Thundebrolt 3 RAID Enclosures – Worth Your Data?

Why You Should Purchase TerraMaster Thunderbolt 3 8-Bay RAID Enclosures (D8-332 and D8)

When it comes to achieving optimal workflow and high-speed data transfers, the right storage solution is pivotal. That’s where TerraMaster’s Thunderbolt 3 8-Bay RAID Enclosures – D8-332 and D8, come into play. These high-performing storage enclosures promise to revolutionise your workflow, and here’s why:

Immense Storage Capacity

Both the D8-332 and D8 support 3.5″ SATA disks and 2.5″ SSDs. The D8-332 can handle a total storage capacity of up to 160TB, while the D8 supports up to 144TB. For professionals dealing with large volumes of data, these devices are robust tools to conquer any storage challenge.

Unprecedented Speed

Thanks to the dual Thunderbolt 3 interfaces (40 Gbps) and a hardware RAID controller, both D8-332 and D8 offer exceptional data transfer speeds. With a 7200 RPM high-speed hard disk and RAID 0 array mode, these devices can reach transfer speeds of 1600 MB/s. Even under RAID 5, the speed remains impressive at 1440 MB/s.

Rapid Video Workflows

Video professionals will appreciate how these devices slash post-production times. Transfer hours of footage from a Blackmagic® device to Adobe® Premiere Pro at lightning speed. Editing uncompressed HD 10-bit and 12-bit video streams is seamless, with responsive thumbnail and preview rendering for large, high-definition clips.

High Scalability

The D8-332 and D8 offer the option to daisy-chain more than five devices via a single cable. With the possibility to link together six devices, you can achieve a staggering 800TB of storage.

Compatibility

Both the D8-332 and D8 offer high-end transfer rates for Macs with Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 2 ports. With an Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, these enclosures integrate seamlessly with earlier Thunderbolt technologies.

Designed for Professionals

The enclosures’ design is thoughtful, with an aluminium casing, metal build, and smart fans to ensure full heat dissipation – a necessary feature for video professionals working long hours.

Enhanced Workspace

With its bandwidth capacity, the Thunderbolt 3 protocol takes your workspace to the next level. The D8-332 and D8 allow for daisy-chaining two 4K displays (or one 5K display) for an optimised workspace. Plus, a compatible notebook can be powered using the Thunderbolt 3 connections.

RAID Support and Security

Both the D8-332 and D8 support RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10, as well as JBOD disk array modes. This versatility ensures optimal use of storage capacity and data security. TerraMaster leverages cutting-edge storage technologies to prioritise data safety, freeing you from concerns about data protection.

Reliable Performance

Both the D8-332 and D8 have earned design and performance certification from Apple and Intel. This guarantees consistent, reliable performance. In conclusion, the TerraMaster Thunderbolt 3 8-Bay RAID Enclosures – D8-332 and D8, are formidable storage solutions, perfect for professionals needing high-speed, secure, and expansive storage. Be it for 4K video editing, seamless 4K streaming, or other demanding applications, these enclosures prove to be invaluable assets.

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          22 thoughts on “Thundebrolt 3 RAID Enclosures – Worth Your Data?”

