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ORICO 5-Bay DAS USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure for 3.5" SATA HDDs
$122
$200
39% off
+ Free S/Hat Amazon
Top Comments
You'd have better luck recovering from software RAID, which is compatible with every DAS.
And if I recall, that one might have issues with USB-WAKE from boot, so it might be annoying to use with power outages.
There's also a much higher overhead with a dedicated NAS, even if you go with an underpowered consumer grade Synology or QNAP.
And even if you did need a NAS, you could get one of these and hook it up to a mini PC, which will outperform anything Synology currently offers.
It also simplifies expansion, as you can just buy a second DAS.
That's why most people avoid them. You're locked into the ecosystem.
Community Reviews
This ORICO 5-bay USB 3.0 enclosure is best suited for a DIY storage setup with a mini PC, where it can act as a cheaper alternative to a full NAS and still handle backups, media streaming, and even light server use. The enclosure is described as plug-and-play with Windows Storage Spaces or Linux NAS software, and the listed 22TB per bay limit is treated as a testing figure rather than a hard ceiling. Main cautions are that hardware RAID and USB-based parity pools can be troublesome, and some setups have seen boot, disconnect, heat, or BitLocker issues. It is a practical choice if you want expandable direct-attached storage and can work around USB quirks.
The enclosure can work well with a mini PC running Windows 11, including installing drives and creating Storage Spaces RAID.
The DAS setup can support media streaming and automated backups while remaining fast enough for 4K movie playback.
The enclosure can be used for long-running file serving and Jellyfin media hosting without reboots or issues for months.
The hardware RAID mode can be disabled so drives can be accessed individually when you prefer software RAID.
The enclosure may not support BitLocker, so it cannot be used for that specific drive security workflow.
Reliability concerns include drives failing to boot, MBR corruption after inserting drives, and overheating that can cook upper drives.
USB disconnects can cause out-of-sync parity problems in Unraid parity pools, making USB drives better suited for backup use.
Hardware RAID on these enclosures can be problematic, and USB-WAKE or boot behavior during power outages may be annoying.
Common Questions (5)
AI-generated summary based on comments from the community. Updated ago
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69 Comments
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The use-case for this for Unraid users would be as an rsyc or backup device only (or drives not in the pool)!
yeah just tested it and that promo code isn't valid anymore. Theres a $51 coupon on the page but only drops the price to $148.99 now
The use-case for this for Unraid users would be as an rsyc or backup device only (or drives not in the pool)!
The drives on these are powered by the power supply, but the controller gets power from the bus.
I've personally never encountered a problem aside from this.
Throw an asterisk on it if you want, but also acknowledge that unRAID users are sometimes a fickle bunch that expect a flawless experience. Thus is the nature of paid software.
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The use-case for this for Unraid users would be as an rsyc or backup device only (or drives not in the pool)!
unRAID users are often ex-Synology users, so not much is to be expected.
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