[7x Low-Profile] 2U and small depth is perfect

[15 lb] I did an AMD 5600 build at work and liked it so much I had to do it at home with my 7700x. You can only get 4x 3.5 HDD drives with an mATX board so if you want 7 then plan on using ITX. I am putting this at the top of my Echogear U20 because it is the perfect depth for the top slots that don't let the chassis slide out the back since there are support brackets at the back of the top slots. Everything seems to fit together perfectly, no complaints. Most compact function system I own here or in the office

[28 x 23 x 12"] Working like charm
easy to set up and no issues so far

[1x 3.5"
] Couldn't be happier with this enclosure.

It's not perfect. It's not the newest model. But it's very well engineered still today. Having said that installing it was not simple on silicon Mac but I am reasonably IT savvy and figured it our, hint: install driver and configure as root.

I am using a MacBook Pro M2 Max on Ventura and Filled it up with WD Ultrastar 20TBs giving me 80TB usable with RAID 6. The array took about 30 hours to initialize. I am getting 1439 MB/Sec Write, and 1034 MB/Sec Read using Aja test. You could beat those numbers with RAID 5 but I want to be guaranteed to survive 2 disk failure so I am willing to sacrifice a bit of speed.

So needless to say I am pleased. Can edit 4k raw video files. I also work with large numbers of large RAW photos and the write speeds in particular are near SSD level. My laptop is very powerful and I got it working hard pushing this DAS. I put it in closet so I can't say it's loud. Can't hear the fans but can hear the drives barely, but they are loud drives.

The device is very solid and solftware is comprehensive. I am coming from OWC Thundunderbolt arrays and while they are very nice is well, this blows that totally out of the water. I also prefer hardware RAID which this has and the OWC didn't. Even with my 6 data center class drives (meaning power hungry) all on and engaged I am only getting peaks of 70 ish watts of power consumption. Idle sits at 60 ish watts and if that's a concern go with home prosumer drives like wd red which won't last as long but uses less power when idle.

[4RU] I've been using this RAID in RAID 10 with HGST 10TB Helium Drives as my Archival Back up on-set. Excellent software.

[2x 120 mm] This is a very solid external RAID array. The hard drives install easily and were immediately recognized by the unit. Instructions are clear, and the manufacture has released a new application which makes setup and management very clear. You still have the option for the web-based GUI interface (which actually has more advanced options available).�

I heard that fan noise was an issue in these units. The fan does have a temporary (15-30sec) startup at full speed, but then it quiets down quite nicely. I have the 6 bay unit, which only has one fan, so this may also be contributing to a lower overall fan noise. (That, and I have NAS drives which I selected specifically for a lower overall operating temperature.).�

Overall very solid build, good speeds via the Thunderbolt 3 port, and easy interface -- a technological "hat trick."

[1x 3.5"
] Very solid design, and was the perfect chassis for my new server

[15 lb] If you need the maximum amount of storage this is the RAID for you. My company Cintegral and Clients love these for Motion Picture and Post Production.

[2x 120 mm] 2014: bought the original Areca 8050 filled with HGST drives and used primarily for Lightroom/FCPX editing. Zero issues with this RAID. Thunderbolt 1 and see 400-600mb read/write speeds.


2020: Upgrade RAID system for more storage and better performance. After reading/watching all the reviews, I was expecting 800-900mb since my laptop/iMac still thunderbolt 2. RAID 5 with 8x WD Ultrastar providing 1100+mb and I couldn't be happier with these results.


For anyone shopping one of these, don't be intimidated by the setup/config that some of the reviews note. It's a little bit of work, but nothing horrible. Honestly, I've had Alexa dongles that were more complicated to setup than this.


Also: one of the review sites noted this T3 unit is not backward compatible with thunderbolt2 devices. I'm using the Apple T3-T2 adapter and it's working flawlessly.


Thanks Areca for making such a solid performing array!

[7x Low-Profile] I experienced some mild web graphical interface bugs during initial setup, but the cineraid support was very accommodating and helpful. I put this unit to work immediately with 20TB of transfers and transcoding. I also switched between M1 and Intel machines without any problems what so ever. I'm very happy with this product 2 weeks in.