The Areca ARC-8050T5U-4A 56TB is a compact four-bay professional hardware RAID supplied with 4 x 14TB 7200rpm enterprise hard drives, providing 56TB of raw storage capacity.
Dual Thunderbolt 5 ports provide up to 80Gb/s bidirectional connectivity, while USB-C 10Gb compatibility allows direct connection to suitable non-Thunderbolt USB-C computers. The 4A is Areca’s SAS/SATA-only four-bay model with dedicated hardware RAID processing and 1GB ECC-protected cache.
Original price was: £ 3,900.00.£ 3,199.95Current price is: £ 3,199.95. | £ 3,839.94 inc VAT
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We pride ourselves on knowing, selling and supporting Areca RAIDs & Controllers better than anyone else in the UK!
All our Areca RAIDs ship pre-configured & tested (RAID5 or RAID6, for Mac or PC). Please allow us 1-2 days to do this for you for free.
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– The UK’s Areca RAID Experts!The Areca ARC-8050T5U-4A 56TB combines four 14TB enterprise hard drives with Areca's compact four-bay Thunderbolt 5 hardware RAID platform. It offers a strong balance of usable professional storage capacity, hardware RAID protection and a relatively small desktop footprint.
Dedicated RAID processing, enterprise hard drives and support for both Thunderbolt 5 and USB-C 10Gb make it well suited to video, audio, photography, backup and general workstation storage.
Four 14TB 7200rpm enterprise hard drives provide 56TB of raw capacity and are covered by a five-year manufacturer warranty. Final usable capacity depends on RAID level and formatting. As a planning guide, RAID 5 provides approximately 42TB before formatting, while RAID 6 or RAID 10 provide approximately 28TB before formatting.
The ARC-8050T5U provides two Thunderbolt 5 ports with up to 80Gb/s bidirectional Thunderbolt bandwidth. The same storage system can also connect directly to a compatible non-Thunderbolt USB-C computer at up to 10Gb/s, giving it broader host compatibility than Thunderbolt-only RAID storage.
The ARC-8050T5U-4A uses an 800MHz SAS RAID-on-Chip controller with 1GB DDR3-800 on-board cache and ECC protection. RAID processing, parity calculations and rebuild operations are handled by the storage controller rather than relying on the host computer's CPU.
Supported modes include RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, 6 and 10 together with Single Disk and JBOD. This allows the four-drive set to be configured for performance, capacity, drive-failure protection or a balance appropriate to the intended workflow.
The ARC-8050T5U-4A provides four 6Gb/s SAS/SATA drive channels and is specifically the SAS/SATA-only four-bay model. It is distinct from the ARC-8050T5U-4N, which additionally supports U.2/U.3 NVMe drives.
A full-size DisplayPort 2.1 output is provided alongside the two Thunderbolt 5 ports. Thunderbolt 5 supports Bandwidth Boost up to 120Gb/s for compatible display-intensive workflows, while additional compatible Thunderbolt peripherals can be daisy-chained from the RAID.
The array can be configured and monitored through the front-panel LCD, through the host connection or independently using the dedicated Gigabit Ethernet management port. Areca's McRAID browser interface and ArcSAP provide additional local and remote administration options.
Controller-based AES 128-bit and 256-bit hardware encryption is supported together with compatible self-encrypting drives. Additional RAID functions include drive-health monitoring, array verification, disk scrubbing, hot-spare support and online RAID migration.
The four-bay enclosure measures 123 x 165.6 x 232mm and uses a single intelligently controlled 2700rpm cooling fan. Areca specifies approximately 37dB sound pressure for the ARC-8050T5U-4A chassis.
Rent a Raid can preconfigure and test the system before dispatch, including RAID 5 or RAID 6 setup for the intended Mac or Windows workflow. This allows the hardware RAID set to arrive already created rather than requiring the customer to configure the array from scratch.
The ARC-8050T5U supports compatible Thunderbolt 5 and Thunderbolt 4 Mac and Windows systems, compatible Thunderbolt 3 Macs, and USB-C 10Gb host operation.
| Manufacturer | Areca Technology |
| Product | ARC-8050T5U-4A - 56TB |
| Configuration | 4 x 14TB enterprise hard drives fitted |
| Raw Capacity | 56TB |
| Approximate RAID 5 Capacity | 42TB before formatting / filesystem overhead |
| Approximate RAID 6 Capacity | 28TB before formatting / filesystem overhead |
| Approximate RAID 10 Capacity | 28TB before formatting / filesystem overhead |
| Drive Type | Enterprise HDD |
| Drive Speed | 7200rpm |
| Drive Warranty | 5-year manufacturer warranty |
| Form Factor | Desktop 4-Bay |
| Drive Bays | 4 |
| Storage Interface | SAS / SATA only |
| Drive Channels | 4 x 6Gb/s SAS/SATA |
| NVMe Support | No — ARC-8050T5U-4A is the SAS/SATA-only model |
| Host / Peripheral Ports | 2 x Thunderbolt 5 USB-C |
| Thunderbolt 5 Bandwidth | Up to 80Gb/s bidirectional |
| Bandwidth Boost | Up to 120Gb/s for supported display workloads |
| USB-C Compatibility | USB-C 10Gb |
| Display Output | 1 x full-size DisplayPort 2.1 |
| RAID Controller | 800MHz SAS RAID-on-Chip |
| Cache Memory | 1GB DDR3-800 SDRAM with ECC protection |
| RAID Levels | RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10 |
| Additional Storage Modes | Single Disk, JBOD |
| Hardware Encryption | Controller-based AES 128-bit / 256-bit |
| SED Support | Supported with compatible self-encrypting drives |
| Management Interfaces | Front-panel LCD, in-band management, dedicated Gigabit Ethernet out-of-band management |
| Management Software | McRAID browser manager, ArcSAP |
| Expansion Support | None |
| Cooling | 1 x 2700rpm intelligent cooling fan |
| Sound Pressure Level | Approximately 37dB |
| Power | External power supply |
| Dimensions | 123 x 165.6 x 232mm (4.84 x 6.51 x 9.11in) |
| Enclosure Weight | Approximately 3.6kg / 8.0lb before fitted-drive weight |
| Operating Temperature | 0°C to 35°C |
| Operating Humidity | 5% to 95% non-condensing |
| Thunderbolt 5 OS Support | macOS 15.3 or later; Windows 11 23H2 or later |
| Thunderbolt 4 OS Support | macOS 14.x or later; Windows 11 or later |
| Thunderbolt 3 Support | Compatible Macs; macOS 15.0 or later |
| Included Data Cable | 1m active Thunderbolt 5 USB-C cable |
In general, next working day delivery services (UK Mainland) are available on Areca equipment orders placed before 2pm (subject to stock availability).
We kindly advise you let us preconfigure each Areca RAID (as RAID5, RAID6 etc), so they arrive properly setup, ready to “plug’n’play”.
This is a free service, and takes 1-2 days prior to shipping.
Non-timed deliveries should be delivered between the hours of 9am and 6pm.
Orders placed after 2pm on Fridays and on weekends will be processed as normal the following Monday.
Orders placed on Bank Holidays will be processed the next working day.
If urgent, please call one of our helpful account managers so they may double check everything for you, enabling you to place your order with confidence.
• Please note: these product details are for guide purposes only, and may contain errors.
•• We always recommend double-checking the product specs and features on the manufacturer website, and/or contacting us if unsure before ordering.
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