I am have a bunch of external SATA-SSDs, that I would like to put together in one single external chassi with RAID-capability. But almost everything I find on the market is only USB 3.1 connection to the computer, which is a huge bottle neck.
Are there not a lot of Thunderbolt 3 options out there for SSD external Raid cabinets?
Thunderbolt 3 raids tend to be a bit expensive but you can daisy chain devices easily with little or no data loss.
TerraMaster TD2 (2bay) TD5 (5bay) get good reviews and impressive read/write speeds with good drives but there not cheap.
OWC ThunderBay 4 mini gets good reviews and not too expensive if you just get enclosure - software based raid - comes with the lite version of OWC raid software.
AKiTiO Thunder3 Quad X )also do a 2 drive enclosure might be worth looking at as well although seem hard to get hold of although mac4us still sells them. https://www.mac4us.nl/product_info.php?cPath=174&products_id=2416&osCsid=6k837qgdo3t5fnpgcorc3s2m96
If you want a DIY option then Highpoint RocketStor 6661A-eSATA (https://highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-rs6661a-esata-overview.htm) might be an option - has 4 eSATA connections and thunderbolt 3 - you can easily hook up to SATA drives or they do a Mini SAS version as well. This is just a raid controller and doesn’t have any enclosures but is probably the cheapest way to get a 4 drive raid.
There are some options which come with drives but this gets really expensive. The western Digital G raid but as far as I know you can’t buy it bare and the drives are difficult to change as is the LaCie.
I’ve looked at the OWC Thunderbay, and some people said it was a bit noisy fan. I am considering this route also if I am to buy a refurbished Mac Pro Trashcan model. It’s only TB2, so I hope these TB3 chassis are backwards compatible, do you know?
thunderbolt 3 is backwardly compatible but not all devices support it but OWC thunderbays support thunderbolt 2 so should work fine with Mac pro 6. Apple do a bidirectional Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter if needed depending on what you get
Thanks Phil. I think the Thunderbolt versions, USB-C and all versions are all so confusing. 