Areca ARC-8050T5U-12E Thunderbolt™ 5 80 Gb/s Enclosure | USB 3.2 RAID 12x SAS/SATA

Areca ARC-8050T5U-12E – 12-bay Thunderbolt™ 5 hardware RAID array for SAS and SATA drives

Maximum capacity and performance for professional studios and data centers

The Areca ARC-8050T5U-12E is the highest-capacity desktop RAID array in the ARC-8050T5U series, designed for professionals who demand the highest performance, data security, and scalability. Equipped with 12 drive bays for 12 Gb/s SAS or 6 Gb/s SATA drives, an enterprise-class hardware RAID controller, and a Thunderbolt™ 5 interface, it offers bandwidth of up to 80 Gb/s, and with Bandwidth Boost technology, up to 120 Gb/s.

The ARC-8050T5U-12E model was designed for professional editing of 4K, 6K, and 8K content, television production, post-production studios, data archiving, and business applications requiring massive capacity and reliability.

Key Features

• Thunderbolt™ 5 with a bandwidth of up to 80 Gb/s
• Bandwidth Boost technology up to 120 Gb/s
• 12 drive bays for 12 Gb/s SAS and 6 Gb/s SATA drives
• Professional enterprise-class hardware RAID controller
• High-performance 1.6 GHz Dual-Core ARM A15 processor RAID-on-Chip
• 8 GB of DDR4 ECC cache
• two Thunderbolt™ 5 (USB-C) ports
• compatibility with Thunderbolt 5, Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3 (Mac), and USB 3.2 Gen 2
• Mini SAS HD SFF-8644 (4-lane) expansion port for connecting additional drive bays
• DisplayPort 2.1 output
• Support for up to 6 Thunderbolt devices via daisy chain
• Hardware-based data encryption
• Support for SED (Self-Encrypting Drives)
• Built-in Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 port for web browser-based management, SNMP, and email notifications.

Thunderbolt 5 – Full Performance for Professional Applications

Thanks to the Thunderbolt™ 5 interface, users get twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3 and 4, enabling simultaneous work with multiple 4K and 8K media streams, fast transfer of massive data libraries, and support for high-resolution monitors.

The array is compatible with both computers equipped with Thunderbolt 5 and devices with only a USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen2) port, ensuring great flexibility in use.

Enterprise-Class Hardware RAID

At the heart of the ARC-8050T5U-12E is a high-performance RAID controller equipped with a 1.6 GHz Dual-Core ARM A15 processor and 8 GB of DDR4 ECC memory, which performs all RAID operations independently of the computer.

Supported RAID levels:

• RAID 0
• RAID 1
• RAID 1E (10)
• RAID 3
• RAID 5
• RAID 6
• RAID 30
• RAID 50
• RAID 60
• JBOD
• Single Disk

The device also offers advanced enterprise-class features, such as:

• Online RAID Level Migration,
• Online Capacity Expansion,
• Auto Rebuild,
• Background Initialization,
• Array Roaming,
• SMART monitoring,
• and automatic notifications of disk failures.
• Scalable up to 256 disks

The ARC-8050T5U-12E model is equipped with a Mini SAS HD SFF-8644 (4-lane) expansion port that allows for connecting additional disk shelves with SAS expanders.

The system can be expanded to up to 256 drives, making it ideal for environments with ever-increasing storage space requirements.

Designed for Apple Mac and Windows computers

The array has been optimized to work with:

• Apple Mac Studio
• Mac Pro
• MacBook Pro
• Mac mini
• Apple Silicon computers (M1, M2, M3, M4, and newer)
• Windows computers equipped with Thunderbolt™ 5

Thanks to its USB-C compatibility, it can also work with computers not equipped with Thunderbolt.

Technical Specifications

• Model: Areca ARC-8050T5U-12E
• Number of bays: 12
• Host interface: 2 × Thunderbolt™ 5 (USB-C)
• Bandwidth: up to 80 Gb/s (120 Gb/s Bandwidth Boost)
• Supported drives: 12 Gb/s SAS, 6 Gb/s SATA
• RAID Controller Dual-Core ARM A15 1.6 GHz RAID-on-Chip
• Cache 8 GB DDR4-2666 ECC
• Expansion Port 1 × Mini SAS HD SFF-8644 (4-lane)
• Management Port 1 × Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45)
• Supported RAID levels: 0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6, 30, 50, 60, JBOD, Single Disk
• Video output: DisplayPort 2.1
• Daisy chain up to 6 Thunderbolt devices
• Cooling: 2 × 90 mm fans + 1 × 40 mm fan
• Power Supply: Built-in 400 W
• Dimensions: 206 × 310 × 290 mm
• Weight: approx. 9.5 kg
• Operating System: macOS 15.3 or later, Windows 11 23H2 or later; USB – system-independent
• Included: Active Thunderbolt™ 5 cable

Ideal Applications

The Areca ARC-8050T5U-12E is perfect for:

• professional editing of 4K, 6K, and 8K content,
• film and television studios,
• post-production,
• photography and graphic design,
• archiving large data sets,
• DIT environments,
• enterprise-class backup,
• data centers,
• and business applications requiring high performance, security, and scalability.

Why buy from Abart Pro?

Abart Pro is the official partner and supplier of professional Areca solutions in Poland. We offer Thunderbolt RAID hardware arrays, RAID controllers, and SAS, NVMe, and Fibre Channel solutions for macOS and Windows users. We provide expert technical advice, assistance in selecting the optimal configuration, and support for implementing high-performance storage systems for film studios, content producers, photographers, businesses, and data centers.