Choosing an external HDD for backing up TrueNAS datasets

Hardware
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Hello,

I would like to make some periodical backups of my TrueNAS Scale datasets to an offline media. (The online backup will probably be BackBlaze.)

My plan is to use an external HDD for this, as the backups would take place either weekly or monthly, depending on how much data has been written to the NAS (most of the data is read and only seldomly written). I am planning to: only connect the HDD during the backup process and disconnect it afterwards, and use the built-in Replication Tasks.

My questions would be:

  • Is there anything that I should be vary of when choosing the external HDD? For example, is it okay to use an SMR drive? Or is any run-of-the-mill external HDD good for this purpose?

  • Would HDD external enclosures be suitable for this type of workload? For example the UGREEN 3.5 50422. If yes, would it be okay to simply use a normal HDD (such as the Seagate Barracuda 4TB drive) in such an enclosure? (Of course using the power supply of the enclosure). (This would be cheaper than the previous option and I could also change the enclosure if it stops working etc.)

2
  • One that doesn’t use SMR
  • ASMedia ASM1153e or newer controllers from ASMedia are usually decent
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Thank you!