          1. I’m looking for a jbod enclosure to run on my mac mini i7, which has only tb1. i plan on putting linux on it and truenas. any suggestions on enclosures i should look at? Thanks.
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          2. Recently got a D5 T3 and it’s working as advertised. Very easy setup and RAID configuration. Sequential R/W speeds are impressive, around 800 MB/s with 5 drives in RAID 5. The enclosure is solid, although the drive holders are plastic, and there is some noticeable drive noise, clicks and chirps, but the fans are very quiet. Overall I’d recommend it for large capacity, very good speed, and ease of use.
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          4. What a puff piece. Just tell us this is a sponsored video. 5 reasons to be on the fence only included one of relevance, with the noise. Terramasters have many issues with their hardware and software. Look at the reviews everywhere. Even i had trouble. Populated drives were asking to be formatted, terrible write speeds, trays were wonky. Would also turn off individual drives constantly, so there’s nothing showing on the system. Thats only half of the issues.
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          5. The big selling point of Drobo for me was that I could RAID discs of any size and if one got full, swap it for another and it would rebuild. All of the other systems I’ve seen so far require that ALL the discs be the same size. It becomes very expensive to have to go and buy multiple 8TB discs because your 4TB ones are getting close to full. The Drobo would let me incrementally add storage and replace the smallest drive each time.
            I have 4 Drobo desktop units but I fear they will all fade away as the kernel driver is not compatible with MacOS 13. All my Macs are still on MacOS12 simply because I can’t use my Drobos if I’m forced to update ????
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          7. I looked at this solution vs the Terramaster USB 3 solution. Turns out that whether you use rotating media, SSD, USB or Thunderbolt, the read/write performance is surprisingly similar at around 700 – 900 MBytes per second read, so I am not sure nVme makes a lot of sense. Not sure why, but it may be a hardware limit of the controllers. Certainly daisy chaining a nVme gives 2.5X the performance, so its not the Thunderbolt bus. Also, the USB version may be a better solution as its about 1/2 the speed, for the cost conscious. It may be worth doing a video comparing the various drives (Rotating vs SSD vs nVME) in DAS and NAS as a lot of confusion in the market about adding nVme drives etc to DAS and NAS (I am not talking about cache)
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          9. any enclosure with thunderbolt 4 ?
            im still confused i buld raid with 4 ssd 8th or i stay safe with hdd 7200 6 or 8 bay
            for video editing vfx
            some peoples recomend raid 6 if 2 hdd fails is it true?
            thx Mr nas for helping
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          10. Really, does the software allow you to grow a storage pool without backup and restore? I know both Synology and Qnap can (and nowadays qnap is pretty easy, even replacing lower capacity drives. Is no drobo but it’s easy)
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          12. Thanks mate – took me a while to find somebody who is talking about exactly my situation… It’s surprising how poorly this area is serviced by companies…
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          13. Is daisy chaining not only a mac supported feature?

            Are there any Das systems that allow their fans to be changed out with 3rd party PC fans like noctua for noise and efficiency?
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          16. Bought a D5 TB3 in the Prime sale to finally replace the Drobo that’s been crashing my Mac, and just installed this last night with 5x 4TB drives to discover I can’t even create a folder of a limited size for Time Machine backups. Guess I have to use yet separate 2TB drive for that. Or can I reformat my RAID into one 18TB RAID partition and one non-RAID 2TB partition? And what the hell is a block size and why am I being asked to decide it in setup? Man I miss the elegance of Drobos.
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          17. QNAP TVS-672XT | CPU Upgrade

            Personal request. but that will interest many of us. can you make a video where you change the cpu of the QNAP for an Intel i7-8700T.
            frankly you have balls if you do that.

            put a thumbs up, to motivate him to make the video. thank you
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          22. Minor comments on the units. I do own both the D2 and the D5 units and have been using them for over 2 years.
            I have no complains about their stability and quality so, in general, I do recommend them if you are into DASes.

            As Rob said, they are *loud* , even at *IDLE* , I can hear my D5’s fans even at 3 meters away if there is no floor noise (like midnight when nobody is doing anything).
            The D2 is quieter because it only has 1 fan.

            I have both units populated with Iron Wolf Pro 16TBs and they are louder because of the chassis whenever doing anything (READ/WRITE) as the sound the mechanical drive make echo way more in such a chassis.

            I have *QNAP DAS* (TR-004) and it makes slightly less echo.
            Most likely because it has less empty room in its chassis.

            The other problem I have with them is that the *D5 requires a driver/controller to be installed to be properly configured and detected* while the D2 does not.
            The driver/controller is only available for Windows and Mac so be mindful of that when picking one of them.

            The *D2 works perfectly in Linux* as it is managed using an old school button thingy to configure the *RAID*.
            The D5, even after properly configured in a Windows/Mac machine, is not even recognized in Linux.

            Max speeds even with SATA SSDs for the D5 are capped at *~1000 MBs* . With mechanical drives they are go around *450-550 MBs* even in RAD0 (although performance seems to be better when set in RAID5).

            My guess is that it is using an USB-C 10GBps hub inside.

            In all honesty, there are few benefits of these DASes being Thunderbolt:
            + The have 2 ports so they support *daisy chaining*
            + The USB-C ports to allow for video output on their own.
            + They have an additional *DisplayPort* port.

            So these DASes are convenient for *paced scalability* . If you need more drives you can buy another enclosure and daisy chain it to your main server without loosing another TB port.
            Speed wise, I think they are OKish although I was expected more performance for RAID0 on the D5 to be honest.

            If you really need non-Windows/Mac support and more than 2 drives, maybe the *QNAP DAS* is a better pick.
            It runs on USB 3 and maxes out at *200 MBs even at RAID0* , but it does not require a controller and supports 4 bays.
            It does have a software to manage the unit, but it is only to for that, management. Once set, it can be recognized anywhere.

            Wish everybody the best of lucks and hopefully this helps somebody.
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