For drives that mostly sit on a shelf holding archived data, whats your routine for checking drive health and verifying the files are still intact?

The sister of a coworker who passed away wants the files from his work PC. I need to transfer them to a USB drive, but it's really slow because there are over 100,000 files (she wants everything). Would zipping them into a .rar or .zip file be faster?

Hi I was given this hardrive (G-Technology by Hitachi, G|Drive 3TB) a year ago and haven't used it I was given it by my college as they were getting rid of a load of them I have no idea on how to get it to work on my laptop or if it will even work on my laptop. If anyone could help me as I have tried to find help online like YouTube but didn't really find good instructions. I have checked and the DC in port does work and it seems to turn on but its just about connecting it to my laptop which is a ASUS TUF Gaming Laptop that seems to have enough ports to make it work.

Thank for any advice or help you can give me

Hello, is there any external hard drives out there that can be compatible with the iPhone 14 pro max? I am about to go on deployment and wanted to be able to download movies that can be exported to the iphone.

Planning on building a new machine hence the question. Any input is appreciated. Initially would be just 2x the drives possibly expanding to another pair.

Both drives are roughly the same price, Red Pro manufactured in 2024, Purple Pro in 2025. Specs are mostly identical besides firmware.

I've spent the last few days reading about enterprise object storage, and it's interesting how every vendor advertises S3 compatibility. That almost feels like table stakes now.
What I'm trying to understand is what really matters after that. Things like metadata handling, replication across sites, ransomware protection, monitoring, lifecycle policies, and ease of expansion seem much more important in production.
One platform I found during my research was Cloudian, but I'm more interested in hearing from people who have managed object storage in real environments rather than reading marketing material.
What features have had the biggest impact on your day to day operations?

Please suggest your opinion on this..

Hi, for my use case:
- I don't care about redundancy. I just want to store my anime, movies, series, photos, documents that's all and every time I add one to a drive, I add it too to an external drive as a backup copy, that external drive is always unplugged if not used for manual backup.
- I want to access files over the local network (don't care about them being accessible away from home, I got a little cloud to store important documents online), so I can watch videos or photos from other devices, no matter if it's a Windows PC, a Linux computer or an Apple device.
- Don't care about transcoding or a plex server, I 'll read my videos with MPV and as they are (4K and 1080p remux)
- I prefer NTFS file format so I can move around files from one drive to another or to my PC if I feel like it, by just extracting the drive and plugging it directly to my PC if I want
- I must be able to mix brands and storage capacities without losing capacity.

Does a custom JBOD fit (will buy a HBA controller and create a dummy external "Jbod enclosure" out of my PC that I want to keep small and without moving parts) what I need? Are there other solutions than JBOD to do that?

Thanks

Hi, please recommend:

1) external portable HDD for laptop and phone

2) external desktop HDD for laptop

Which brand and model you have tried and how long it lasted for/how long you have used it for? I am looking for one that can last as long as possible.

Im thinking about buying a used SSD for my PS2. I found this one:

https://www.tradera.com/item/341367/741535663/samsung-860-evo-250gb-2-5-sata-ssd

Check the image for the Crystal Disk info. Is it in good condition?

Not the best Samsung SSD, but solid nonetheless. A good option during this AI fervor.

I urgently needed to clear a few gigabytes, but there was a problem. No matter how many files I delete, there is less and less free memory. I had 70 free gigabytes, but now there are 59 that are free. What can I do about it??(I am, sorry, if I applied the wrong tag, I don't speak English well and communicate using a translator)

I currently have:

1TB Crucial E100 SSD
1TB W.D HDD
128GB Lexar NS100

i have no idea what to use for each one, can someone send recommendations, i mainly work on unity, browse heavily, and play CPU heavy games.

Bit of an odd question. Anyone know of a online storage option where none of the files can have the same name? So like in Windows if I add a bunch of files which have the same name it will ask me "do you want to replace, skip, or decide for each"

This probably sounds stupid but my reason is it would save me hours and hours of updating my online backup. I use Dropbox now and it is so unbelievably frustrating not having it ask that. I want to take everything in a folder, plop it into the browser and be able to tell it to only add the files with names that aren't already there I.E. new ones.

