The RAID management software for this unit on OS X has serious problems. As part of the install for their OS X "RAID Master" utility (current and most recent version rev358), they install copies of apache 2.2.22, php 5.3.16, openssl 1.0.1f. apache server is configured to listen on port 8848, and presents a RAID configuration interface.

Problems:
* The server listens to port 8848 on all interfaces.

* The web service is unauthenticated. A network attacker or unprivileged local user can alter or destroy a RAID array using a regular web browser.

* The web service does not sanitize browser input before concatenating it to a shell command and executing. At multiple points in ajax.php, a remote user can execute arbitrary shell commands as the 'daemon' user if he or she is willing to alter the RAID array as a side effect. Shell commands can be concatenated on each argument to the RAID setup.

* The web service does not protect against CSRF. Third-party pages can manipulate the RAID if a user merely browses to any web page embedding RAID commands.

* The bundled versions of apache2, php5 and openssl all contain multiple vulnerabilities, including further potential for remote users executing arbitrary code. There is no update mechanism in place, nor have they provided newer builds.

* The RAID configuration utility does not advise the user that it is opening a service on all ports (or even disclose that it is installing a web server in the first place). Users may not realize that they are exposing a vulnerable service on the local network, or installing web services that need updates.

* Security issues aside, the RAID configuration utility stops working 30 days after installation with a "License has expired" error. To avoid reinstalling the same version of the same software every 30 days, I had to alter the software. (Look at the IsExpired function in /usr/share/odm/home/*/ajax2.php if you want to fix your own copy - "default" is the choice if using English). The disabled state does NOT remove the security vulnerabilities above, it only prevents browsing the user interface.

* No uninstaller is provided. Advanced knowledge is necessary to remove the software and the security problems it introduces.

My recommendation is that you wait for other similar Thunderbolt RAID solutions until they get this under control.

My original review:
Title: Great performance, not quiet, some problems with SSDs
Stars: 3

I would love for this enclosure to have worked out for me. Performance is wonderful, licking at just shy of 800 megabytes per second in both read and write with four SSDs in a RAID 0. But some noise and SSD recognition problems are deal breakers for my own desktop use.

This unit is not quiet. If you put it behind an iMac, it still sounds several times louder than the iMac with the GPU and CPU fans running at full tilt. With the lid off, the fan is an acceptable low hum, but with the protective lid on it reverberates at a higher and inconsistent pitch. If you are looking for something as quiet as your Mac, this is not the RAID for you. It sounds like a commodity PC power supply.

There is also a problem with SSDs (and possibly other hard drives with quick startup time) used in a JBOD configuration. When multiple drives come online quickly, they are not reported to the OS. It's necessary to pull and reinsert each unidentified drive one at a time in order to get them to be recognized by the OS. This behavior was consistent with Samsung 1TB 840 EVO, Crucial 960GB M500 and Intel 480GB 730 SSDs. I could not find a combination that consistently powered on properly. If you're using SSDs, you do not want to use this enclosure for JBOD.

The Thunderbolt ports are recessed. This isn't a problem with the supplied cable, or with Apple's cables. It actually protects these plugs against shearing force. But be warned that many third-party Thunderbolt cables with wider shrouds will not fit. Given that the size of the shroud is part of the Thunderbolt spec, these third-party cables are technically non-compliant, however they are plentiful. Be careful about cable selection. The protective feature can cause a wasted cable order.

Curiously, this enclosure includes a canvas-like carrying tote with a very tight fit. It was a clever and surprising extra that gave me a really positive impression initially. However the carrier isn't big enough to include the power supply and thunderbolt cable as well, or not without leaving the RAID itself squeezed part-way out of the tote.

Also of note: One SSD/2.5" rail set is included. I didn't see this documented anywhere, and so I ordered four SSD kits directly from the manufacturer. I only needed to order three.

I've had the DataTale RS-M4T for a few days now. I populated it with four 3TB Western Digital SE hard drives (WD3000F9YZ), for a total of 12 TB. This is a somewhat upscale hard drive which is designed and rated specifically for application in RAID arrays. As I'd had poor experience with RAID reliability when using drives that weren't RAID-rated, I felt it was worth the investment.

The RS-M4T (like other members of the product family) uses special screws to attach what DataTale calls their "SmartGlider" handles and guide pins to the hard drives. The SmartGlider system comes into play by creating a means of inserting hard drives (and/or, optionally, an SSD drive) into the RS-M4T's 4 drive bays without having to pre-mount each drive in a tray as would be done with some other drive enclosure products. In concept, the SmartGlider system is a good idea, but I had a good deal of trouble inserting DataTale's special screws into the threaded holes in the hard drives. I quickly learned that I had to be extremely careful when inserting the screws because the threads are such as to create a very tight fit and it's very easy to strip the drive's mounting hole threads or mess up the screw itself, rendering it unusable. (DataTale appears to know this is a problem and has therefore provided some extra screws -- all of which I used!) Even if the thread doesn't strip, it's so tight that it's difficult to insert each screw fully. If a screw isn't inserted fully, another problem occurs: the screw then sticks out too far, and interferes with sliding the drive into the DataTale's drive bay. I finally worked through all of these screw-related problems and got all four drives inserted into the DataTale. The BOTTOM LINE on the "special screw" issue is that, whereas the SmartGlider system is supposed to provide a simple, trayless way to slide drives into and out of the RS-M4T, it turns out to be quite tricky (and maybe even risky). I certainly wouldn't want to count on re-using any of the special screws when replacing a drive, and for this reason I decided to order some extra screws.

