[7 lb] Very solid design, and was the perfect chassis for my new server

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

[4RU] 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.

[7 lb] 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!

[Front Bezel] Working like charm
easy to set up and no issues so far

[4RU] 2U and small depth is perfect

[ATX] 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

[4RU] 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."

[ATX, Micro-ATX] 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.

[4RU] Best case ever