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With DrivePool, should I keep or junk my older USB HDDs?


gtaus

Question

I have a number of older <500GB USB HDDs that are sitting in the closet. Wondering if I should put them in a DrivePool, use them as offline archive backups, or just junk them? Given that you can get a new 3TB HDD from Goharddrive.com for <$40.00, I am having doubts if those old USB HDDs are even worth keeping.

Factors I am considering are cost of operating the older USB HDDs. They are rated at 12v * 2 A = 24 watts. 24 watts at 24/7/365 at my rate of $0.10 kwh = $21.03 per year. Some of my oldest USB HDDs are only 160 GB, so it hardly seems worthwhile to keep those drives online in DrivePool. However, if the HDDs power down when not in use, that might tip the balance to using them in a DrivePool. I am coming from Windows Storage Spaces which keep the disks spinning all the time, which is why those old USB HDDs ended up in the closet. It was less expensive to replace many older USB HDDs running 24/7 with a single HDD in Storage Spaces. But with DrivePool, are the USB HDDs allowed to spin down and go into sleep mode? If they are allowed to go into sleep mode when in DrivePool, then it might be worth keeping them as an online archive pool.

As to keeping the older HDDs as offline archive backup drives in the closet, I am thinking that it is a waste of space as I could easily replace a box full of those old drives with a single new 3TB for $40.00.

If I have to, I could just junk those older USB HDDs. Personally, I like to use anything I buy until it wears out or dies. I was hoping to use those older USB HDDs in DrivePool, but not if it is cheaper just to buy new HDDs with much larger capacity and even lower energy costs.

I am sure I am not the first one to have this issue. Any thoughts welcomed. Thanks.

 

 

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Answering my own question... Since I am now using DrivePool almost all the time, I don't know when the computer would have time to spin down the drives and let them go to sleep. So it does not seem to make $$ sense to keep a bunch of older, smaller USB HDDs up and powered on when they all could be replaced with 1 larger, newer, cheaper drive. So I plan on filling up those older drives with Archive backup data and putting them back in the closet, to be completely discarded when I need more room.

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