OWC / Other World Computing ThunderBay Flex 8 8-Bay 172TB (4x8TB SSD, 7x20TB HDD) Thunderbolt 3 RAID 5 External Storage Solution with SoftRAID

4 SSD Shuttle + 7 HDD - Maximum Shuttle Configuration
Featuring an OWC U2 Shuttle with four NVMe M.2 drives in one bay, you can RAID them to ingest and edit live with incredible performance. Then use the U2 Shuttle as a transport drive for lab processing. Edit and store entire projects on the ultra-capacity HDD RAID 5 array. Plus, select a recommended PCIe card or add your own.

Storage Solution #1

SSD Select - Hyper-Fast U.2 SSD for Flex Bay 1
This is the fastest FLEX Bay with up to 2750MB/s 4-lane PCIe performance. This is where you can harness the power of U.2 SSDs to experience their workflow enhancing maximum potential.

Storage Solution #2

HDD Select - Ultra-capacity RAID for Flex Bay 2-8
Edit and store entire projects on this ultra-capacity HDD RAID array that arrives pre-certified in RAID 5 for the best balance of data integrity and performance or, setup the RAID of your choice with flexible user configurable RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 1+0 (10) options.

Tame your workflow with this highly configurable productivity platform for digital imaging, VFX, video production, and video editing professionals. With unrivaled FLEXibility, you can choose drive types, enjoy docking convenience, and expand your capabilities with PCIe cards.

FLEXible Storage
• Eight drive bays: use a mix of SATA/SAS and U.2/M.2 NVMe drives for virtually limitless capacity and real world speeds up to 2600MB/s
• Future ready: top four bays can use U.2 SSDs the emerging M&E industry storage standard
• Powerfully easy RAID: create, manage, and monitor advanced RAID sets with SoftRAID

Docking FLEXibility
• Do more: second Thunderbolt 3 port for daisy chaining devices or additional displays
• Connect more: (1) USB-C and (2) USB-A 10Gb/s ports for peripherals and mobile devices
• See more: DisplayPort 1.4 for connecting up to an 8K display
• Fast media ingest: front-side SD 4.0 and CFexpress card readers with up to 985MB/s speed

FLEXpandable for Unique Needs
• Play your card: (1) PCIe slot for audio/video capture, networking, SSD storage, hardware RAID card, or I/O card

Flex Your Way Through Every Workflow
Whether you call it a workflow workhorse, a productivity platform, or a configurable command center, one description of the ThunderBay Flex 8 says it best. It is a groundbreaking workflow solution for digital imaging, VFX, video production, and video editing professionals from the world's leading Thunderbolt accessory manufacturer.

ThunderBay Flex 8 offers eight drive bays that support a mix of SATA/SAS and U.2/M.2 NVMe drives for virtually limitless storage capacity. Next, there's a plethora of ports including two Thunderbolt 3, one USB-C, and two USB-A for device docking and charging.

See your work in greater detail by adding up to an 8K display via a built-in DisplayPort 1.4 connection. Ingest hi-res images and video via front-side SD 4.0 and CFexpress card readers. And when you want to expand your desktop capabilities, there's a PCIe slot waiting for your specific project needs.

ThunderBay Flex 8 is the one Thunderbolt 3 desktop device that rules them all. With an irresistible economy of scale, this consolidated solution is ideal for anyone waiting for the right moment to invest in Thunderbolt technology.

NVMe. PCIe. What's It Mean to Me?
At the heart of the ThunderBay Flex 8 capabilities are two cutting-edge technology standards: NVMe and PCIe. Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) optimizes the performance of modern flash technology over the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) standard. It enables significantly faster SSD performance with a more direct and optimized path to a computer's processor.

Tying both of these technologies together is the Thunderbolt 3 interface which uses the PCIe bus. This interface offers the fastest data transfers possible on a single cable between computers and peripherals like storage solutions, docks, and expansion devices while also supplying 85W of power to keep your laptop ready to go at a moment's notice.

The Future Standard of Storage
Right out of the packaging, all eight bays can utilize SATA 6Gb/s 2.5-inch SSDs or 3.5-inch HDDs. To take advantage of 40Gb/s PCIe technology, the top four bays are NVMe U.2 SSD ready. These emerging super-fast SSDs enable ThunderBay Flex 8 to meet the future storage needs of content creators and video production pros.