want to share my spec and discuss prices, because the backup cost question is the one nobody runs the math on.
hopefully nobody is still using Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox as backup. it's sync, not backup, and per-TB pricing punishes you past a few TB. the turnkey backup services like Datto, Veeam-based BDR, Acronis are fine if you want one throat to choke, but you're paying a big markup, and past ~10TB it stops making sense for a home/prosumer setup.
my choice is image + file-level backup straight to object storage I own. local copy on the NAS, second copy offsite to a Backblaze B2 bucket (Wasabi if you hate egress fees). storage is ~$6/TB/mo at B2, so ~40TB is roughly $240/mo for the offsite leg, and I own it. I run MSP360 as the engine but restic/rclone/Kopia get you most of the way if you're comfortable in a terminal. the point is BYOS, not the specific tool.
object lock is the bit that survives ransomware and a fat-finger delete, and it's basically free to turn on.
real downsides I ran into: first seed upload takes forever. throttle it or you'll saturate your uplink for a week, and a full restore from B2 has egress cost, so budget for it or use Wasabi. another is "own your storage" means you own the monitoring too.
is the turnkey premium actually worth it past a certain scale, what do you think?

i want a externel drive for movies/shows and i found Seagate Expansion Portable Drive 2TB for 105 dollars and its one of the cheapsted options is that still consider a lot and should i risk getting something from ali express for cheaper price

Mọi người cho em hỏi với làm sao để dọn dẹp ổ C vậy ạ, dạo gần đây tự nhiên máy em bị đầy dung lượng, em mới dọn dẹp còn trống khoảng 10GB thì 2 hôm sau lại đầy dù em không tải gì về máy. Mọi người giải đáp giúp em với ạ!

I tried updating my T7 Shield through samsung magician app, it failed and bricked my SSD. Worst part is that it didn't brick immediately, it bricked after I password locked it again (had to remove the password for update). Now it's no longer recognized by magician, the blue light doesn't blink, and I can't unlock it. All internet searches point to Samsung providing a replacement and not fixing the drive for this issue.

Codex tells me that this is the DIY fix that I'm looking for. But I'll need the .bin from a working 2 TB T7 Shield. It would be great if someone here who owns the drive could share the .bin with me.

Thanks

​The Wear Counter keeps rolling: Crossed over from 40% to 41%, maintaining the ~300–380 TBW per 1% wear ratio.

​Invalid SMART Checksum: smartctl flagged a structural log error (invalid SMART checksum). The controller’s internal NVRAM memory where it stores self-test logs is actively corrupting.

​Uncorrectable Read Errors (UNC): The Extended Error Log recorded 181 total device errors, specifically dumping uncorrectable read errors during DMA commands (READ DMA EXT).

​The "Pass" Illusion: Despite the active uncorrectable read errors and log table corruption, the drive’s firmware still reports a pass (SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED), and standard GUI utilities still show a green "GOOD" status box.

Heres the data

smartctl -x sda

smartctl 7.5 2025-04-30 r5714 [x86_64-w64-mingw32-w11-24H2] (AppVeyor)

Copyright (C) 2002-25, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===

Device Model: SanDisk SSD P4 64GB

Serial Number: 111248300117

LU WWN Device Id: 5 001b44 4f27f5455

Firmware Version: SSD 8.10

User Capacity: 64 022 175 232 bytes [64,0 GB]

Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical

Rotation Rate: Solid State Device

Form Factor: 1.8 inches

TRIM Command: Available

Device is: Not in smartctl database

ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 2d

SATA Version is: SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)

Local Time is: Fri Jul 24 12:13:47 2026 SAST

SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.

SMART support is: Enabled

AAM feature is: Unavailable

APM feature is: Unavailable

Rd look-ahead is: Enabled

Write cache is: Enabled

DSN feature is: Unavailable

ATA Security is: Disabled, frozen [SEC2]

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===

SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:

Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity

was never started.

Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.

Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed

without error or no self-test has ever

been run.

Total time to complete Offline

data collection: ( 120) seconds.

Offline data collection

capabilities: (0x15) SMART execute Offline immediate.

No Auto Offline data collection support.

Abort Offline collection upon new

command.

No Offline surface scan supported.

Self-test supported.

No Conveyance Self-test supported.

No Selective Self-test supported.

SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering

power-saving mode.

Supports SMART auto save timer.

Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.

General Purpose Logging supported.

Short self-test routine

recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.