I set up the DataTale for use with my 2011 MacBook Pro, which has a single Thunderbolt port. I'm running MacOSX 10.9 (Mavericks). I also have in my system an Apple Thunderbolt Display, so I needed to daisy-chain the DataTale and the display on my Thunderbolt bus. The DataTale instructions adamantly recommend that the RS-M4T be placed closest to the computer in the Thunderbolt daisy chain. To accomplish this, I used the 1-meter Thunderbolt cable that came with the DataTale to connect from my MacBook's Thunderbolt port to one of the two Thunderbolt ports on the DataTale, and then used the Thunderbolt cable that's built into the Apple Thunderbolt Display to connect the display to the DataTale's second Thunderbolt port. This arrangement works fine!

DataTale's RAID MASTER software wasn't in the box, so I downloaded it from www,data-tale.com . This software provides you with the means to configure your drives for JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 1+0, or (if you've included an SSD among your drive set) what DataTale calls "HyperDuo" mode. To become familiar with the software, I tried setting up all of these modes except for HyperDuo, and was successful in all cases. The mode configuration process is very simple and requires only seconds to complete. However, I found that in some instances, the software seems not to recognize the presence of the drives; when that occurred, I was able to bring about the expected operation by closing and re-opening the RAID MASTER application. In addition, as was reported by another reviewer, I found that RAID MASTER's "Notifications" and "Logs" functions did not seem to work at all.

Having gotten up the learning curve with both mechanical setup and configuration, I next convinced myself that everything seemed to be working properly from the standpoint of functioning as a storage resource. After considering my application characteristics, I settled on configuring two of my four drives as a RAID 0 pair (for speed) and the other two drives as a RAID 1 pair (for redundancy and reliability).

Of course, I then wanted to make some performance measurements. Storage system performance is subject to a large number of factors and doesn't really boil down to just a couple of numbers. But to get a handle on it in some sort of organized way, I decided to apply some commercially-available performance tools. The first tool is the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test, which I downloaded from Apple's App Store for free. It's super-easy to use and produces a result instantly, but is oriented mainly to the needs of digital videography, where one is generally moving huge files or streaming video data in real time. With this tool I was able to establish that I was getting about 150 Mbytes/sec with a single drive in JBOD mode, about 300 Mbytes/sec with a RAID 0 pair, about 500 Mbytes/sec with four drives combined in a RAID 0 array, and no more than a few percent speed degradation when RAID 1 (mirroring) was applied. I'm quite happy with all of those numbers. For $15 I acquired a copy of the Mac OS SpeedTools from Intech. These tools allow me to do a much more detailed analysis of my storage system. With the SpeedTools I confirmed the BlackMagic results, but found that the BlackMagic speed numbers really represent only peak performance that applies under very special conditions. Performance is actually much lower under other conditions.

I'm very happy to report that the DataTale RS-M4T (with the four Western Digital SE drives in particular) is EXTREMELY QUIET, compared to any other drive bay product I've used. It's not silent enough to be put in a room where you'll do audio recording, but it's far closer to that than I expected. To get even quieter, I plan to put my storage system and computer in a separate room, taking advantage of the long-length optical Thunderbolt cables that have just come onto the market to connect the components of my system. For anything not demanding absolute quiet, I'd say that the DataTale product is easily quiet enough to satisfy most people.

This is the simplicity at its best. I have four 2TB WD Red drives installed. What is unique is the top slides off and there are metal handles. The screws that hold the handle to your drives have plastic and ceramic end that slides in a groove so your drive is properly installed. It took less than 10 minutes to install the drives, turn the unit on after I connected the Thuderbolt cable that WAS included with this enclosure.

You go to the web site to download their prorietary RAID software that installed on my imac easily. I used this software to make my raid and I used disk utility to make two partitions, one for time machine and one for my other storage and backup needs.

The software works great, but there are two bugs. First, logs and notification refuse to work. I tried everything I could think of and they just do not woe, period. I decided on using RAID 0 for speed and the most space.

I did a complete clone of my imac late 2012 in under 1.3 hours, impressive. I look for updates to the software and it does not get better than this quick external RAID box.

I had a client's project on the file server at a post-production facility that was about to move. I needed to back up and take the project with me, but I did not have an easy and affordable way to make that happen in the time frame I had to work in. My solution was to copy the 3 volumes, totaling 22TB of video and data, onto some hard drives, and hope that I could fine a good enclosure that would work with single drives and concatenated as they are, JBOD. Well, not only was the RS-M4T the easiest, and most affordable solution, but I was able to back up my data and edit the project, swap in other drives for other projects, set up RAIDs, and do all of the things I need to do. So far, my experience has been nothing but good.