After the launch of its new modular Express 1M2 portable solid-state drive, OWC is ready to expand its “best-in-class ThunderBlade portable storage line” for CES 2024. The brand is looking to provide content creators and professional-grade video setups with what it refers to as as a new version of its ThunderBlade RAID drive that “continues to set the bar for what is possible in the realm of production drives” with increased RAID 5 performance and expanded capacity options. Head below for a closer look.
OWC’s new production-grade ThunderBlade RAID 5 portable SSD system
While some of the brand’s more casual SSDs (they are still much closer to pro-grade solutions than your average option) found a place in our recent roundup of the best portable SSDs out there, OWC is heading to CES 2024 this year with the new high-end ThunderBlade X8, “enabling users to seamlessly handle data-intensive tasks and elevate their creative output to unprecedented levels.”
Constructed for fast-paced environments where time is money, ThunderBlade ensures your projects outpace your deadlines. ThunderBlade effortlessly navigates through uncompressed, high-bandwidth content streams, delivering unmatched speed and reliability.
The ThunderBlade X8 is certainly not your average portable storage solution, but rather a production-grade system (both in terms of price and capability) with enough space to carry up to eight NVMe M.2 SSDs for as much as 32TB of storage in a single unit. The brand says that using RAID5 on most solutions “means giving up precious capacity and taking a big hit on performance,” but with the new ThunderBlade X8 you’re looking at some serious storage capacity alongside write speeds up to 2,464MB/s and read speeds as high as 2,949MB/s.
The RAID tech in place here further highlights the pro-grade setup both in terms of its hardware and software integrations. It can “streamline ingestion and backup times on set, edit ultra-high-res multi-cam sequences, and adhere to mandatory requirements (the 3-2-1 Principle) when producing content for large studios such as Netflix.”
- Hold at least three copies of all original camera files (OCF) and audio
- Store the OCF and audio copies on at least two different types of media.
- Keep at least one of these backups in a different geographical location from the others
On software side of things, the new ThunderBlade X8 RAID system includes its SoftRAID XT – “the most powerful, intuitive RAID management software on the market for macOS and Windows.”
- Advanced: Create RAID 0/1/4/5/1+0 (10) arrays
- Protected: SoftRAID Monitor constantly watches your disks and alerts you if problems are detected
- Validated: Volume validation ensures sectors can be read and parity is correct
- Certified: Checks disks before use to ensure they are safe for data storage
- Vigilant: Error prediction helps protect against unexpected failure
- Universal: Move SoftRAID arrays seamlessly between Mac and PC2 with built-in OWC MacDrive technology
As far as the actual build here, you’re looking at a fan-less setup made of solid aluminum with what OWC calls an integrated fin-designed cooling system – “ThunderBlade is at home on set, in the edit suite, or traveling comfortably between shoots in its ballistic hard-shell case.”
If it wasn’t already obvious, the new ThunderBlade X8 RAID drive is a pro-grade product with pro-grade specs and a seriously pro-grade price. While it can be daisy chained together with up to five other Thunderbolt devices (there are a pair of Thunderbolt ports on board for this), it can now be purchased in four different configurations (4TB, 8TB, 16TB, or 32TB), but you likely won’t need it unless you’re in the middle of producing your next Netflix show. It joins the previously released ThunderBlade model and starts at $1,749.99 for the 8TB version.
Head over to our CES 2024 hub for more of the most exciting releases hitting the show floor this week.
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