Teratrend RS431U Four Bay Rackmount RAID Enclosure Review

Introduction

For many of us, storage needs expand at a rapid pace. Such was the case for myself when I had the chance to upgrade my personal NAS appliance from a two bay unit, to a larger, more powerful, four bay appliance. Though, after migrating all of my data, I quickly realized I was running out of storage, and would need to look for a solution. Being that I was using a QNAP appliance, I looked over the expanders directly available from the manufacturer, and soon realized they were out of my budget.

That is when I remembered some of the products I have seen previously from Teratrend; so I decided to go have a look at the possible options they might provide. Lo and behold, they manufacture just what I needed, a rackmount four bay enclosure: the RS431U. The RS431U features four tray-less drive bays.

Each drive bay has its own activity indicator LEDs, in addition to RAID 0,1,3,5, and 10 supports, and combine mode. Data connectivity is managed via the rear mounted USB 3.0 or eSATA ports, which should give plenty of throughput for daily activities.

The Teratrend RS431U carries a street price of $368.99, with a one-year warranty.