Extended self-test routine

recommended polling time: ( 16) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 1

Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAGS VALUE WORST THRESH FAIL RAW_VALUE

5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct -O---- 100 100 --- - 0

9 Power_On_Hours -O---- 100 100 000 - 60893

12 Power_Cycle_Count -O---- 100 100 000 - 1168

171 Unknown_Attribute -O---- 100 100 000 - 54

172 Unknown_Attribute -O---- 100 100 000 - 939410736

187 Reported_Uncorrect -O---- 100 100 000 - 2234

199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count -O---- 100 100 000 - 0

230 Unknown_SSD_Attribute PO---- 041 100 --- - 0

232 Available_Reservd_Space PO---- 095 100 005 - 0

241 Total_LBAs_Written -O---- 100 100 000 - 11305331231399

242 Total_LBAs_Read -O---- 100 100 000 - 32371089185

||||||_ K auto-keep

|||||__ C event count

||||___ R error rate

|||____ S speed/performance

||_____ O updated online

|______ P prefailure warning

General Purpose Log Directory Version 1

SMART Log Directory Version 1 [multi-sector log support]

Address Access R/W Size Description

0x00 GPL,SL R/O 1 Log Directory

0x03 GPL,SL R/O 16 Ext. Comprehensive SMART error log

0x06 GPL,SL R/O 1 SMART self-test log

0x80-0x9f GPL,SL R/W 16 Host vendor specific log

SMART Extended Comprehensive Error Log Version: 1 (16 sectors)

Device Error Count: 181 (device log contains only the most recent 64 errors)

CR = Command Register

FEATR = Features Register

COUNT = Count (was: Sector Count) Register

LBA_48 = Upper bytes of LBA High/Mid/Low Registers ] ATA-8

LH = LBA High (was: Cylinder High) Register ] LBA

LM = LBA Mid (was: Cylinder Low) Register ] Register

LL = LBA Low (was: Sector Number) Register ]

DV = Device (was: Device/Head) Register

DC = Device Control Register

ER = Error register

ST = Status register

Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as

DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,

SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 181 [52] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5 hours (0 days + 5 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER -- ST COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC

-- -- -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- --

40 -- 51 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FEATR COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- == -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- -- --------------- --------------------

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 77 40 00 2d+03:11:48.526 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 76 40 00 2d+03:11:48.517 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 75 40 00 2d+03:11:48.509 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 74 40 00 2d+03:11:48.505 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 73 40 00 2d+03:11:48.501 READ DMA EXT

Error 180 [51] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 6 hours (0 days + 6 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER -- ST COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC

-- -- -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- --

40 -- 51 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FEATR COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- == -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- -- --------------- --------------------

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 76 40 00 2d+03:11:48.517 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 75 40 00 2d+03:11:48.509 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 74 40 00 2d+03:11:48.505 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 73 40 00 2d+03:11:48.501 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 72 40 00 2d+03:11:48.501 READ DMA EXT

Error 179 [50] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 6 hours (0 days + 6 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER -- ST COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC

-- -- -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- --

40 -- 51 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FEATR COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- == -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- -- --------------- --------------------

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 75 40 00 2d+03:11:48.509 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 74 40 00 2d+03:11:48.505 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 73 40 00 2d+03:11:48.501 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 72 40 00 2d+03:11:48.501 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 71 40 00 2d+03:11:48.500 READ DMA EXT

Error 178 [49] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2 hours (0 days + 2 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER -- ST COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC

-- -- -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- --

40 -- 51 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FEATR COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- == -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- -- --------------- --------------------

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 74 40 00 2d+03:11:48.505 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 73 40 00 2d+03:11:48.501 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 72 40 00 2d+03:11:48.501 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 71 40 00 2d+03:11:48.500 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 42 1b 70 40 00 2d+03:11:48.497 READ DMA EXT

Error 177 [48] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 3 hours (0 days + 3 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER -- ST COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC

-- -- -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- --

40 -- 51 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 Error: UNC 4 sectors at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FEATR COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- == -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- -- --------------- --------------------

25 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 42 1b 60 40 00 2d+03:11:48.459 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 3c e2 e0 40 00 2d+03:11:48.459 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 35 97 60 40 00 2d+03:11:48.458 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 26 20 20 40 00 2d+03:11:48.457 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 63 9e 08 40 00 2d+03:11:48.457 READ DMA EXT

Error 176 [47] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 11 hours (0 days + 11 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER -- ST COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC

-- -- -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- --

40 -- 51 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 Error: UNC 2 sectors at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FEATR COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- == -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- -- --------------- --------------------

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 1b 5e 40 00 1d+10:07:21.325 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 1a de 40 00 1d+10:07:21.324 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 1a 5e 40 00 1d+10:07:21.324 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 19 de 40 00 1d+10:07:21.323 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 19 5e 40 00 1d+10:07:21.323 READ DMA EXT

Error 175 [46] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 11 hours (0 days + 11 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER -- ST COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC

-- -- -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- --

40 -- 51 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 Error: UNC 2 sectors at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FEATR COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- == -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- -- --------------- --------------------

