So here is the current setup:
MacBook Pro connected via TB4 to:
OWC Thunderbay 4-drive RAID in RAID 5 - this holds 8 TB of photos (mix of personal and landscapes that I do sell) as well as backups of important files on the internal MacBook and external SSD.
24 TB total; 13.4 TB free
4x8 TB Seagate drives (ST8000NM0055) bought in 2021 [edit - corrected date bought] with 31,000 hours use
OWC is backed up to:
Synology NAS DS918+ in SHR-1 purchased 2019
32 TB total with 8 TB free
4x12 TB HGST drives (HUH721212ALE600) bought in 2019 with 53,000 hours use
Important data from OWC and all movies backed up to two 18 TB drives connected via USB in single 2-bay enclosure
One has 9.6 of 16.6 TB used
Other has 9.2 of 16.7 TB used
The MacBook and OWC are also backed up online via BackBlaze so photos are in 3 spots in house and 1 online
———
Any concerns with drive use time? Age??
Do I gradually replace each Synology drive with a 16 TB one at cost of $350 each and allow each to rebuild?
I’m a bit worried about the amount of ‘stress’ that may put on these 6 year old drives
Is there any benefit in spending the same amount ($350) on each of four 4TB Samsung SSDs to use with the new OWC 4M2 that would connect to the MacBook as ‘fresh’ and faster drives?
Edit: for the OWC 4M2, would appreciate any recs on 4 or 8 TB drives that are best bang for buck for storage in RAID5
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Personally, I see no reason to replace anything here, and right now is not a good time to buy in terms of drive pricing. Given that you’ve got plenty of available space, I would wait until prices settle down. Even then, you have a solid setup and backup strategy, so I don’t know that there’s anything that needs to be changed.
Thanks! Really appreciate the thoughts and you’re right. I’ll hold tight.
With the recent anti-consumer practices Synology implemented, I would ask if you really want to keep the synology long term, or you should determine a plan to transition to something better.
https://cybernews.com/security/synology-third-party-drive-restrictions-outrage/
Aware of that but doesn’t affect older models