ORICO 4-Bay Aluminium USB 3.0 External Hard Drive RAID Enclosure for 4x 3.5 Inch SATA III HDD and SSD - Support UASP & 8TB

Update, so after exactly 2 years, the whole unit failed. It powers on and then turns off again after it has performed a self-check. I'm pretty sure that the drives are ok, but I'm now faced with buying another one if I want to recover all my data as I was running RAID 10 so need something that can read the same raid config. Disappointed it should fail just out of warranty of course.Used with 4 x 2TB drives in RAID 10 to hold my movie collection and as storage for a Plex movie server. Was easy to configure, just set the dip switches on the back then download the RAID configuration software from the manufacturer's website. Very quiet and much faster, cheaper and more flexible than a NAS when combined with the small net-top PC. Getting roughly 4x the write rate my Seagate NAS could achieve (160 MB/s vs 40 MB/s). Worth noting that if you're copying lots of large video files to the drive RAID 5 is not a good option as the overhead of writing the parity file massively slows the sustained write speed to about 40 MB/s. Go with RAID 0 if you aren't worried about redundancy or have a good backup, RAID 10 if you don't mind only utilising 50% of your physical storage or RAID 5 if you don't mind slightly slower read speed and much (4x) slower write speeds.

Bought to use as a "remote" RAID5 backup unit attached to an Synology DiskStation. However, the intended use will require both units to be powered OFF at the socket to conserve energy, and then power up via an external timer to receive backups from the local system.The Synology DiskStation does auto-boot when power is applied, but unfortunately the ORICO unit does not, and so you have to physically push the ON/OFF button to start it running - which will not be feasible where the 2 units will be located (in my garage at the end of the garden!).Nevertheless It does appear to work quite well and has been reliable for the few days that I have been testing it.However: the listing claims it to compliant with the EU/UK "CE" Marking requirements (for electrical safety and EMC) and that would require far more labelling, including a "CE" marking actually on the unit itself - but there is none there, and only on the product box (and that does not meet the CE requirements for products which are large enough to be marked - and that means a LOT smaller than the ORICO box!)

One of several Orico models of enclosure that are owned and used. Originally, one from the brand was purchased as a replacement for another of a competing brand that was then and still is unavailable that had became intermittently noisy after two years although still fully functional and usable if hidden away. It is occasionally used to store the contents (or a substantial proportion) of another enclosure during drive replacements, upgrades and rebuilds.Owned in 2-, 4- and 5-bay configurations, they are set-up in various ways, a few in RAID 0, a few more RAID 1, 3 in RAID 5 and several in BIG mode (a means of possibly using odd drives as one large one). RAID 10 is an option that was only briefly used but wasteful of drive capacities and therefore expensive. With no more than two installed drives, the options are restricted to RAID 0 and 1, JBOD and BIG; adding units increases the options. The original intention was to achieve storage capacities above 3TB which was then the maximum possible on a single drive. With 10TB and 12TB capacities currently available in a single 3.5-inch drive unit, simpler solutions are possible.There is a switch bank at the rear by which means it is possible to set the four switches in various combinations to provide a specific RAID type, BIG, or JBOD (each unit retains a separate identity). A final option will erase the drives ready for re-use. Each change of setting requires that the unit be powered down and switched back on while holding the SET button until it boots. Although the unit then establishes a drive system, it will still need to have a partition created and formatted. The unit is fully compatible with Windows and Mac systems of recent origin but may not be compatible with Linux.Adding up to four hard drives (it will accept 2.5 units with appropriate adapters) is quick, easy and requires no screws or a tool; just slot them in with connectors inward-facing and close the doors FIRMLY until they positively click. There is an option to lock the trays using the supplied key. The power switch and connections are to the rear. It is USB 3.0 and reasonably fast on reads and writes - the various settings may have an effect on access speeds. Users will benefit from downloading Orico's RAID management software which provides device information and can also manage the unit (or multiples), even those of other brands.Of the many units operated, some of them for up to 5 or 6 years, one was DOA and quickly replaced, and one other may recently have failed although one of the drive units it housed was intermittent and latterly terminally failed within two weeks of installation and that may be its sole problem. That unit will be re-checked once a replacement drive is installed; the other units remain fully reliable.ADDENDUM @ 02-2019Older 4 & 5-bay models are discontinued and replaced by this with a perforated front panel held in by screws. Current firmware as used in this and a related series appears to limit capacity to 4TB per bay and not 8TB as their manuals claim. Support from Orico in China has not been offered as requested. That is now not unusual and it was better when they were Taiwan-based.

I've had this for over a year and have been impressed from the beginning......but today, a disc failed and the unit told me with an ear piercing alarm! Awesome!But on shutting down and taking drives out, they're too hot to touch! The fan isn't working! (fan seems fine - just no power to the fan... as it's over a year old, I'm trying to repair it... and it was supposed to save me time!)When i first configured it, I tried three times to get the RAID 5 to kick in and I suspect bad soldering on the DIP switches as I did nothing different the third try and it worked...I modified the main board to power the fan constantly - hopefully I'll get no more baked disks.

I bought this to hold a few spare Hard Drives from an old Mac Pro and now have have a MacBook Pro with no USB ports, just the new USB-C ports which need a usb adaptor. I was a bit apprehensive at first after reading a review that mentioned that someone's HD's had been formatted, losing all data. I have had no problems at all, the RAID is set to to 0 and just reads all 4 drives as intended. I would recommend this drive bay if you have a laptop and need to access old hard drives.