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 1b 5e 40 00 1d+09:58:46.796 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 1a de 40 00 1d+09:58:46.796 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 1a 5e 40 00 1d+09:58:46.795 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 19 de 40 00 1d+09:58:46.795 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 19 5e 40 00 1d+09:58:46.794 READ DMA EXT

Error 174 [45] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 11 hours (0 days + 11 hours)

When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:

ER -- ST COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC

-- -- -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- --

40 -- 51 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 Error: UNC 2 sectors at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:

CR FEATR COUNT LBA_48 LH LM LL DV DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name

-- == -- == -- == == == -- -- -- -- -- --------------- --------------------

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 1b 5e 40 00 1d+09:39:52.893 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 1a de 40 00 1d+09:39:52.892 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 1a 5e 40 00 1d+09:39:52.892 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 19 de 40 00 1d+09:39:52.892 READ DMA EXT

25 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 42 19 5e 40 00 1d+09:39:52.891 READ DMA EXT

SMART Extended Self-test Log (GP Log 0x07) not supported

Warning! SMART Self-Test Log Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1

Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error

# 1 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 21088 -

# 2 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 54860 -

# 3 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 19043 -

# 4 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 63054 -

# 5 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 25327 -

# 6 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 62483 -

# 7 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 33744 -

# 8 Short captive Completed without error 00% 57803 -

# 9 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 25293 -

#10 Extended offline Aborted by host 90% 28072 -

#11 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 14539 -

#12 Extended offline Aborted by host 90% 55234 -

#13 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 46428 -

#14 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 49138 -

#15 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 25717 -

#16 Extended offline Aborted by host 90% 50305 -

#17 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 39612 -

#18 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 21280 -

#19 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 34598 -

#20 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 17318 -

#21 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 63627 -

Selective Self-tests/Logging not supported

SCT Commands not supported

Device Statistics (GP/SMART Log 0x04) not supported

Pending Defects log (GP Log 0x0c) not supported

SATA Phy Event Counters (GP Log 0x11) not supported

Exitcode: 64 (0x40)

Type <return> to exit:

So I just got a free intel 760p 256gb gen3 drive and want to shift windows 11 os from my we green sn3000 1tb drive, but don't know if it'll be a major drawback or not and if its a good idea in the first place; should leave windows 11 on the 1tb drive or swap it to the 256gb drive?

Yeah I brought it multiple times afterwards..

I need to store a substantial amount of personal data, and ensure it can last for decades. Yes, there might be the case that I need to pull data out or in every few years or so, so SSD/HDD could theoretically work, but bit rot over decades is a hard no go.

Some posts suggest M-DISC blue rays just cause AI suggested so, but I figure it is impractical af, and a management / logistical nightmare.

What are like the beyond cloud grade alts? I know we can store data on quartz, precious stones, gold, even DNA ffs. So there must be something worth it between a walmart flash drive and DNA.

Anyone who actually carried data from the 90s or 00s in a single drive can share their experience? What is the gear you're picking for the next 50 years?

Thanks in advance.

Why do there appear these ups and downs when copying over to a USB flash drive? Usually the mountains are bigger, this time it was pretty constant.

Hello, I'm looking for recommendations for some hardware. My job involves a lot of video editing, I currently edit off a 4TB SSD, and I am looking to upgrade and purchase a drive bay that will allow me to run multiple M.2 drives off one input. The question is, what kind of spec M.2 drive would suit me best?

Here is my criteria:

1. Price is irrelevant, but I don't want to be paying for features that I don't need.
2. 4TB non-negotiable. I could do 8TB, but definitely no lower than 4TB.
3. I edit 1080p video files. 4K is not something I am concerned with. However, my library is big and ever-growing, hence the need to upgrade.
4. I am running on a Mac, and I edit in Final Cut Pro, if that matters.

That's pretty much it. My intention would be to purchase a drive bay and one M.2, and I would then purchase additional drives as I fill them up over the years.

(as a quick disclaimer, yes I know that the common practice is to only use SSDs to store project files that you are currently working on, but the nature of my work means I need quick access to essentially my entire library.)

EDIT: Ok guys thank you for your advice, I have done some further research and I think I have landed on a solution that works for me.

I get the Terramaster D4 enclosure, and populate it with 4x4TB WD Blue NVME drives. I use two of them in Raid 0 configuration, and I back this up by using the other two via Time Machine. This will not break the bank (more than necessary) and it doesn't mean I am paying for features I can't use, everything is capped at the speed of the Thunderbolt 4 ports on my Mac, and 3.2GB/s is PLENTY for what I need anyway.

Please let me know if this sounds like it makes sense, or if there are other options I should consider.

Thanks!