Bought 8TB my book duo. Concerned about encryption

WD External Drives External Drives for Mac
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I’ve recently bought the 8TB my book duo. I haven’t set it up yet as I’m slightly concerned about what happens to the data in the event of the enclosure failing.

If I set it up in RAID1 and the enclosure fails is it correct that i can’t access the data from either drive because they are encrypted to the enclosure?

Another point I was considering is setting it in RAID0 and using another 5TB WD elements drive as a backup for most of the data.

Finally, once I run out of space and want to upgrade to two 6TB drives, if it’s set in RAID0 and I change the drives and switch to RAID1, will the data on the two original drives stay intact if I switch back to them in RAID0. I saw a video on youtube where the guy said it’s possible the data would be lost switching back to RAID0 after two new drives are used in RAID1

I have 3 other WD drives (3TB elements, 5TB elements, and 2TB passport). They have been very reliable and silent, which is why I purchased the My book duo. But I am concerned about having my data in RAID1 and then both drives becoming useless if the enclosure fails.
I am considering returning it because of this, but I paid only slightly more than I would for two 4TB Red drives, so I could just keep it and buy another enclosure with no encryption

Thanks

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Hi, welcome to the community.

RAID 1 on this drives, only support 1 drive failure, if the enclosure fails as its encrypted you will need to contact a professional data recovery company to attempt to recover the information.

The idea of using the My Book Duo as RAID 0 and backing up to a WD Elements is a good solution.

If you cap the drives capacity and you are looking to upgrade, by changing the RAID setting on the enclosure you will lose the ability to access the previous RAID.

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Thank you, that is exactly what I needed to know.

I’ve decided to keep the drive and set is as RAID 0 and back it up with my WD elements. As a single drive in RAID 0 I feel confident with this drive as if the drives or the enclosure fail, I have a backup.
Doesn’t make much sense to get this drive for a RAID 1 arrangement.