OWC Unveils Second-Gen ThunderBlade Exterior SSDs: 2800 MB/s Beginning at $799

By Anthony Last updated Feb 4, 2019 0

OWC unveiled its second-generation exterior ThunderBlade SSDs this week, that are focused on the high-end exterior storage market. The brand new drives provide sequential learn speeds of as much as 2800 MB / s and provide the identical efficiency because the first-generation ThunderBlade SSDs, however are less expensive.

OWCs ThunderBlade (Gen 2) DAS units can be found in 1 TB, 2 TB, four TB and eight TB configurations, identical to their predecessors. Whereas the first-generation ThunderBlade drives have been primarily based on 4 Mercury M.2 SSDs (Silicon Movement SM2260, LDPC, 3D-MLC-NAND), the ThunderBlade units (Gen 2) operated with lower-cost SSDs, that are actually trendy 3D fashions. Use TLC NANDs. Since 3D TLC is cheaper than 3D MLC, the ThunderBlade Era 2 drives begin at $ 799 ($ 1,199 for the primary era).

When it comes to efficiency, the brand new and "outdated" ThunderBlades provide the identical official specs: Each generations are designed for sequential learn speeds of as much as 2800 MB / s and for sequential write speeds of as much as 2450 MB / s (take note Efficiency ranges supplied by 4 PCIe three.zero x4 SSDs should be sturdy. When two ThunderBlade drives (Gen 2) are used and SoftRAID expertise is enabled, efficiency will increase as much as 3800 MB / s. That is the utmost efficiency stage supplied by a PCIe three.zero x4-based ThunderBolt three controller. Talking of TB3: The newest ThunderBlade continues to be primarily based on Intel's DSL6540 controller "Alpine Ridge", so there is no such thing as a USB fallback right here.

OWC's ThunderBlade units have two Thunderbolt three ports and help chaining to allow excessive capability moveable storage methods with a capability of as much as 48TB.

The OWC ThunderBlade DAS

1 TB
2 TB
four TB
8TB

Variety of drives
four

Inner RAID
?

Everlasting studying velocity
2800 MB / s
3800 MB / s with SoftRAID (two DAS wanted)

Sturdy write velocity
2450 MB / s

ports
2 × thunderbolt three

PSU
exterior

Dimensions
width
12.three cm | four.9 inches

size
19.2 cm | 7.5 inches

peak
three cm | 1.2 inches

mass
zero.7 kg | 1.eight kilos

Cable included
Thunderbolt cable with 40 Gbit / s
Energy provide + cable

compatibility
macOS 10.13 or later
Home windows 10 or increased

Value (EIA)
Gene 1
$ 1,199.99
$ 1,749.99
$ 2,999.99
$ four,999.99

Gene 2
$ 799
$ 1,199
$ 1,899
three,499 USD

As a result of the ThunderBlade (Gen 2) is designed to be a quick and environment friendly substitute for the primary era of ThunderBlade, the newest model of the DAS is available in the identical rugged steel housing that acts as a cooling system for the NVMe SSDs.

OWC has already begun promoting its exterior SSDs ThunderBlade (Gen 2). As talked about earlier, the 1TB variant prices $ 799, whereas the top-of-the-line, 8TB mannequin prices $ three,499.

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Supply: OWC