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2019-09-10T10:12:37

Rated 5 out of 5

OWC ThunderBay 4-Bay Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure

I was replacing an old Mac Pro tower with a new computer that is all display, but no room for storage. I had 4 hard drives inside the old tower, so I put them all into the new OWC enclosure. The build of the enclosure is excellent. Very solid with lots of vibration dampening. I migrated my old data from my old bootable hard disk to the new SSD via the Thunderbolt 3 connection. It took about 5 hrs. to transfer 1 TB of data. The Thunderbolt 3 is rated at 40Gb/s. The migration assistant displayed the speed of flow which ran between 35 Gb and 59 Gb. It produced all it was advertised to do. Noise?. The fan does make some noise. It's not bad. The hard drives themselves make most of the noise as they read or write. The enclosure sits on a desk about two feet from either myself or the computer, so there is going to be some sound. I'm really happy with it and definitely say it's worth a look.

DON M.

2017-05-14T04:31:14

Rated 5 out of 5

PEACE OF MIND

After two data recoveries from my external hard drive for my pics nearly lost as a result of crashes/ accidental drops . I needed a better system. I was able to recover my images, but at a cost. I now have comfort and confidence my images will be safe. Though costly, but as I have said- it's cheaper than a data recovery ( I was lucky to get them back. ) I no longer worry about losing my pics. Peace of mind is priceless.

GARY M.

2016-10-24T08:43:35

Rated 5 out of 5

Super fast!

This thing is amazing! I mainly shoot photos but I'm moving into video and my single disk USB 3.0 external (Lacie porche 4tb) was not fast enough for my needs. I first tried out a Mediasonic proraid 4, loading it with four Toshiba 3tb 7200rpm drives in raid 5 and I just wasn't happy with the speeds I was getting in Black magic's speed test. I sent it back and bought this OWC Thunderbay. The Proraid 4 is fine for photos and backup but for speed, the Thunderbay is 2 or 3 times faster. Yes, this is way 2 or 3 times more expensive but you are paying for speed and getting a bonus in the quality of the product. The thunderbay is a very solid build. I raid 5 with the the same drives I got around 200mbps read and write in the Proraid4, in the OWC Thunderbay 4, I'm getting about 520-530mbps.The software was easy to use as well. Only took about 10mins to install the drives and set up the raid 5 once I figured out where the softraid app was. I definitely recommend this enclosure to anyone working with photos and video. Excellent storage solution.

CHRISTOPHER S.

2016-01-21T14:34:48

Rated 5 out of 5

Best video editing drive

This is really the best option for those editing on a Mac. No only do you get speeds that are slightly faster than the average SSD, you also get MUCH more storage capacity AND data protection. In my tests with the 20TB version I get about 505MB/s write and 580MB/s read. It's setup from the factory in Raid5 so you don't have to initialize the drives which saves time. In Raid 5 mode (best mode) you get 15TB of usable space as 5TB is setup for data protection. If one of the drives ever dies you slide it out and replace with a new one and you won't loose any data. I've been suggesting these to people for over a year now and I'm going to keep doing so. I have a video review of this drive on YouTube if you want to see it in action, speed tests, unboxing, and daisy chaining to a display just do a search for Max Yuryev Thunderbay and you'll find it. The 1.5 to 2.5 times as much. I would recommend it to anyone who needs a fast and reliable drive.

MAKSIM Y.

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OWC ThunderBay 4 Specifications

  • Software Requirements

    macOS 10.12.2 or later
    Windows 10 or later

  • Hardware Requirements

    Mac or PC featuring Thunderbolt 3 interface
    Mac or PC featuring Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 interface

  • Interface (Chipset)

    (2) Thunderbolt 3 (Intel DSL6540)
    (1) DisplayPort

  • Max Transfer Rate

    Thunderbolt 3: 40 Gb/s (5000 MB/s)

  • RAID Modes Supported

    Software
    RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 10 and Independent drive mode

  • Initial Configuration

    RAID 4

  • Standard Mechanism

    4 x 1.0TB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD

  • Performance

    Read: Up to 1527MB/s

  • Kensington Lock Slot

    Yes

  • LED

    Yes (Power and disk activity)

  • Plug and Play

    Yes

  • Power Supply

    AC input: 100 - 230V

  • Operating Temperature

    10 to 35 deg. C (50 to 95 deg. F)

