The use of the "Toaster" type of HDD holder has one problem...
The electronic parts in the HDD are damaged ( although slightly) by
incorrectly handling of the bare drive. If you do not use proper grounding
and handling techniques, you are damaging the drive each time you
touch/insert/remove/change it.
Eventually, the accumulated damage destroys the electronics.
The advantage of a HDD in an enclosure is that you are not touching the
drive, not doing damage.
You could always buy bare HDD and then put them in an enclosure you
purchase, if you wish to avoid purchasing all new HW each time you feel it
is time. You just buy new enclosures. These enclosures come such that you
put in 1,2,4,8, or more drives in a single box. The fault of this logic is
that the same power supply runs all the drives. If the Power Supply goes
crazy, you have just destroyed ALL your drives.
It is not complicated nor expensive to get separate, USB drives and DIY. I
highly recommend this technique. Cables, drives, USB HUBs, etc are all
pretty cheap. Do it right. Remember that a USB HDD ( the bigger Desktop
versions please!!!) cost about $25 per TB each. A 3 HDD setup of 4TB drives
would cost less than $500. Total. With the wires, USB Hub ( you probably
need more USB ports to handle the extra USB needs) and backup SW.
A few days ago I wrote about how long it might take Tina to backup all her
data.. It was something like a full month, 24/7, if she needed to move her
backup storage. Not many of us have that many files. However, for those
going the Cloud route, remember that your internet provider may not give you
the quick upload speeds to perform this task in an efficient way. It all
depends on how many files you have in your collection already and how many
you will add periodically and your tolerance for waiting.
The Cloud storage was designed for use by people that have limited files;
those files have no value ( their loss of Selfies is of no consequence); and
access by their phones is of paramount importance. ( a bit tongue in cheek)
It is a ridiculous solution to bilk more $$$ from you and have no
consequences to the Cloud Company when things go wrong.
Notice I never got into the argument of privacy, legal protection,
responsibility, nor the small print wherein they probably state they own the
tights to anything you put on their cloud..
Frank Filippone
Red735i@xxxxxxxxxxx
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