helgrimm wrote:Thanks for that information. I do actually have a PC running Ubuntu on an Asus Mini PC that I use as a media center. But say the situation was real - how would I connect the disks? The mini PC only has one SATA connection for the system SSD (2½ inch). Or if I booted my laptop into Linux from USB - again, how to get the disks connected.
On the AS5304T things are a bit different in case you can still SSH into it.
You should be able to enable or install sshd on the Ubuntu Mini PC probably it's already there for you to ssh in. Or just use the GUI over HDMI.
I'll use my 5 bay USB enclosure for recoveries or my available PC sata ports as I don't have the AS6004U but it should be detected as USB enclosure when you connect it to the Asus Mini PC or your laptop. If that's the case, install mdadm if it's not already available, assemble manually using mdadm then mount it to access its contents. On native Linux DE such as Ubuntu Desktop, after installing mdadm it should automatically scan, assemble then popup your mounted device in the file manager.
helgrimm wrote:I've found a product 2 thirds the price of the AS6004U that has 4 slots and offers JBOD, RAID0. RAID1 in 2 pairs and with the lastest USB3. I'm going to go with that one. I'll rest more assured when I know that my data can be moved and accessed independently on almost any external hardware and software. You can have a look if you like -
https://www.fantec.de/fileadmin/user_up ... ual_EN.pdf
I've looked at this similar option before but was unsure if this is software or hardware RAID, the latter I assumed. Thing is about hardware RAID is if the controller gets defunct, you will need to replace with the exact controller. Learn it the hard way when my older PC cheap RAID PCI got busted and recovery was a nightmare. Even if it's a software RAID but with an unreleased source, you'll have a hard time dealing with failures trying to poke around the software internals. So in short, normal multi bay USB enclosure is my best bet. At least I can tweak the software RAID using common Linux tools.
helgrimm wrote:I'm going off topic a bit
My NAS before the Asustor was a WD MyCloud (I had 2x4TB). Actually one of those 2 volumes I've been talking about copying data from in this thread consists of the two 4TB disks I've yanked from the WD MyCloud enclosures. I have the same NAS as you and my router? You guessed right, it's an Asus RT-AX86U. Now I've read on your homepage that your previous NAS was a WD MyCloud as well. Do you also have a sofa from IKEA?
Yeah a 4TB first generation, yours is the mirror version. That's my first NAS but I have been playing with RAID and Linux long before, only that I wasn't sure that time if I should splurge on a multi bay NAS.
And that router is a beast! I was running python server (OctoPrint) on it connected wirelessly via USBIP (compiled the kernel modules) to my 3D printer, had since moved the server to the 5304T for better x86_64 support compared to the router's aarch64/arm64. Some of the router's task currently is to host OpenVPN, capture my IP cam via ffmpeg, rotate the captures one month archives, force 2.4GHz clients to connect to 5GHz if they're near by i.e. have good RSSI, monitor the temperature of my cabinet housing all my disks (I didn't let the NAS do this as it will keep the disks awaked when probed by the NAS) and deal with a set of backups to external USB via rsyncd. Few of many things you can achieve with these small devices, just have to explore the possibilities.
We all love Ikea don't we? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