Areca ARC-4036 6Gb/s SAS/SATA JBOD Enclosure – Conclusion

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 CONCLUSION

Having reached the end of our journey, I will admit that it did run a bit longer than expected.. The Areca enclosure is full of tons of features that one wouldn’t really expect to find with a JBOD/expander in its price range. It certainly has a lot of features to cover.

The device is well manufactured and attractive. You can easily see this being used in an enterprise environment for a high powered server, with several enclosures daisy chained and being ran by multiple controllers simultaneously. I can almost hear the server fans screaming at me now….

One of the greatest aspects of this device is that you could also see it used in a users very own home. Attention to detail and an overall attractive appearance would make this a device that one wouldn’t be ashamed of having setting by their computer or workstation. Many manufacturers will often overlook the appearance aspect of enterprise-class equipment as the environments that they are used in do not usually lend themselves to finely polished units. The fans run quietly and the unit is small and unobtrusive. It looks much like a small computer when it is closed up.

I can personally say that this enclosure looks just as good doing its job, as it is at doing it. On the consumer front, this would be the leading choice for an external 6Gb/s enclosure, be it for home servers or users with a need for large amount of storage.

Performance is the key here and this device certainly doesn’t disappoint. Utilizing the LSI 28-port LSISAS2x28 expander IC was truly a wise choice from their team. The ability of the device to utilize multiple enclosures and devices opens up a world of opportunities in the usage of the unit. Backwards capability that is inherent in the 6Gb/s protocol is very useful for the user as well, as they can update the various aspects of their storage subsystem at their leisure. The fact that SAS 6Gb/s also supports all SATA 3gb/s and 6Gb/s just really sweetens the deal.

There is also the option of using this in tandem with the ARC-8040, a standalone 6Gb/s SAS to SAS RAID Subsystem that would allow for even further options and scalability.

The ARC-4036 has a MSRP of $1100 USD, but can be found at many retailers for around $900 LINK. The unit also comes with a 3 year warranty for the electronic components.

Once they pair this with their exceptional design, the obsessive attention to detail, and the plethora of options that is the very hallmark of Areca products the world over, this enclosure is certainly hard to beat. A great effort from their design team down to the manufacturers, We give it the Editors Choice Award with no hesitation whatsoever.

~ INTRODUCTION ~ CONCEPTS AND USAGE ~

~ UNBOXING ~ INTERNALS ~ CONNECTIVITY OPTIONS ~ CONNECTING DRIVES ~

~ ENCLOSURE MANAGEMENT ~ TEST BENCH AND PROTOCOL ~

~ SANDISK LIGHTNING RESULTS ~ PATRIOT WILDFIRE RESULTS ~

~ CONCLUSION ~

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