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)