  • Non-Operating Temperature

    -40 to 65 deg. C (-40 to 149 deg. F)

  • Dimensions (HxWxL)

    7 x 5.3 x 9.6" (17.78 x 13.46 x 24.38cm)

  • Weight

    5.7kg (12.57 lbs)

  • UPC Code

    812437029833

About OWC ThunderBay 4

The Speed You Need
All New Design for Power and Performance
ThunderBay 4, OWC's flagship 4-bay RAID powerhouse is bigger and faster than ever before. Now with the unbelievable performance of Thunderbolt 3 - up to 1527MB/s sustained performance - it's the ultimate workhorse external storage solution. Not only faster, the new ThunderBay 4 Thunderbolt 3 is now natively compatible with both 2.5" and 3.5" drives and with a redesigned chassis, it's even cooler and quieter too.

• Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
• Dedicated DisplayPort 1.2 port
• Up to 1527MB/s sustained performance
• Works with 3.5" or 2.5" drives - no adapter needed
• User configurable in RAID 0, 1, 4, 5 & 1+0
• Ultra quiet, heat dissipating aluminum chassis
• Rigorously pre-tested with multi-hour burn-in
• Intelligent drive monitoring with desktop and email notifications

Edit, Experiment, Create, Design
Designed with performance in mind and engineered to harness the power of Thunderbolt 3, ThunderBay 4 is an incredibly flexible external solution with the throughput to support multi-stream compressed 4K video and other bandwidth-intensive operations. ThunderBay 4 is highly configurable to perfectly match your performance needs. Choose between traditional hard drives or Solid State Drives. Use each drive independently or in the RAID configuration of your choice for the optimal balance of performance and data-redundancy. Get the most out of your storage, take the brakes off your workflow and do more with a ThunderBay 4.

Out of This World Performance + Redundancy
Experience the most advanced software RAID available with the ThunderBay 4 RAID Edition. Empower your workflow with up to 35% faster RAID performance and exponentially faster rebuild times than comparable hardware RAID arrays. SoftRAID combines the advanced RAID modes, superior performance, comprehensive, real-time disk monitoring, e-mail notification and fast rebuild capabilities that only software RAID can deliver.

Flexible + Robust
The SoftRAID engine is extremely flexible and can easily be updated, reconfigured and used across multiple enclosures to provide an amazing amount of robust options to empower you to make the most of your ThunderBay workflow.

Monitoring + Notifications
Easily setup drive monitoring and e-mail notifications to keep you informed about your ThunderBay's performance and drive health. Helping you to maintain mission critical workflows.

Certified and Tested
Each ThunderBay 4 undergoes OWC's multi-hour drive "burn-in" performance certification procedure prior to shipping. This ensures your ThunderBay 4 arrives operating properly, ready for demanding use.

Backed by OWC
You can rely on OWC's award-winning U.S.-based support for the ThunderBay 4 solution. Plus, ThunderBay 4 comes with an OWC Limited Warranty.

4 drive bays plus so much more
Time-Tested Cooling
Built on OWC's time-tested enclosure cooling technology, ThunderBay 4 utilizes an open "flow-thru" vented design with an oversized 92 mm, low-turbulence, noise-quieting fan to keep the drives running cool and reliably.

Multi-Drive
Daisy-chain up to six ThunderBay 4s for massive storage capabilities and increased performance or connect multiple ThunderBay 4s to multiple Thunderbolt 3 ports to achieve exponential speed capabilities.

Vibration Dampened
ThunderBay 4's drive isolating design reduces sonic resonance and is aided by over-sized, rugged, vibration-absorbing, non-skid feet.

DisplayPort 1.2 Support
Dual Thunderbolt 3 ports let you connect the display of your choice that your computer can support, including 4K displays.

OWC Thunderbolt Cable
ThunderBay 4 comes with a 2.0 meter certified OWC Thunderbolt 3 cable, with other lengths from 0.5 meter to 2.0 meters available separately.

What's in the box:

  • OWC ThunderBay 4 RAID 4 4TB 4-Drive SSD Storage Solution
  • 2.0m Thunderbolt 3 Cable
  • External Power Cable
  • 2x Security Keys
  • ThunderBay 4 Quick Start Guide
  • SoftRAID Lite
  • SoftRAID Lite Quick Start Guide
  • Complimentary 1 Year Level 1 Data Recovery Service
  • OWC 3 Year Limited Warranty