OWC ThunderBay 4 8TB 4-Bay Thunderbolt 3 RAID 5 Array (4 x 2TB)
$929.00
In stock
Description
Add RAID 5 storage to your Mac or Windows computer with the ThunderBay 4 8TB 4-Bay Thunderbolt 3 RAID 5 Array from OWC / Other World Computing. As you can guess from its name, the ThunderBay 4 features dual Thunderbolt 3 ports, which utilize the USB Type-C connector. There is also a DisplayPort 1.2 port for connecting up to a 4K display.
The ThunderBay 4 has four drive bays, which supports both 2.5″ and 3.5″ hard drives (2.5″ HDDs do not need adapters). This particular ThunderBay 4 model comes with four 2TBTB 3.5″ 7200 rpm drives for a total of 8TB storage capacity. The included drives are configured in RAID 5. With RAID 5, you get protection against a single drive failure. Three of the hard drives are used for storage while one hard drive is used for parity. If you want to reformat to RAID 0 or 1, 4, or 1+0, you can use the included SoftRAID software or the Windows Disk Management utility.
Please note that the OWC SoftRAID software is still under development and Windows users may experience issues with RAID 5 configurations.
Additional information
| Weight | 14.5 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 15.6 × 14.3 × 10.9 in |
| Number of Bays | 4 x 2.5"/3.5" |
| Connections | 2 x USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gb/s))<br />1 x DisplayPort (DisplayPort 1.2) |
| Compatible Drive Interface | SATA III |
| Form Factor | Desktop |
| Maximum RAID Transfer Rate | 568 MB/s (Read)<br />574 MB/s (Write) |
| RAID Modes | RAID 0, 1, 10, 4, 5, JBOD |
| Operating System Support | Windows, macOS/OS X |
| OS Compatibility | Windows 10 or Later<br />macOS 10.12 or Later |
| Total Raw Capacity | 8 TB (4 x 2 TB) |
| Type | Hard Disk Drive |
| Rotational Speed | 7200 rpm |
| Interface | SATA III |
| Cache Memory per Drive | 64 MB |
| Initial RAID Configuration | RAID 5 |
| Power Source | Internal Power Supply |
| AC Input Power | 100 to 230 VAC, 50 / 60 Hz |
| Security Features | Kensington Security Slot |
| Operating Temperature | 50 to 95°F / 10 to 35°C |
| Storage Temperature | -40 to 149°F / -40 to 65°C |
| Cooling | 1 x 92 mm Fan |
| RAID Controller | None |
| Status Monitoring | LED Indicator |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | 5.3 x 7 x 9.6" / 134.62 x 177.8 x 243.84 mm |
Reviews (8)
8 reviews for OWC ThunderBay 4 8TB 4-Bay Thunderbolt 3 RAID 5 Array (4 x 2TB)
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
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Marina Bernhard (verified owner) –
The physical product is great, large drives and a solid metal housing, and they’re pretty fast. The problem I have is with the software, SoftRAID. First time setting up I it did not go smoothly, had to do a bunch of reading and research to even show up as a drive on my mac. I have an M1 Mac and this drive does not show up eiter. They advertise this a plug and play, it’s not. You’ll likely need to do technical reading, validation, lots of restarting your comp, and waiting. The SoftRAID program is strange, it will randomly pop up windows recommending a update. If you unplug the drive from your computer it pops up at least seperate 4 windows notifying you. I’d really recommend using a different software for this.
Ward Swaniawski (verified owner) –
Fantastic product! Relatively quiet for what it is; goes great under my desk instead of on top of it. Ready to use right out of the box. I do wish the cord was a little longer. BUT kind of annoying that after paying for such a great item I also have to go buy software to run an actual RAID on it. Sure people do different things on these enclosures. But tacking on another 50 or 100 bucks to the price to get it to the most common functions of the advertised process feels cheap or better nickel-and-dimed.
Jean Heathcote (verified owner) –
This DAS device is a real workhorse and has worked flawlessly for me. It is very fast at transferring data which is important to me. Very happy with my purchase!
Merl Kreiger (verified owner) –
Several times now I keep getting SoftRaid Volume Locked, to avoid data corruption. It advises restarting your computer. It takes forever to shut down. And then the fan suddenly hisses in a short burst before rebooting. On one occasion I had to re-arrange my display preferences in the Control pannels as somehow that was affected also. Info reports error is known and they are expecting a fix from Apple. This is not really acceptable at this price. Also, the drive is really clunky noisy requiring a really expensive optical Thunderbolt cable to put it in another room or closet. Other than these annoying qualities it seems to work well. I had Caldigit drives before and had none of these issues. They are cheaper than the others so despite the flaws there is still value. The noise is really not good though. They should include a long TB cable with this box. As it is $250.00 to buy one. I would see if there are other drives that do not have these issues. Too late for me, I bought two of these. So twice the troubles.
Ivory Heidenreich (verified owner) –
First the good news: This drive is nicely compact, clean look, and quiet enough on a desk. The not so good news: The setup guide is short on details and made the setup more difficult than necessary. I discovered some limitations of this unit compared to other RAID drives I have previously owned (not in literature). I found the tech support, so far, hit & miss depending who you connect with. The software interface used to manage the device is basic compared to other manufacturers I’m familiar with.
Antonetta Kuphal (verified owner) –
I attempted to use this device on two different Windows computers and tried multiple Thunderbold 3 to Thunderbold 3 cables (including the one that was included in the packaging). The out of the box (RAID5) peak transfer speed was 120/MBs – and the average was 70MBs. The advertised peak transfer speed is 704/MBs On the third contact with OWC support, the agent admitted that this device is known to have extremely slow transfer speeds on Windows. The agent was unable to provide information on whether a fix was in the pipeline. I would consider this device unusable for Windows users despite claims of Windows compatibility on their website and packaging.
Madisyn Hayes (verified owner) –
Bought raid to handle over two weeks worth of shooting 4k. Working well so far, and definitely a bit faster/efficient than my previous way of working with a bunch of drives daisy chained together!
Eileen Balistreri (verified owner) –
Dead simple setup with my new Mac Studio. OWC’s support is excellent, from the initial purchase decision to installation (and I presume support down the road). Only minor complaint is the fan noise. A lot quieter than my old Promise Pegasus raid but still noticeable.