Designed for working with real-time multi-stream HD and dual 6K workflows, the ARC-8050T5U 12-Bay SAS/SATA Thunderbolt 5 RAID Enclosure from Areca is a 12-bay enclosure capable of holding both 2.5" and 3.5" SAS-3 12 Gb/s and SATA III 6 Gb/s hard drives and solid-state drives. The back of the enclosure features two 80 Gb/s Thunderbolt 5 ports, one of which connects the enclosure to your host Windows or Mac system, while the other lets you charge devices or daisy-chain up to six total devices. Additional connectivity includes one DisplayPort 2.1 video output for creating a dual 6K monitor or single 8K setup, one four-lane SFF-8644 expansion port that operates using the SAS-3 12 Gb/s standard for connecting up to seven expansion enclosures, and one Gigabit RJ45 port for remote access and control.
The Areca ARC-8050T5U also comes with extensive RAID level compatibility. Whether you are looking for speed or redundancy, you can configure the drives to suit your needs, as the enclosure supports a variety of RAID levels, including RAID 0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, and 60. For those who do not require a RAID, JBOD and single-disk configurations are also available. This enclosure, including its RAID status, can be configured using the LCD panel on the front, the browser-based McRAID management tool via Gigabit RJ45 or Thunderbolt, ArcSAP management software, and more.
To back up the enhanced connectivity and advanced RAID features, the ARC-8050T5U comes equipped with a RAID-on-Chip hardware storage controller and an integrated SDRAM cache with ECC protection. Power is provided by a 400W internal power supply and cooled using dual 2700 rpm fans. Included is a 3.3' Thunderbolt 5 cable, a power cord, and 48 x drive mounting screws (four per tray).
Highlights
- High performance 80 and 120 Gb/s Thunderbolt 5 interface
- Supports simultaneous dual 6K input/output workflows
- Supports 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3
- Supports 10 Gb/s USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports
- SAS and SATA drive interfaces at each bay
- Supports RAID 0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, 60, Single Disk, and JBOD
- Advanced configuration for video optimized performance settings
- Delivers enterprise-class data protection and security
- Controller-level hardware encryption
- SED (self-encrypting drives) function support
- Intelligent power on/off function for data integrity
- Simultaneous hard drive firmware updates
- May be configured using the Thunderbolt port, Gigabit RJ45 port, or LCD
- Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) cable included
Thunderbolt and USB Protocol in One RAID Storage Thunderbolt 5 Port
The Areca's ARC-8050T5U Thunderbolt 5 port supports both Thunderbolt 5 and 10 Gb/s USB 3.2 Gen 2 protocols, which allow USB-only and Thunderbolt devices to access the same storage seamlessly.
Performance
The ARC-8050T5U is built to deliver high performance using best-in-class components. These include the Raid-on-Chip (ROC) storage controller and onboard SDRAM cache with ECC protection, plus Thunderbolt 5-enabled USB-C ports up to 80 Gb/s and dual 8K HDR external displays.
Broadcom Tri-Mode ROC Engine
The ARC-8050T5U uses a Raid-on-Chip (ROC) storage controller that powers its SAS/SATA drive bays and security. Since a software RAID can consume massive resources and memory bandwidth, the ARC-8050T5U uses a hardware RAID that relieves the parity generation burden from the host and maximizes application processing performance.
True Hardware RAID Controller
At the heart of ARC-8050T5U is the incredibly powerful Raid-on-Chip (ROC) storage controller, delivering true hardware RAID functionality without sharing the CPU computing power on the host system. This also eases off CPU loading as compared to software RAID and when rebuilding an array in the event of a drive failure.
High-Speed Onboard Cache
With massive onboard high-speed SDRAM, the ARC-8050T5U offers smooth multitasking during intense workflows in 8K environments. The ARC-8050T5U can configure how much of the SDRAM cache is dedicated for reads and how much is dedicated for writes. If your server application has significantly more reads than writes or vice versa. the cache ratio setting might need to be changed to improve performance. A large cache is the perfect choice for a 4K application drive, making your professional apps work as fast as possible.
The USB-C That Does It All
The ARC-8050T5U is equipped with dual Thunderbolt 5 ports for connecting to any Thunderbolt 5 host and offers an additional Thunderbolt 5 port for daisy-chaining other peripherals, while also supplying power for quick notebook charging. Thunderbolt 5 will deliver 80 Gb/s of bi-directional bandwidth and, with Bandwidth Boost, provide up to 120 Gb/s for an improved display experience.
