these threads that discusses user experiences with different configurations, ranging from having single drives to hardware RAID 5s:
This is a general overview where other members present their solutions and why it worked for them
solution involving several separate disks
earlier thread by the same member

Edit: It would also help if you were to quantify `large', i. e. tell us exactly what amount of storage you need for which application.

Thanks for the links! I'll take the time to slowly go through them.

[phi]

Originally Posted by Arju 

You might want to consider a NAS type solution although throughput can be limited by network speeds. Ideally an N router (new Airport Extreme comes to mind) and a gigabit switch for wired connections if there are multiple wired clients.

I have my HTPC with 900GB of space being shared on my network for Usenet storage and 802.11G wireless is the biggest bottleneck. I can easily stream video and audio to any wired computer but over wireless higher quality movies (1.5GB rips and larger) stutter once in a while. VNC connections over wireless from HTPC <-> MacBook stall frequently as well. And signal penetration is terrible in my house thanks to a renovated basement so I had to install a Wireless AP upstairs after running CAT5 three floors up.

I'm waiting for the 802.11N protocol to be finalized before I make a jump towards the newer wireless tech. I think it will solve most of these problems but I'd have to buy wireless adaptor cards (3 laptops in the house) and buy a gateway as well. For newer unproven tech its a little risky. And I want to replace my MacBook in a year so I'll wait a while.

Arju,

I have considered a network solution.

Actually, the Airport Extreme router looks like a good solution. It can share printers and hard drives connected to a USB hub that is connected to the single USB2 port on it.

However, my gripe is, correct me if I am wrong, that unless all the Macs/Windows boxes in my household have wirelss-N, if not, the speed of the network would be downgraded to the lowest wireless standard on the network. That is, if I have an old Powerbook/IBM with wireless-G, the speeds would go back down to 54mbps?

I have tried transferring files over a wireless network and found it slow and unreliable. Sometimes, transfers would disconnect or stop haflway.

What is your experience with network-accessed storage? Is it reliable? I intend to access my media from and backup to it.

Also, I do not have a wired network and thus Gigabit Ethernet is not an option to me.

Moreover, the Airport Extreme comes with only 10/100, I think.

Thanks.