INTRODUCTION

   At first glance multi-bay external drive enclosures may not seem as a big deal to many people but when you have high data storage demands and you've got to choose between 4 (or more) external desktop enclosure/drives or a single multi-bay enclosure the result is clear. Of course, even though the number of available bays is extremely important (which is why there are enclosures out there with as many as 24 bays) connectivity is equally important and even though the fastest models currently employ Thunderbolt 3 (and now 4) connectivity the most "common" ones feature USB 3.0/3.1 which is what every computer out there has had since 2012 (if memory serves). Yottamaster may not be the very first name to come in mind when talking about multi-bay enclosures but they have released quite a few popular models and today I’ll be testing their Y-Defender 4-Bay Professional External Drive Enclosure (DF4RU3).

   Yottamaster is a professional high-end storage brand, that aims to provide professional-grade storage solution for individuals, small and medium enterprises worldwide.

   As the title clearly states the Y-Defender DF4RU3 is a 4-bay external drive enclosure (uses the JMB394 SATA port multiplier by JMicron) which fully supports both 2.5" (of all heights) and 3.5" SATA I/II/III drives and features USB 3.0/3.1 connectivity (5Gbps type B or C based on the JMS578 SATA bridge controller again by JMicron) complete with UASP support. Each of its 4 bays is complete with an activity LED and as for the drives themselves they can be hardware configured in several different modes for optimal performance and/or data safety (RAID 0/1/3/5/10/JBOD/BIG). Moving to the enclosure itself well it's primarily made out of aluminum and features two removable smoked acrylic side panels which allow the end user to see the fixed (not addressable) RGB lights from its rear 80mm exhaust fan. So, let's see what Yottamaster offers with their Y-Defender DF4RU3 Professional External Drive Enclosure.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Once again at the front of the box we see a large product picture right next to the main product features.

Both the features and package contents are printed on the left side of the box in two languages.

Taking a look at the rear of the box we find the features and specifications of all 3 variants of the Y-Defender series (DF4U3/DF4C3/DF4RU3).

The enclosure is wrapped inside a plastic bag and placed between two foam spacers.

Along with the Y-Defender enclosure and its power cable inside the box you'll also find a pin (for switching modes), USB cable, two small bags with screws (3.5/2.5" drives), Philips screwdriver and the user manual.

THE Y-DEFENDER DF4RU3

The Y-Defender DF4RU3 enclosure measures 265mm in length, 203mm in height and 144mm in width.

Both sides of the DF4RU3 feature smoked acrylic panels.

Yottamaster has also equipped the enclosure with two handles at the top and two at the bottom (part of the enclosure's design).

At the front we find 4 drive trays.

These drive trays have a push to release mechanism and are made out of aluminum and plastic.

Moving at the rear we find the 80mm exhaust fan, AC port, on/off switch, USB host port and the mode selection switches.

Typically for this review i used Seagate IronWolf 12TB SATA III drives.

If you like RGB lighted peripherals the Y-Defender is right up your alley.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Complicating things is not really our way so once again our testing procedure will be almost identical to the one, we use with external docking stations. However, since we are talking about a multi-bay 3.5" external enclosures this time over, we will be using one or more (depends on the mode) Seagate IronWolf 12TB SATA III hard disk drives since mechanical drives are obviously what people will use more with such devices (besides in quad+ enclosures these should pretty much max out the performance of the onboard controller). Our standard selection of benchmark suites is used here as well for single, RAID 0 and RAID 1 testing including the famous HD Tach RW (Long Bench 32mb Zones), HD Tune Pro (read/write -when possible- speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read/Write -also when possible- speeds), AIDA64 (Linear Read/Random Read), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB/1000MB read/write speeds) and finally the quite outdated yet highly reliable ATTO 2.47 (Max Read/Max Write speeds).

   Temps as usual were recorded using the latest version of Hard Disk Sentinel along with the sensors provided by AIDA64 while noise levels were recorded using our HD600 dBA meter placed just 10-15cm above each unit. Every test was repeated for a total of 6 times and after that the average (not peak) performance numbers were recorded into our graphs. As always, every test was performed in a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 10 Pro with every update installed up to the moment of this review.

* Since March 2017 we also started recording noise levels.
** Since May 2020 we started using IronWolf 12TB drives.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

TEST RESULTS – NOISE LEVELS / TEMPERATURES

CONCLUSION

   Three things are evident from today’s review, 1st that the Y-Defender DF4RU3 performs very well (at least for a USB 3.1 Gen 1 device), 2nd that it looks a lot better than most multi-bay enclosures out there (thanks to its 80mm RGB fan and side acrylic panels) and 3rd that it offers a plethora of available modes for your drives. Yes USB 3.1 Gen 1 (or USB 3.0) is not quite as fast as USB 3.2 Gen 2 or Thunderbolt 3 but still it’s very fast even when using yours drives in RAID 5 mode. Personally, the only thing I’d change would be the acrylic side panels (which I’d swap for real tempered glass ones) since they don’t seem very hard to scratch and/or break but like many times in the past I’m just nitpicking here.

   Currently retailing for USD269.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 279.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.fr) the Y-Defender DF4RU3 4-bay professional enclosure by Yottamaster is clearly priced somewhat higher than expected. Still the same seems to apply for most 4-bay RAID enclosures out there currently (probably due to the current state of the market) so it’s not just Yottamaster. Price aside however the Y-Defender DF4RU3 is a very good external RAID enclosure which is certainly worthy of the Golden Award.

PROS

- Good Build Quality
- Design / Looks (RGB Fan / Acrylic Side Panels)
- Very Good Performance
- Four 2.5/3.5” Drive Trays
- USB 3.0/1 Connectivity
- Available Drive Modes (RAID 0/1/3/5/10/JBOD/BIG)

CONS

- Current Price (For Some)