Daisy-Chain Multiple Devices
Thunderbolt 5 daisy-chaining allows connection of up to six total devices, so customers can connect their ARC-8050T5U for massive amounts of video storage with a single Thunderbolt connection to their host computer. Additionally, the ARC-8050T5U supports a full-sized DisplayPort video output connector on its rear, allowing for a quick and easy 8K/60 Hz display setup.
Controller-Based H/W Encryption Engine
Host independent real-time controller-based hardware encryption does not impact the performance of ARC-8050T5U RAID storage and can be used on a wide variety of drives, operating systems, and applications. Areca encryption functionality secures a sensitive, mission-critical volume's data from unauthorized access or modification in the event of drive theft, or more routine activities such as the return of defective drives for servicing or the decommissioning or repurposing of drives. Local key management in the controller is designed to protect data from security breaches with minimal cost and complexity. Users can use the ARC-8050T5U RAID storage API code to design its own key management utility. Also supported is 128- and 256-bit encryption keys using AES (a key size of 128, or 256 bits) or password (a variable key size).
SED-Based Encryption
Areca firmware's security functions, together with self-encrypting drives (SEDs), secure hard disk data from unauthorized access or modification resulting from the theft, loss, or repurposing of drives. Protection is achieved by the SED hard drive that automatically and continuously encrypts the data without any user interaction.
SAS Expansion Port
The storage capacity of the ARC-8050T5U can be expanded instantly by adding additional ARC-4038 12G SAS Expander units, up to 512 drives with multiple 12G SAS expanders solutions like the 8-/12-bay tower, 16-/24- or high bay rackmount 12G SAS JBOD solutions. This lets you convert your 12G SAS expander storage for use with most Thunderbolt 5 hosts.
Effective Management Tool
Areca provides more flexible management tools to manage and monitor your ARC-8050T5U RAID storage.
LCD: Easy Configuration & Monitor LCD
The LCD is the primary user interface. All configuration and management of the controller and its properly connected disk arrays can be performed from this interface. The LCD status panel informs you of the ARC-8050T5U's real-time operating status at a glance so users can easily grasp the status of the system at all times.
LAN Port: Out-of-Band Management (without Disturbing Host Access)
The ARC-8050T5U also offers an alternative out-of-band method via their McRAID storage manager. Users can access the built-in configuration without needing an ArcHTTP proxy server on the host system. ARC-8050T5U-series RAID storage has a Gigabit RJ45 connector/out-of-band management port on the rear. You can monitor and manage an ARC-8050T5U-series RAID storage using this dedicated management channel without any host connectivity. It will also not disturb host access when you monitor or manage the ARC-8050T5U. The ARC-8050T5U also has the advantage of Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, which is useful if the Thunderbolt port fails or if you don't have access to an Apple-supported device.
Thunderbolt Bus
You can configure in-band management for communication to travel over the Thunderbolt data path between a host and ARC-8050T5U. In-band management uses a proxy agent HTTP management software (ArcHTTP) running on a data host to communicate with an ARC-8050T5U.
Web Browser-Based Management
McRAID storage manager is a firmware-based utility that is accessible via web browser, as it's an HTML-based application. It can be accessed through the in-band Thunderbolt bus and out-of-band Ethernet port. The in-band-Thunderbolt bus method can launch the web browser-based McRAID storage manager via ArcHTTP proxy server.
User-Friendly Graphical-Based Management
The Areca Single Admin Portal (ArcSAP) quick manager is an alternative graphical-based device management program specifically designed for use in managing and configuring RAID unit implemented using any Areca RAID controllers. ArcSAP quick manager can scan for multiple RAID units in the local and remote systems and provide an effective mechanism to configure your RAID units.
RAID Storage Power On/Off Controls
ARC-8050T5U RAID storage contains power on/off controls on the controller. The power on/off controls can turn ARC-8050T5U power in unison with the host computer power status for data integrity. It is advised that you use a proper power-down procedure when you would like to power down your Mac and Thunderbolt storage. If you attempt to power it down by pressing and holding the power button you run the risk of losing unsaved data, and increase the chance of damaging hardware, more specifically the hard drive. Following an improper power down, the power up and restart sequence of a Thunderbolt RAID storage and attached hosts will affect the normal functionality.
Whisper-Quiet Operation
The intelligent cooling continuously adapts to environmental conditions by automatically controlling the speed of the cooling fans. As a result, the fans reduce noise to minimum levels, making the ARC-8050T5U well-suited for video/audio applications without impacting the work environment.