Muscle-FLEXing Data Performance
Are you a video pro working with 4K/8K and even Phantom high-speed files? The ThunderBay Flex 8 offers a variety of drive configurations that deliver real-world read/write speeds of 2600MB/s that saturate the Thunderbolt 3 speed threshold. Try any of these options:

• A single U.2 NVMe SSD in Bay A
• Multiple U.2 SSDs installed in top four bays (A-D) in RAID 0
• Six or more SATA SSDs in any bays in RAID 0
• Swap out the built-in SATA drive controller card with a SATA/SAS hardware RAID card and configure 8x SATA/SAS drives in hardware RAID 0

Done with the drives but need the docking connectivity?
Eject the ThunderBay Flex 8 drives and any external drives in a single click with the free OWC Dock Ejector app. It ensures all data has been written before any drive is unmounted to protect against data loss. It will even warn you from accidentally ejecting an in-use drive.

Docking FLEXibility
A virtual buffet of productivity-enhancing possibilities awaits you with the docking connections built into ThunderBay Flex 8. Power your notebook with up to 85W power delivery while capturing multi-stream hi-res footage at full frame rate. Connect audio and video mixers, digital camera, keyboards, and other peripherals and charge mobile devices via one USB-C and two USB-A 10Gb/s ports.

Ingest and work with 4/8K RAW video and RAW photo files immediately at speeds up to 985MB/s with frontside SD 4.0 and CFexpress card readers. Add more viewing space with up to an 8K monitor via the DisplayPort 1.4 interface. And if all that's not enough to satisfy your project needs, daisy-chain up to five additional Thunderbolt 3 devices!

FLEXpandable for Unique Needs
By removing the enclosure's side panel, you can expand your capabilities by installing a half-length, full-height, single-width expansion card in the PCIe x16 connector/x4 lanes slot. Add a 4K video capture card for direct ingest of multi-stream high-res footage. Record high-quality tracks with an audio card and then edit and archive tracks.

Create a powerful file server with a high-speed networking card. By replacing the built-in SATA drive controller with a SATA or SAS RAID card, you can turn ThunderBay Flex 8 into a hardware RAID storage solution while keeping a PCIe slot open for other cards.

A FLEXtraordinary Platform
ThunderBay Flex 8 is a user-configurable platform that you can use to launch into projects with a new realm of time and money-saving results. To get you started, we suggest three sample configurations that make the most of the extraordinary highlights that have made OWC solutions the choice of performance enthusiasts and cinematographers around the world.

Sample Configurations

FLEX Empty Enclosure
An empty enclosure that lets you add your choice of drives and PCIe cards. You can remove the SATA drive controller card to add a RAID or SAS drive controller card.

FLEX Bottom Four
The bottom four bays populated with SATA drives and top four bays left empty for use with U.2 NVMe drives, M.2 NVMe drives with adapter, or SATA/SAS drives.

FLEX Full
Achieve maximum capacity and performance with all the bays filled with SATA drives. One drive left as cold spare. The other seven preconfigured in RAID 0 or RAID 5 with SoftRAID.

The Most Powerful RAID Tool on the Planet.
SoftRAID is the world's fastest and most flexible application to configure, maintain, and protect your RAID volumes on Mac and PC. OWC enclosures include 3 Years of SoftRAID Premium.

• High-Performance RAID 0/1/4/5/1+0 (10) volumes
• Predictive Health Monitoring proactively notifies of Volume and Disk issues well before failure - provided on your computer and remotely

SoftRAID works with macOS 10.14+, Windows 10+, and Windows Server 2019/2022. M1 Macs require macOS 11.3 or later. SoftRAID is licensed per computer.

A Protective, Economical Post-Production Solution
Sending a drive from set to post-production typically entails tedious and time-consuming drive enclosure disassembly to access the storage drive or costly shipping of the entire enclosure to the post lab. But ThunderBay Flex 8 offers yet another option.

By installing an OWC U.2 NVMe Interchange System carrier tray (sold separately) with a built-in U.2 connector into a ThunderBay Flex 8 drive tray, you can protect the U.2 SSD drive's connector from repeated install/removal wear for improved drive longevity and investment. When done with your shoot, just ship the lightweight protective carrier and drive to the lab where the carrier can be installed into an OWC Helios 3S equipped with the OWC Interchange System. It's a complete solution to safeguard your data while lowering shipping costs.

End-To-End Workflow Possibilities

FLEX On-Set
• OWC Interchange System Carrier Tray with SSD
• OWC ThunderBay Flex 8

Protects U.2 SSD drive connectors from install/ removal wear to improve drive longevity and extend your drive ROI.