Owc 16Tb Thunderbolt 3 Storage Array 4-Bay Ssd

Owc 16tb Thunderbolt 3 Storage Array 4-bay Ssd

Product Code: eq118257
Availability: In Stock

$10,499.97 $16,484.95

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The OWC 16TB Thunderbolt 3 Storage Array 4-Bay SSDfrom OWC 16TB Thunderbolt 3 Storage Array 4-Bay SSDis a flexible storage, docking, and PCIe expansion solution for rackmount use. Compatible with macOS 10.15, 11.x, and 12.x, the Flex 1U4 features a storage capacity of 16TB, which is split between 4 x 4TB NVMe 2.5" U.2 SSDs. Connectivity to your host system is established using a 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 port, which supports data transfers at up to 5000 MB/s. Daisy-chain five additional devices or add a second display to a second Thunderbolt 3 port, while two 10 Gb/s USB-C, three 10 Gb/s USB-A ports, and one DisplayPort 1.4 port provide additional connectivity options. Further expansion, such as audio/video capture cards, 10Gb Ethernet, SSD storage, a hardware RAID, or other I/O card can be realized using the PCIe 3.0 x16/x4 slot.

If you'd like to upgrade or replace the storage in your Flex 1U4, the drive bays natively support 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives, as well as 2.5" and 3.5" U.2 drives. SAS drives are supported with an SAS drive controller (sold separately) and M.2 drives are supported using an M.2 to U.2 adapter, such as the OWC U2 Shuttle and OWC U2 ShuttleOne (sold separately). Also, the Flex 1U4 may be used on Macs with Thunderbolt 2 and Thunderbolt ports via an adapter (sold separately), but this will not support notebook charging via Thunderbolt.

16TB Storage Capacity 4 x 4TB NVMe 2.5" U.2 SSDs Thunderbolt 3 | USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 | DisplayPort 1.4 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16/x4 Slot Supports 8K, 5K, and 4K Displays SoftRAID XT RAID Management Software Data Transfers up to 5000 MB/s Three Cooling Fans macOS 10.15, 11.x, and 12.x Compatible

Key Specs
Storage Capacity	16 TB
Included Drives	4x 4 TB SSD
RAID	Yes
Number of Bays	4x 2.5"/3.5" SATA (Unspecified Version), NVMe, U.2, SAS (Unspecified Version)
Inputs/Outputs	2x USB-C Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gb/s) 2x USB-C 3.1/3.2 Gen 2 3x USB-A 3.1/3.2 Gen 2 1x DisplayPort 1.4
Drives
Storage Capacity	16 TB
Included Drives	4x 4 TB SSD
RAID	Yes
Transfer Rates	5000 MB/s
General
Number of Bays	4x 2.5"/3.5" SATA (Unspecified Version), NVMe, U.2, SAS (Unspecified Version)
Inputs/Outputs	2x USB-C Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gb/s) 2x USB-C 3.1/3.2 Gen 2 3x USB-A 3.1/3.2 Gen 2 1x DisplayPort 1.4
Media Card Slots	No
PCI Expansion	1x PCIe 3.0 x16 (x4 Electrical)
Software
OS Compatibility	macOS 10.15 to 12
Security
Encryption	No
Security Features	No
Electrical
Input Power	90 to 264 VAC, 60 / 50 Hz at 1.8 to 3.5 A
PSU Wattage	1 x 300 W
Physical
Operating Conditions	42 to 67°F / 10 to 35°C at 8 to 90% Humidity
Storage Conditions	-40 to 149°F / -40 to 65°C at 5 to 95% Humidity
Certifications	BSMI, CE, FCC, RCM, VCCI
Cooling	3x Fans
Cable Length	2.3' / 0.7 m
Dimensions	18 x 16.9 x 1.7" / 45.7 x 42.9 x 4.3 cm
Weight	16.3 lb / 7.4 kg (without Drives)

You'll turn your expandability and connectivity dreams into reality when you add the OWC Flex 1U4 to your rack or cart. Use a mix of 2.5 or 3.5" SATA/SAS and U.2/M.2 NVMe drives with four quick-access, hot-swappable drive bays. Connect mixers, keyboards, cameras, and other gear to your heart's content, as well as charge mobile devices with an ample variety of Thunderbolt and USB ports. Add up to an 8K display via DisplayPort. And when you have a custom capture, recording, networking, or storage need, the OWC Flex 1U4 lets you install a PCIe card to conquer specialized tasks.

