From: lars@beagle-ears.com   
      
   On 2026-02-21, Java Jive  wrote:   
   > However, perhaps in my OP I should have remarked that I rarely try to   
   > use it by say, putting in a couple of disks and pressing the copy button   
   > to backup one to the other, despite the markings on the casing there's   
   > too much possibility of putting the disks in the wrong way round  -  I   
   > always want visual assurance on screen that I am in complete control of   
   > what is happening and what is happening is what I intended to happen.   
   >   
   > More generally, in the end, you have to buy *something* to fill a need.   
   > My needs being simply for the occasional copying of disks or partitions,   
   > I went cheap in buying the above unit, but I have other units such as   
   > NASs fulfilling a different need where I deliberately went towards the   
   > more expensive end of the spectrum to get the reliability I wanted.   
   > Your need is most probably somewhere in between, and you should be   
   > prepared to pay commensurately.   
      
   I agree that the offline copy function is very scary, and I'd rather not   
   even have it.   
      
   My need is for expanding my storage beyond the bays in the primary   
   mini-tower, with reliable storage, for largish media files, and   
   re-using drives that have some lifetime left in them.   
      
   I am quite willing to pay good money for good quality, but it   
   looks increasingly like there just is not any in the market,   
   which surprises me. Even the enclosures that Seagate uses for   
   their external backup drives seem to have bugs that have caused   
   Linux to downgrade them from "SATA pass-through mode" to "basic   
   USB mass storage mode". You see can that by SMART commands being   
   blocked.   
   --   
   Lars Poulsen - an old geek in Santa Barbara, California   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)