Hi, there! Would any one let me know if I could use different HDD's on it? I mean different sizes, manufacturers etc. Thinking storage consolidation.
1570066
From everything I have read about Raid arrays, no to different sizes.... Yes to different manufactures (if they are compatable with each other) If you attempt to use multiple sizes, the smallest become the default and it may not work correctly. Different manufactures may or may not work depending upon who made the HHDs. In any case, I would not try either different manufactures or sizes. Mine worked perfectly with the same size and manufacture. Depending upon the RAID type you select, you could be taking the chance of losing all of your data, especially if you lose a HHD and the system tries to rebuild to a new one (different size and manufacture could gum up the works).
1570067
You can configure it as JBOD (just a bunch of drives) and consolidate your various drives. If you configure as RAID, you'll need to replace bad drives with exactly the same size and possibly type of drive
1570068
From everything I have read about Raid arrays, no to different sizes.... Yes to different manufactures (if they are compatable with each other) If you attempt to use multiple sizes, the smallest become the default and it may not work correctly. Different manufactures may or may not work depending upon who made the HHDs.In any case, I would not try either different manufactures or sizes. Mine worked perfectly with the same size and manufacture. Depending upon the RAID type you select, you could be taking the chance of losing all of your data, especially if you lose a HHD and the system tries to rebuild to a new one (different size and manufacture could gum up the works). From everything I have read about Raid arrays, no to different sizes.... Yes to different manufactures (if they are compatable with each other) If you attempt to use multiple sizes, the smallest become the default and it may not work correctly. Different manufactures may or may not work depending upon who made the HHDs.In any case, I would not try either different manufactures or sizes. Mine worked perfectly with the same size and manufacture. Depending upon the RAID type you select, you could be taking the chance of losing all of your data, especially if you lose a HHD and the... » Read More From everything I have read about Raid arrays, no to different sizes.... Yes to different manufactures (if they are compatable with each other) If you attempt to use multiple sizes, the smallest become the default and it may not work correctly. Different manufactures may or may not work depending upon who made the HHDs.In any case, I would not try either different manufactures or sizes. Mine worked perfectly with the same size and manufacture. Depending upon the RAID type you select, you could be taking the chance of losing all of your data, especially if you lose a HHD and the system tries to rebuild to a new one (different size and manufacture could gum up the works). « Show Less
1570069
yes you can...i put 3 hd ..2 x 500gb seagate and 1 of 1 tr hitachi and work good.
2259105
I once talked to a fellow on the amazon message boards and he told me he had managed to take the stock hard drive out and put in an ssd. That's what he told me he did. I took his word for it and maybe you should too. But it was just his word so proceed with caution. It might void the warranty if you do swap the hard drives out.
1322936
call the company....they are very helpful or email them. I own two of their drives and have been very happy
1913912
@Tony I believe you could. You'd have to create two partitions on the drive, one formatted in HFS+ (for Mac) and the other in NTFS (for Windows). I have never done any such thing but it might be worth a try. Of course, as these drives have come so far down in price, why not just buy two, one for Mac and the other for Windows?
1634952
Thank you for the info, I'll take a look. By the way would you recommend a 1tb 5400rpm or a 750gb 7200rpm? Is the speed trade-off worth the space trade off? thank you
1112435
I've actually copied a few smaller to larger drives, but I can't remember how it handled the partition on the new drives. If it didn't automatically resize to fill the drive, then it was trivial to do within Windows because I know I didn't spend a lot of time doing it, and I definitely didn't use partitioning software.
96970
There is updated firmware to support 3TB drives in each drive bay. But I don't know about 4TB. It might work or need another firmware update.
1235418
Regarding use of multiple sized drives; you should not only use the same size, but the same brand and model if possible to avoid issues. The only configuration that this doesn't apply/mean as much to could be JBOD (Basically just one big data dump w/no redundancy). Data gone is gone:)
1872238
Thanks for your information. I did also find out that there's a sata port intended for an optical drive. If so, then I can mount the SSD in that bay and still have all 4 bays for data. Now - does anybody know if the BIOS can handle 3TB drives without repartitioning?
2100672
I have actually tried it with a 2TB HDD and it worked fine. Loaded up with no issues. It should definitely work with a 3TB HDD, 1TB shouldn't make a difference. You would definitely enjoy it, i sure am.
1511969
Hi it's a bit confusing, and hard to figure out who you are ordering from on these drives. Did not buy mine from Oceanside. Might want to look at similar drives from Fry's. They have the full warranty.
723799
I'm not sure. That might be needed. I still haven't been able to get mine to work in either drive yet.
519409
Apparently the drivers or buffers or something in the interface cannot handle a higher capacity HDD. This is only a case & interface - you have to buy a HDD separately to put inside to complete it. HTH ...
2093493
Although I haven't done it with this particular array (I'm using it in RAID5), by the regular principals, it doesn't look good. If they were individual drives, absolutely not. If they are removed from another JBOD, they would have to be in the same order, and would depend on having the same firmware. Basically... I wouldn't try it with any array. What you're looking for is probably something with a port multiplier in it so that each drive is handled individually by your OS. Then you'd need a port-multiplier compatible eSATA card (or usb if you like slow drives).
527108
ABSOLUTELY. I have been using a pair of 3TB, a pair of 4T and a pair of 1 TB seagates for some time with no problems. I do not use any of their special back-up software. (KIK, Ph.D.)
1685114
Thank you for asking and all the responses, that had me confused too. It looked like a small drive but the dimensions were off. I'm also looking at getting the hard case recommended but that dimensions listed would not have fit. I'm grateful to have found my question already answered.
2029268
I can't really answer that as I have never considered it. I would like to say no, but then again, anything is possible. Sorry, that's the best I can give you. I will say that is is probably one of the best external HD enclosures I have every had. If it wasn't so expensive, I would buy another one.