Netstor desktop 16-bay Thunderbolt 3 SAS/SATA JBOD enclosure

Netstor NS780TB3 desktop 16-bay Thunderbolt 3 storage

The Netstor NS780TB3 is a desktop 16-bay Thunderbolt 3 storage enclosure with sixteen hot-swappable trays for 3.5" or 2.5" SAS (12/6 Gb/s) or SATA (6 Gb/s) drives. With 20 TB drives it reaches 320 TB raw capacity, and the 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 link delivers up to 2750 MB/s.

The enclosure is supplied without a RAID card: you install the internal 16-port RAID controller or SAS HBA of your choice, turning the JBOD into an enterprise RAID storage with RAID 0, 1, 10, 3, 5, 6, 30, 50 or 60. The enclosure itself needs no driver and works with Windows 10/11 and macOS, including Mac Studio; Netstor reports up to 4200 MB/s with two units, each in RAID 6, striped in RAID 0 by macOS. Two front and two rear 120 mm fans keep the drives cool at a low noise level, powered by a 500 W supply.

Key features

• 16 hot-swappable bays for 2.5" or 3.5" SAS 12/6 Gb/s or SATA 6 Gb/s HDDs/SSDs (drives sold separately)
• Up to 320 TB raw capacity with 20 TB drives
• Takes an internal 16-port RAID card or HBA (sold separately) for RAID 0, 1, 10, 3, 5, 6, 30, 50, 60 or JBOD
• Thunderbolt 3 at 40 Gbps, up to 2750 MB/s
• Enclosure needs no driver; works with Windows and macOS
• Two front and two rear 120 mm cooling fans, low noise
• Per-tray access/failure LEDs, global HDD, temperature and fan LEDs, mutable alarm buzzer
• Aluminum housing with solid metal structure; 500 W power supply

Compatibility

• Windows 10 and Windows 11
• macOS, on Apple silicon (M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra) or Intel Macs, including Mac Studio
• Host requirement: one Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 port
• RAID cards or HBAs with internal 16 ports, e.g. Areca ARC-1883ix-16 (offered by Netstor as accessory BARC1883IX16)

Notes

• Netstor model name: NS780TB3. Supplied without RAID card; hard drives, SSDs and RAID/HBA card are not included.
• The NS780TB3 has no additional PCIe expansion slots.
• With Areca ARC-1226 or ARC-1883 RAID cards and Apple silicon Macs (M1/M2), Netstor reports a possible reboot loop at power-on because the Mac boots faster than the drives spin up: the fix is Areca firmware v1.62 (2022/04/27) or later, "Delay For JBOD Init" disabled and "Stagger Power On Control" set to 0.4 s.
• Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 run at the same 40 Gbps: according to Netstor, this Thunderbolt 3 unit can be connected to either a Thunderbolt 3 or a Thunderbolt 4 port on the host computer.
• Performance figures are from Netstor; actual performance may vary with system hardware and configuration.

Specifications

• Host interface: Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), 40 Gbps, compatible with Thunderbolt 4 host ports
• Drive interface: SAS (12/6 Gb/s), SATA (6 Gb/s)
• Drive bays: 16, for 2.5" or 3.5" SSDs/HDDs
• RAID: requires an internal 16-port RAID card or HBA (JBOD), sold separately
• PCIe slot expansion: none
• Tray LEDs: flashing blue access, red failure
• Enclosure LEDs: global HDD (flashing blue access, red failure, flashing purple rebuilding), temperature (green normal, red over 50 °C), fan (green normal, red failure)
• Alarm: mutable buzzer for fan failure or over temperature
• Power supply: 500 W single PSU, input 90-230 VAC 50-60 Hz, outputs +5 V and +12 V
• Cooling: two front and two rear 120 x 120 x 25 mm fans
• Dimensions: 450 (D) x 176 (W) x 374 (H) mm
• Housing: aluminum with solid metal structure
• Environment: operating 5 to 40 °C, storage -10 to 50 °C, relative humidity 20-80% non-condensing

In the box

• Enclosure
• 16 drive trays (installed)
• Thunderbolt 3 40 Gbps cable, 2 m
• 4 internal miniSAS cables
• 64 drive mounting screws
• Power cord