This latest addition to the popular ThunderBay line, introduced in 2014, now offers eight drive bays for either 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch HDDs and/or SSDs in any combination. The OWC ThunderBay 8 is like a high-performance personal data center that offers multiple configuration options to suit ever-expanding storage needs. Photo, film and video editors can take advantage of the largest capacity desktop RAID storage solution we’ve ever offered to handle the voracious drive space appetite of RAW, 4K, large format, and VR workflows.
With Thunderbolt 3 offering real-world transfer rates up to 2586MB/s and the ability to RAID together eight SSDs or HDDs, ThunderBay 8’s rugged, field-tested aluminum design has the under-the-hood horsepower needed to conquer high-bandwidth requirements. You can even configure multiple ThunderBay 8 solutions connected via multiple Thunderbolt 3 ports on your Mac or PC to achieve exponential speed increases. Whatever your set up, when you’re racing against a deadline, ThunderBay 8 puts you in the winner’s circle.
Need even more capacity? Daisy-chain up to six of these capacity behemoths together for up to a staggering 768TB. Now you can capture vast amounts of footage from multiple cameras or store vast libraries of production work with a unified and reliable storage solution.
Now you can quickly access and robustly protect your data with SoftRAID for Mac and Windows. SoftRAID makes it a breeze to create RAID volumes by helping you through the entire process. With multiple RAID options, you decide what you’re using your RAID volume for and how much space to allocate to it. It's that simple to create your preference of speed and/or redundancy for your data volume.
SoftRAID highlights:
- Flexible: create RAID 0 and 1 volumes with SoftRAID Standard (Windows and Mac)
- Advanced: create RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 1+0 (10) volumes and get email notifications for drive and RAID volume health with SoftRAID Pro (Mac only)
- Verify: volume validation ensures sectors can be read, parity is correct, and any potential volume failure is minimized
- Certified: drives are validated before use to ensure they are safe for data storage
- Vigilant: predictive warnings help protect against unexpected drive failure
- Cross-platform ready: built-in MacDrive technology lets you exchange SoftRAID RAID 0 and RAID 1 arrays between Windows and macOS computers
- Outperforms: up to 86% faster than AppleRAID
- Thorough: full TRIM support improves internal and external SSD performance in all RAID levels
Swap and Identify Drives Easily
ThunderBay 8 makes it easy to keep large data sets organized for every project thanks to its eight hot swappable drive bays. Whether you’re using 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch HDDs and/or SSDs, the drives mount in alphabetically labeled trays for easy identification and are secured by a thumb screw. If you want the freedom to access an extensive collection of drives quickly, you can create a drive “bullpen” with additional OWC drive trays (sold separately).
Engineered for 24/7 Reliability
This ThunderBay 8 solution utilizes enterprise-class rated hard drives that deliver higher reliability, lower TCO, and better ROI than lower cost desktop drives. These extreme use capable drives can offer heavy duty components, sophisticated anti-vibration technology, and advanced firmware programming to enable ThunderBay 8 to handle 24 x 7 workloads of 550TB/year…up to 10X higher than a storage solution using consumer drives which are typically rated at 50TB/year. Then add in up to a 5X longer MTBF rating and 5-year warranty and this ThunderBay 8 solution delivers a peace of mind ownership that’s priceless.
As Secure as a Bank Vault
With a locking front panel and security slot on the backside, the ThunderBay 8 is like an ironclad vault l for your data. Plus, with front panel LEDs indicating the status of each drive, you’ll know at a glance if your data is secure.
See More, Do More
ThunderBay 8 isn’t just about high-capacity, high-performance storage. It’s about giving you all the options you need to work at your best. Attach a 5K Thunderbolt display or two 4K displays. Place a USB 3.1 device at the end of a daisy chain. With an extra Thunderbolt 3 port, you have the flexibility to add more devices to your workflow and master any task at hand.
Secure Your Workflow with OWC ClingOn
Greatly reduce — if not eliminate — cable strain and accidental disconnects with the
OWC ClingOn. These custom cable stabilizers (sold separately) screw into the ThunderBay 8's housing to secure your Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C connections and prevent work session interruption and possible data loss.
Product Notes
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Sequential read/write performance with 8 x 2.0TB Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD in RAID 0 connected to iMac Pro Late 2017 (iMacPro1,1) with 32GB RAM and 3.2GHz processor running AJA System Test (4K-Full resolution, 64GB file size, 10bit RGB codec, single file test).
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Apple Mac models with Thunderbolt 2/Thunderbolt ports can be connected using an Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter (sold separately). This configuration provides data transfer at up to 20Gb/s but does not support notebook charging.
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ClingOn sold separately. Visit macfixit.com.au
Highlights
- Pro-grade transfer speeds: up to 2586MB/s real-world tested speed with Thunderbolt 3 port
- Eight hot-swappable universal drive bays: mix or match 2.5-inch (no adapter needed) and 3.5-inch HDDs and SSDs
- Includes SoftRAID: robust software for creating, monitoring, and managing advanced RAID sets
- Daisy-chain expansion: second Thunderbolt 3 port for adding up to five additional Thunderbolt devices
- Quick drive swaps: thumb screw release trays
- Plug-and-play ready: no drivers needed and includes Thunderbolt 3 cable
- Thunderbolt certified for Mac and Windows
- OWC ClingOn ready: cable stabiliser prevents work session interruption and possible data loss
Includes
- (1) ThunderBay 8
- (1) Thunderbolt 3 cable
- (1) Power cable
- (2) Keys for front panel lock
- (1) Quick start guide
- (1) SoftRAID software bundle
