External USB drives for backup weren't great with UFS (but I did get away with them for over 2 years), but once support for the UFS file system was dropped external USB drives were a disaster waiting to happen, so I struggled for some time to find an affordable and practical backup solution. Input from
@Arwen (Thanks!) I got me stared down this path.
As a result of the assistance I've received I'd like to offer this resource back to the community now that I've been using it for several months with great success.
I found an inexpensive and durable removable drive system that makes external drives for backup very easy/convenient/safe.
Full disclosure: I do not benefit from this in any way financially or otherwise. This is such a good product, I'd like to see it stick around and I think the community would benefit from knowing about it. The manufacturer has done a crappy job of marketing, and the web site sucks! (The brain dead search engine on the web site didn't find the item even when given the exact part number! FYI The following page has the model number info and current price info
http://www.addonics.com/products/ddcssas.php ). Other details can be had here:
http://www.addonics.com/products/ddcssas.php
It took me almost a day of serious searching find this unit, and then once I found it several days of back-and-forth with the support staff on their ticket system to clarify important details such as rated life of the connector and the correct part numbers to order.
FYI the units I purchased were:
Complete Unit: Model DDCSSAS
Extra Drive Cady: DSACSB
For the benefit of those who haven't researched the life span of the contacts on a SATA drive, I know it surprised me how very fragile the they are and how very few plug/unplug cycles they are rated for (Between 50-100). That's not going to work out very well for frequent changes over an extended period of time. (Murphy's law states your connection will wear out just when you need the drive to restore your pool!) All the other Hot Swap racks I was able to find did not protect the delicate SATA connectors because they are not designed to use the drive like a backup cartridge. In most normal application, you swap out a dead drive, or remove drives during system maintenance-that is only going to happen a few times during the life of the drive/system, so it's no big deal to just use the bare drive. As a removable backup that is changed 2 or more times a week, that connector is going to be badly worn in a year or less.
If you have a case that has an open 5 1/4" inch drive bay, and an extra SATA port that supports hot swap, the Diamond Drive Cartridge System will convert any SATA drive into a robust backup cartridge. (If you need an external device, that is possible as well, but I don't have the details - go to the web site and/or contact Addonics).
What makes this unit so good for a removable backup system are:
- It has it's own high endurance SATA connector that connects the cartridge and the backplane that is rated at 10,000 insertion cycles.
- It is very well manufactured to tight tolerances so that it inserts and removes from the backplane very smoothly. (Back in the IDE Drive days I used several removable drive systems, and they all were very tricky to insert and remove due to poor manufacturing tolerances.)
- It well ventilated and is made of aluminum, so it does an excellent job of keeping the drive cool. There is no fan, so it is silent. (WD RED 8TB runs at about 10C over ambient, and a 10TB 7200 HGST drive was about 12C over ambient after days of burnin with badblocks-Mounted in a Corsair Obsidian Full Tower with stock fans)
- Reasonable Price - Complete unit is $49US, and the cady only is $25US in 2017.
- Doesn't require an extra cabinet - fits right in the case - no cables to accidentally get disconnected. Locking key to make you think before unplugging.
- It was easy to install, and came with a decent SATA cable.
I've been super happy with the system-great for off-site backups and keeping a backup that is safe from catastrophic events such as a lightening strike on the power line or power supply failing and frying the whole system. Very easy to use:
- Just slide the cartridge in, turn the key and the drive powers up.
- Wait for the drive to spin up and be recognized by FreeNAS.
- Sign in to the GUI and import the drive (pool) or if it's the first time with a new disk create your pool.
- Run your backup.
- Log into the GUI again and detach the drive.
- Once detached, turn the key, and the drive powers off - wait a few seconds for the drive to spin down and park (to be on the safe side).
- Pull out the cartridge and store the drive safely.
(For the benefit of fellow Canadians (Americans can easily get it directly from Addonics and possibly other major suppliers) the most affordable way to get this in Canada (Summer 2017) is from NCIX, but it was not on the NCIX web site. I had to contact NCIX and arrange a special order, and I also had to contact Addonics to contact NCIX to advise them of the availability of the Drive Cady: Part DSACSB)-NCIX orignally told me it was unavailable. The only delivery method offered by Addonics for international orders was courier and the brokerage fees for customs clearance were outrageous. It was cheaper to have NCIX import to Vancouver and then ship to me customs cleared in the Toronto area.)
I hope this helps others looking for a simple backup system for home/small office use where a second system for replication is not practical, and that it will save other from wasting all the time that I had to waste to find and acquire this solution.