Hi folks,

Hope you’re having a lovely day.

Looking for suggestions on what to do with 4 x 4TB Western Digital My Passport. I used to use rock these bad boys before I made the jump to Synology NAS.

What do you guys do with old external hard drives?

  • No_Bit_1456@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I usually shuck them for internal drives, but the 2.5s like that WD did a funny for them to convert the drive controller to be an actual USB port, not a SATA port. Which is crappy for you wanting to really do anything shucking wise.

    • jonjonijanagan@alien.topOPB
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, I was hoping there’s another option than just cold backup. Too bad I can’t just shuck these guys. Thanks for your response. Cheers.

      • Far_Marsupial6303@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        The only manufacturers left are WD, Toshiba and Seagate.

        WD and Toshiba have the USB interface integrated in the mainboard. Seagate 2.5" externals are regular SATA drives with a detachable interface.

        All other third party externals can have drives from any of the manufacturers and may vary from time to time.

        Sandisk Pro/G-Tech/G-Technology is owned by WD and LaCie is owned by Seagate.

      • No_Bit_1456@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        Pretty much, most of the 2.5s are like that. The ones that are marketed as external drives. let me correct myself on that bit.

  • zrgardne@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Cold backups

    Put them somewhere if your house burns down you still have the important stuff

  • webbkorey@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I have a couple MyPassports for cold backups and one I use for projects between my Desktop and Laptop.

  • untamedeuphoria@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    In that formfactor. I would look into the NAS pi-Hats. There are a couple that take 4-5 2.5" drives. You could go for a tiny efficient builld.

    • jonjonijanagan@alien.topOPB
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      1 year ago

      Thanks for the suggestion. I’m not familiar with that but I’m guessing it’s somewhat building a NAS with Raspberry Pi? Will look into it. Cheers!