I've lost so much data using cheap USB sticks (especially StarTech, but lots of random non-brand ones too). They all either overheat when the fan dies silently, don't support SMART (so you can't tell when a drive fails), have fatal UAS or even USB drive errors, intermittently crash, or just don't work. general. I think a USB JBOD would be pretty much the simplest PC component to build: a power supply, a USB->SATA chip, some connectors and some steel. Apparently not. I've only had this MiniPro for a few days but I've been working hard. Put simply, it works. SMART (and smartctl on Linux) works fine. It is passively cooled and silent. I had no trouble transferring 5 TiB multiple times and this was powered directly from a single USB 3.0 port with two 15mm Seagate 5 TiB drives! Built like a tank. And fast - a recent file-level copy from one volume to another is performed at: sdb 247.00 0.00 126464.00 0 126464sdd 441.00 112896.00 0.00 112896 0, almost 240 MB/s, on rotating media. There is no doubt that both plates are subject to maximum loads. I'll update if anything goes wrong, but for now this case gets a solid 5.0 stars. A properly working USB JBOD is *possible*. Who knew! *Update - 8/28/2018* About a month ago my array started shutting down due to heavy I/O. I emailed Oyen support and they sent me a replacement board - no questions asked. The new board solved the problem and I got back to work. Look no further; that's the buy.
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