Is this a viable Backup? USB3.0 disk plugged into router?

grumpycrab

Trying to keep things simple/cheap, I have a spare 3.5inch SATA drive which I'd like to use for backup. Can I put it in an external USB 3.0 box and share it via my router (which has a USB port)?

Will a metal box, without fan, but kept in a cool place be good enough for heat dissipation?

cookie365

Are you asking if a USB3 external caddy can safely hold a hard disk drive without overheating? I'd hope so!

As for being a viable backup - if you've had a chat with all the local burglars and they've agreed to leave your backup if they nick your computer, and you've entered into an agreement with Hephaestus that he won't start any fires in your house, then yes, perfectly viable.;)

Strider590

grumpycrab wrote: »

Trying to keep things simple/cheap, I have a spare 3.5inch SATA drive which I'd like to use for backup. Can I put it in an external USB 3.0 box and share it via my router (which has a USB port)?

Will a metal box, without fan, but kept in a cool place be good enough for heat dissipation?

I have this sort of setup, I put the caddy on a timer socket to come on between 8pm and midnight. I then set my devices to backup to that drive at 9pm every day. No worries about heat, it's not on long enough to get hot.

Hard drives by the way, prefer 25C to 40C running temperature, over cooling can be just as bad as overheating.

grumpycrab

Strider590 wrote: »

I have this sort of setup, I put the caddy on a timer socket to come on between 8pm and midnight.

Thanks. I guess that leads to another question. Without a time socket I guess a disk put in a cheapo USB 3.0 external box will be on 24/7.
Are then any (budget USB3) boxes that are clever enough to spin down the drive if not being accessed?

Strider590

grumpycrab wrote: »

Thanks. I guess that leads to another question. Without a time socket I guess a disk put in a cheapo USB 3.0 external box will be on 24/7.
Are then any (budget USB3) boxes that are clever enough to spin down the drive if not being accessed?

Probably, but they'll cost money.
Spinning down is not the point really, there's no evidence anywhere to suggest that a constantly spinning drive is any more likely to fail, in fact there is a school of thought that cycling between states could cause long term damage.

Mine is on a timer mostly because 24/7 it'd be drawing 25W of mains power.

The best solution really is a 2.5inch drive, designed for laptops they are tougher, stay cooler and usually run from the USB socket they are connected to.

Trinitrotoluene

What router do you have? It's highly unlikely that the USB port on your router is designed to act as a mounting point for a hard drive caddy. It's more likely meant to be used with a USB 3G Dongle (Wireless internet through the phone network). If you post the make/model of your router, I will confirm for you!

bsod

backup direct via usb is the fastest/cheapest/safest solution, provided that you remember to do it

Big_Graeme

Trinitrotoluene wrote: »

What router do you have? It's highly unlikely that the USB port on your router is designed to act as a mounting point for a hard drive caddy. It's more likely meant to be used with a USB 3G Dongle (Wireless internet through the phone network). If you post the make/model of your router, I will confirm for you!

More likely to be a print server than anything else.

cookie365

Trinitrotoluene wrote: »

What router do you have? It's highly unlikely that the USB port on your router is designed to act as a mounting point for a hard drive caddy. It's more likely meant to be used with a USB 3G Dongle (Wireless internet through the phone network). If you post the make/model of your router, I will confirm for you!

Many routers have USB ports specifically for sharing an attached hard drive. Most of the Asus routers I've seen over the last couple of years for example.

grumpycrab

Thanks guys. The router I'm looking at is a BT Hub (its for somebody else). (Its quite a small hub so I guess hot BT Hub 5 or 4).

esuhl

The router I got from Sky has a USB port. The helpful Sky bods have it pre-set so that any hard drive attached to it is shared on the Internet via FTP... :-O