Areca Technology Corporation (ARECA), a leading provider of internal RAID controller, Thunderbolt storage solutions, external RAID controller and PCIe RAID adapters with RAID 6 inside, today announced the new ARC-1886 series offer advanced technology for enhanced performance and improved enterprise data protection. They were designed with 1.6 GHz dual core ROC processor, DDR4-2666 memory architecture and PCIe 4.0 interface for the most performance-hungry database and IT applications. Based on the ARM A15 PCIe 4.0 x8 to SAS/SATA/PCIe RAID on Chip (ROC) controller, the ARC-1886 series RAID adapters can offer both PCIe Gen 4.0 host and 12Gb/s SAS/SATA/PCIe (NVMe) tri-mode storage interfaces.

The whole series adapters default support on-board 8GB of ECC DDR4-2666 SDRAM memory. The optional cache backup module, ARC-1886-CBM, provides cache offload capability to protect cached data in case of system power loss. When the module detects loss of power, the supercapacitor keeps parts of the ARC-1886 tri-mode RAID adapter active long enough to allow cache data to be copied to the flash memory available on the ARC-1886 RAID adapter. Board-level hardware encryption manages any kinds of drives attached to ARC-1886 controller cards without impacting the performance for higher levels of security.

The ARC-1886 series RAID adapter, system integrators can take full advantage of SAS, SATA and x1, x2, and x4 NVMe drives in existed U.2 /U.3 based backplane. Universal Backplane Management (UBM) defines a common backplane control and management framework for a host to determine SAS/SATA/ PCIe backplane capabilities. The ARC-1886 series adapters are UBM ready, and customers can immediately integrate these adapters into their U.3 backplanes utilizing UBM.

The 12Gb/s SAS, SATA, PCI-e 4.0 NVMe RAID adapter support broad operating system including Windows, Linux (Open Source), FreeBSD (Open Source), Mac, VMware and more, along with key system monitoring features such as enclosure management (UBM, SES-2, SMP, & SGPIO) and SNMP function.

The new generation ARC-1886 series controllers are immediately available now.

Areca Technology Corporation (ARECA), a leading provider of internal RAID adapter, external RAID controller and Thunderbolt RAID storage, today announced the general availability and shipping of the NVMe hardware RAID adapter: ARC-1886-6N2I to offer both 6 x M.2 slots and 2 x 12Gb/s SAS/SATA internal ports.

Key Features:

• PCIe 4.0 host interface, PCIe Gen4 x8 lanes at maximum transfer rate up to 128Gb/s
• Support up to 6 x PCIe Gen4 M.2 slots
• Implemented 8GB 72-bit DDR4-2666 SDRAM providing hardware RAID assist engine for parity calculations
• Dynamically allocate storage 12Gb/s SAS/SATA/PCIe (NVMe) to NVMe slot1 and SATA/SAS ports
• Hardware-based RAID solution that supports RAID levels 0, 1, 10, 5, 6,10, 50, 60, Single Disk and JBOD
• Supports up to 256 SATA or SAS devices using SAS expanders
• Firmware automatically backup from NVMe RAID to SAS/SATA RAID
• Adapter off module power loss protection (PLP) saves data issued without data loss at power fail for Non PLP NVMe drive
• CBM module or on-board battery(CR2032) to keep on M.2 fault LED status for troubleshooting
• Buzzer beeping for any of RAID adapter warning conditions

NVMe Performance Gains for Fast Data

Based on the ARM A15 x8 PCIe Gen 4.0 to SAS/SATA/PCIe RAID on Chip (ROC) controller, the ARC-1886-6N2I RAID adapter raises the standard to higher performance levels with several enhancements including a new high performance 1.6 GHz dual core ROC processor, a DDR4-2666 memory, outstanding performance PCIe Gen 4.0 host and 12Gb/s SAS/SATA/PCIe (NVMe) interface bus interconnection. The RAID adapter by default supports on-board 8GB of ECC DDR4-2666 SDRAM memory. The ARC-1886-6N2I, providing an extremely fast, reliable, and ultra-compact solution for companies that need storages, is especially designed and featured in the high-speed data recording and processing.

The ARC-1886-6N2I dynamically allocates storage PCIe 4.0 lanes to NVMe slot1 and SAS/SATA ports to get best performance – for professional media workstation and server environments designed to support high-speed data recording and processing. This RAID adapter can back up to 6 NVMe on just one full high PCIe adapter, increasing the capacity/speed as more NVMes are added to it. The ARC-1886-6N2I supports both 2280 and 22110 form factor drives and combines them on a tri-mode RAID adapter to maximize I/O performance for database applications and streaming digital media environments. Damage in a software RAID is considered as the consumption of massive computation and memory bandwidth on the host. The ARC-1886-6N2I hardware RAID relieves the parity generation burden from the host and maximizes application processing performance.

Guaranteed Data Protection

In Areca’s high-performance RAID solution, ARC-1886-6N2I brings PCIe NVMe to a superior performance hardware RAID at an elevated throughput, high IOPs and a low latency. It supports the hardware RAID 6 engine and allows two devices failures without impacting the existing data and performance. The ARC-1886VN provides a dual disk arrays including a NVMe disk array and a SAS/SATA hard disk array. The 6 PCs NVMe are for extreme speed purpose (8K uncompressed video data editing, Gaming.. etc), then use 2 SAS/SATA HDD as storage area. The RAID firmware will have a special mode to preset the value and back up the data of M.2 NVMe disk array to the SAS/SATA port hard disk array when the host workload level does not reach the preset value. This has the advantages of fast access to data by the NVMe disk and scores high reliability of data storage on the hard disk.

