HighPoint vs Areca vs G-Speed

Hi everyone, time to buy a new external RAID.
I need a 144TB 8-bay RAID in raid-6 and thunderbolt connection. I've always had G-Speed, and in my experience they do very reliable stuff, but to me it's also costly stuff.
In order to save some money, HighPoint makes very cheap "hardware" enclosures and Areca is in the middle (I'd avoid OWC because they offer "software" solutions and without raid-6 option).
Anyway, I have no experience with HighPoint or Areca enclosures. Are they reliable in comparison with G-Speed? How about durability? Do they lack some important feature?
So, I would appreciate if someone would share his experience here, and possibly give some advice.
Many thanks in advance.

Hi everyone, time to buy a new external RAID. I need a 144TB 8-bay RAID in raid-6 and thunderbolt connection. I've always had G-Speed, and in my experience they do very reliable stuff, but to me it's also costly stuff.

We kind of "cheat" and have been able to buy small G-Speed Shuttles (TB3) very affordably, then we toss the internal drives, replace them with high-capacity WD Red drives -- 16TB or even 20TB -- and that's an affordable way of putting together a pretty big RAID at a modest price.

We kind of "cheat" and have been able to buy small G-Speed Shuttles (TB3) very affordably, then we toss the internal drives, replace them with high-capacity WD Red drives -- 16TB or even 20TB -- and that's an affordable way of putting together a pretty big RAID at a modest price.

Yes, I was planning to do the same, but Areca remains a cheaper solution, so I was curious to know if someone had experience about a long-term reliability of Areca raids.

We have used all three.

My preference in order

Areca
G-RAID
Highpoint

Areca is as good as G-RAID and cheaper. The oldest Areca 4 bay we have are still operational. 350-500 MB/s.
The 6 bay is 500-800MB/s.

All spinning drives.

We have used all three. My preference in order: Areca, G-RAID, Highpoint...

Many thanks for Your reply. Have You been using the same Areca unit for many years? After 10 years my G-RAID are still working. Did you experienced any damage in Areca enclosures up to now? (I mean the "box", not the discs.)

Another important question: have You ever tried an Areca thunderbolt with a Windows machine? Is it reliable?

Thanks in advance.

We have used all three. My preference in order: Areca, G-RAID, Highpoint...

Many thanks for Your reply. Have You been using the same Areca unit for many years? After 10 years my G-RAID are still working. Did you experienced any damage in Areca enclosures up to now? (I mean the "box", not the discs.)

Another important question: have You ever tried an Areca thunderbolt with a Windows machine? Is it reliable?

Thanks in advance.

Yes. We have several MaxxDigital 4 bay RAIDs. Our first one was bought around 2014. Those are rebranded Areca RAIDs. They are the same hardware and software (drivers). After MaxxDigital stopped offering them, we purchased the Areca versions moving forward.

All are still operational. Only drives have been replaced.

Areca works well on Windows with our HP z8 workstations.

Yes. We have several MaxxDigital 4 bay RAIDs. Our first one was bought around 2014. Those are rebranded Areca RAIDs.

Ah! I didn't know that. BTW, Your Z8s have thunderbolt-3 or thunderbolt-4? (And just curious: do You know if even G-RAIDs are rebranded something?)

Yes. We have several MaxxDigital 4 bay RAIDs. Our first one was bought around 2014. Those are rebranded Areca RAIDs.

Ah! I didn't know that. BTW, Your Z8s have thunderbolt-3 or thunderbolt-4? (And just curious: do You know if even G-RAIDs are rebranded something?)

TB3. The current generation of z8s (G5) have TB4.
G-RAIDs were never rebranded AFAIK. Owned by G-tech, then Hitachi and now Western Digital.