File Server (possible Cloud?) USB hub

[shugs81]

Hey peeps

Looking to set up a file server... specially as i've just trashed a hdd...

My issue is that the drives i want to use are the Toshiba Sattellite usb3 drives as they are super cheap for 3tb, and the usb hubs i wanted to use to power the drives and the Pi dont seem to work...

Can anyone reccomend a hub that will power the pi (i have a 2b i want to use but also a 3b if that will be easier) and at least 4 usb ports that would work so i can raid 4 3tb drives together... well.... set up as 6tb storage

Thanks in advance!!

[shugs81]

usb 3, 3tb.....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-Canvio ... oshiba+3tb

they were Canvio not satallite..

[ejolson]

Looking to set up a file server...

It may be useful to follow this thread which is exploring a similar topic.

What hub did not work?

Have you tried this Amazon branded 7-port USB2 hub with 4 amp power supply?

[shugs81]

Atolla 4 ports USB 3.0 Hub SuperSpeed Data Transmission with On Off Switch + 1 Charging Port with 15W(5V/3A) Powered Supply Adapter and 1M USB 3 Extension Cable https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FS9Q01K/ ... DBbGY7RZPR

The only list of compatible hubs I could find are all old ones that you can get any more...

[ejolson]

Atolla 4 ports USB 3.0 Hub SuperSpeed Data Transmission with On Off Switch + 1 Charging Port with 15W(5V/3A) Powered Supply Adapter and 1M USB 3 Extension Cable https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FS9Q01K/ ... DBbGY7RZPR

The only list of compatible hubs I could find are all old ones that you can get any more...

It's good to know that hub didn't work. Does it work in a regular Windows PC? Note there is an official recommendation to avoid USB3 hubs because of compatibility issues. Based on that wisdom, the Amazon branded USB2 hub I linked above should work fine.

I suspect resilvering a 6TB software RAID array through any type of USB hub will be unpleasant. Have you considered using BTRFS in mirror mode? One advantage is that only the data is mirrored so you don't need to copy terabytes of uninitialised sectors when setting it up. One disadvantage is that BTRFS is even less of a standard than the EXT4 filesystem.

[shugs81]

The raid will be for data storage... Not planning media streaming or anything... May not even go to 6tb but its nice to have the option!

That hub isn't available in the UK... Which is typical... But any USB 2 hub should work?? I'll have a dig around my crap as I may have a spare...

Thanks for the tips... Should be enough to get me sorted!!

[ejolson]

The raid will be for data storage... Not planning media streaming or anything... May not even go to 6tb but its nice to have the option!

That hub isn't available in the UK... Which is typical... But any USB 2 hub should work?? I'll have a dig around my crap as I may have a spare...

Thanks for the tips... Should be enough to get me sorted!!

My thought is that any USB2 hub should work, assuming it provides sufficient power. You could also try using USB2 cables between your new hub and hard disks to see if that helps.

It is possible the USB3 hub you purchased will work connected to a PC in place of any USB2 hub you might already have in use, so swapping might be an option. Also, it may be possible to use the new 3 amp power supply with an older hub to power all four disks, in case the older hub didn't already have sufficient power.

Good luck and please report back when you have a working solution. I think the person who started that other thread would be interested.

[ejolson]

You could also try using USB2 cables between your new hub and hard disks to see if that helps.

Did you have an opportunity to try using USB2 cables between the drives and the new hub?

My idea is that using USB2 cables will force the USB3 drives into USB2 mode even though they are connected to a USB3 hub and that this will avoid the protocol error that prevents things from working. It would be interesting to know whether changing the cables makes any difference.

[shugs81]

I got the new usb2 hub which appeared to work... Until I started messing with the software...

Portable hdds were showing under rasbian OK... But I had seen diet pi and thought it may run better... Since then I've not managed to get the pi to boot as it hangs in various places... Sigh...

I once its up and running again I'll try the usb2 cable thing... Might help..

[ejolson]

I had seen diet pi and thought it may run better...

I've had good success with Raspbian Lite.