The ARC-1886-6N2I off module power loss protection (PLP) is optimized for datacenter environments. Its efficient PLP typically applies the capacitors on the NVMe SSD to provide hold-up power until the data is flushed from the NVMe internal DRAM to the NAND flash upon a sudden power off or any failure condition occurrence. The ARC-1886-6N2I utilizes the optional CBM module to provide off module hold-up power, eliminating the need for capacitors on the NVMe SSDs which helps reduce cost. The optional CBM module or on-board battery (CR2032) supporting M.2 slot will show a fault LED status and easily be identified as a failed drive when it is removed from the system PCIe slot. Controller based hardware encryption manages any kinds of drives attached to ARC-1886-6N2I adapter without impacting the performance for higher levels of security.

Intuitive RAID Management

The ARC-1886-6N2I RAID adapter supports broad operating system including Windows, Linux (Open Source), FreeBSD (Open Source), Mac, VMware and more, along with key system monitoring features such as enclosure management and SNMP function. The McBIOS RAID is a BIOS based utility used to simplify configure and manage RAID adapter via hot key at M/B BIOS boot-up screen. Without having to deploy an agent, you can also configure, deploy, update, and monitor the ARC-1886-6N2I, via the GUI or through CLI utility. Customers can launch the firmware browser-based McRAID GUI through on-board Ethernet port or ArcHttp proxy server. Additionally, Areca ArcSAP storage manager allows the user to scan multiple RAID units in the network and perform GUI management operations across multiple RAID units.

ARC-1886-6N2I is available immediately, shipping in January 2021.

Areca Technology Corporation (ARECA), a leading provider of internal RAID adapter, external RAID controller and Thunderbolt RAID storage, today announced that its current line of Thunderbolt products are compatible with Apple's new M1 Macs. Areca has provided a set of universal drivers that support both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Areca RAID storage X86 default driver has been moved to / System / Library / Extensions/ from macOS 11 for supporting Intel based Mac to boot from its volume. Our X86 driver updates will only be possible with macOS updates. Since external boot via 3rd party drivers is not allowed on Apple Silicon based Macs, the default driver doesn’t work on new M1 Mac, only for Intel-based machine.

The macOS 11 had not been integrated any universal KEXTs into macOS, which means that users need to install universal KEXT to support Areca Thunderbolt devices on Apple Silicon. Areca universal KEXT's on Apple Silicon can be installed in / Library / Extensions/, even if Areca RAID storage x86-only versions persists on the system in / System / Library / Extensions/.

Areca universal drivers is no longer included in macOS Big Sur, which means you need to download the M1 driver from Areca website link and install Areca KEXTs manually. Below is the Areca universal driver link for both Apple M1 and Intel Macs.

ArcMSR for RAID Storage: http://www.areca.us/support/s_macos/driver/arcmsr-1.4.4-20201221.zip

ArcQFC for Fibre Adapter: http://www.areca.us/support/s_thunderbolt/driver/ArcQFC-1.0.4-20201221.zip

ArcSAS for SAS Adapter: http://www.areca.us/support/s_macos/non_driver/macnonraid_arcsas-2.0.7-20201221.zip

Areca Technology Corporation (ARECA), a leading provider of internal, external and Thunderbolt RAID controllers, today announced the general availability and shipping of the RAID storage: ARC-8050T3U Thunderbolt 3 port to offer both Thunderbolt and USB protocol for increasing compatibility among USB based hosts. In short: ARC-8050T3U is based on Thunderbolt 3 technology, backwards compatible with USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 2.0.

The ARC-8050T3U connecting to a Thunderbolt 3 computer port is the native Thunderbolt 3 connectivity–connecting ARC-8050T3U to a USB only computer port is considered a typical native USB 3.2 Gen 2 connectivity. The advancement of 10Gbps USB3.2 Gen 2 connectivity allows the ARC-8050T3U RAID storage to transfer end-to-end 10Gbps storage speed between the storage enclosure and the USB only host system. You can simply connect to any Thunderbolt 3 computer or USB only computer using the same 40Gbps passive cable from thunderbolt 3 port on the ARC-8050T3U. In the future new 1-2m TBT 40Gbps Thunderbolt™ 3 cable will be updated to support Thunderbolt, USB, DP for increasing cable length.

The ARC-8050T3U offers a high performance storage device perfect for the creative professionals, media and Mac enthusiasts who are looking for a Thunderbolt 3 computer, and USB only computer to share or access data in their storage device through same RAID device Thunderbolt 3 port . Today’s TB3 RAID storage only works with computers featuring Thunderbolt 3 ports. By contrast, the ARC-8050T3 can fall back for use as a USB-C sink, allowing it to offer "basic compatibility" with USB-C ports. The ARC-8050T3U RAID storage family is used the same market well proven ARC-8050T3 RAID controller’s based board and software package. It also consists of five models: the -4, the -6, the-8, the-12 and the -24 with four, six, eight, twelve and twenty-four 2.5/3.5” hot-swappable bays, respectively.

Intelligent power On/Off function on storage turns power in unison with the host computer power status. It can intelligently power down the unit after the thunderbolt host shuts down everything for data integrity. ARC-8050T3U also supports a battery backup option that protects all data in cache memory in the event of unexpected power outage. The board-level hardware encryption manages any kinds of drives attached to ARC-8050T3U-4/6/6M/8/12(R)/24R without impacting the performance for higher levels of security.

ARC-8050T3U RAID storages are available immediately, shipping in October 2019.