Review on 💾 High-Performance ORICO 5-Bay RAID Storage Enclosure: 3.5-Inch Type-C to SATA III External Aluminum Alloy Drive Enclosure for HDD SSD, Supports RAID 0/1/JBOD - WS500RC3 by Walter Martin

This review is for the Orico WS500RU3 5-Bay RAID Array. I currently have a Mediasonic HFR2-SU3S2 RAID array with 4 drives. . I wanted to install an additional RAID array and when I looked for the Mediasonic model I found that it is no longer available. So I looked for other options. I first found and tried the Yottamaster PS500RC3 which is very similar to this device, but then I found this one and decided to try it instead. In fact, Yottamaster and Orico blocks are almost the same with some differences (see below). The body looks solid. Even empty, it doesn't look like a thin piece of metal. Aluminum is thick. I wasn't sure how the front panel would work as it doesn't have a gullwing door like the Yottamaster. The front panel is actually screwed on with 4 screws, so it's not a device where the panels are exchanged every day. The weakest part of this device are the 5 drive bays. They are plastic with an odd configuration of mounting holes. There are two openings on each side of the compartment, one on each side towards the "front" side (drive side with connectors) and one on each side in the middle. Some rims, like my WD 140EMFZ, have two holes on each side, but one in the front and one in the back, not in the middle. This way I can only use one screw on each side instead of 2. I would like to have 3 holes on each side of the tray to accommodate the different drive mounting hole locations. The bottom also has 4 holes for a 2.5" drive, but I haven't tried a 2.5" drive. This enclosure uses fiber optics on each of the bays to provide a drive status indication from the back to the front of the unit. There are 5 small holes on the top where you can see the status indicators. This works slightly better than the same setup used on the Yottamaster PS500RC3 (and RU3). It's still not very good. I would like metal tubs with anti-vibration mounts and a better arrangement of light tubes for status indicators. them to the Orico enclosure and they were recognized immediately. So this device works with drives that are at least 14TB (and I believe there is no size limit). You can also use removable drives and don't have to worry about capping the 3.3V shutdown pin (pin 3 on the power connector). Although this device and the Yottamaster PS500 are actually the same device, I will be returning the Yottamaster and keeping the Orico WS500RU3 as I like it a bit better. BENEFITS: - Rugged aluminum chassis - Quiet fan with decent airflow - Works with large capacity drives (14TB tested) - Can use 'detached' drives, no need to worry about 3.3V shutdown pin - 5 bays in one compact unit - Front of panel is screw-on (good if you want to "set it and forget" what you should be doing) CONS: - Drive trays are plastic and have weird mounting hole patterns - Poor drive status indicator (poor light pipe installation) Similarities to Yottamaster WS500 : - Almost the same aluminum case - Same DIP switch and button mode configuration - Exactly the same power supply comes - Both come with USB 3.0 (RU3) and USB C (RC3) models - RAID arrays are compatible between both devices ( and in any case based on JMicron) Differences to Yottamaster WS500: - Yottamaster uses Philips screws, Orico uses Torx screws (both e Include suitable screwdriver) - The Yottamaster mounts the drives horizontally, the Orico mounts them vertically. I like the Orico plate a bit more for the slightly (minimal) improved drive status indicators and the cleaner look of the screwed front panel. I'm planning to get a second one and replace my old Mediasonic 4-bay RAID with a 5-bay RAID. Two Orico devices look good when stacked on top of each other.