When your workflow needs change, the "FLEXpandability" of the OWC Flex 1U4 easily adapts. Add new drives, connect different devices, and install a half-length, full-height, single-width PCIe x16 card of your choice, like a 10Gb Ethernet networking card or the fast OWC Accelsior 4M2 SSD for expanded performance storage capacity. By not locking you into an inflexible single-task design, the OWC Flex 1U4 extends its useful life and maximizes your investment well into the future.

The OWC Flex 1U4 is like a bolt-in productivity supercharger for new or existing rack environments powered by a rack Mac Pro, rack PC, MacBook Pro, PC notebook, or even a Mac mini. Whether you build your own custom drive and card configuration or select one of OWC's convenient ready-to-run solutions, the OWC Flex 1U4 is ideal in a wide variety of settings:

In School: perfect for taming ever-growing collections of digital files with easy integration and future drive capacity and performance scalability.

At Work: adds Thunderbolt speed and swappable drives to server closets, server rooms, or colocation center backup capabilities.

On Stage: handles all the storage and peripheral connectivity needs front-of-house pros require for live performances.

On Set: easily fits into mobile DIT carts to capture multi-stream, hi-res footage at full framerate while daisy-chaining up to five additional Thunderbolt devices.

In Studio: expands storage and connectivity options of fixed racks.

At Home: great for installers creating a high-performance home entertainment server closet.

A hallmark of OWC FLEX technology is the ability to use U.2 NVMe SSDs, as well as the OWC ecosystem of U.2 drives and adapters. U.2 NVMe drives are specifically designed to maximize the PCIe bus and when combined with Thunderbolt, you'll blast past fast with real-world transfer speeds of up to 2750 MB/s. Whether you use your rackmount setup to complete massive backups faster, stream content during a live performance, edit large format video, or run high transactional and complex calculation applications, you can do it with the OWC Flex 1U4.

The OWC Flex 1U4 goes with the flow when needing to move data outside or beyond the local network. With the OWC U.2 ecosystem, moving and sharing data is fast and easy. Swap out and ship a project from field to post in video production workflows. Move backup data to an offline colocation for backup workflows. The combination of OWC Flex 1U4 and the OWC U.2 ecosystem opens a new dimension to data transfer possibilities.

OWC U2 ShuttleOne: Convert an NVMe M.2 "blade" style SSD into a swappable 2.5" U.2 SSD with the peace of mind that your drive and its contents are protected by the full metal heat-dissipating adapter.
OWC U2 Shuttle: Combine four NVMe M.2 SSDs into a 3.5" U.2 carrier shuttle to create a swappable, massive capacity RAID solution.
OWC Helios 3S with Interchange System: Create an external Thunderbolt powered set to post U.2 solution that safeguards your data while lowering shipping costs.
OWC Mercury Pro U.2 Dual: Put blazing fast Thunderbolt powered storage and backup on a desktop with a compact two bay footprint that can use U2 ShuttleOne and U2 Shuttles.
OWC ThunderBay Flex 8: Take control of your media workflow with a 3-in-1 Thunderbolt storage, docking, and PCIe expansion desktop solution. Easily swaps U2 ShuttleOne and U2 Shuttles to/from the Flex 1U4.

The Flex 1U4 comes complete with hardware for mounting into most racks and cabinets.

Harness the full capability of your OWC Flex 1U4 drive array with the included SoftRAID XT, which is powerful and intuitive RAID management software for macOS and Windows. SoftRAID's RAID creation and management technology has been finely tuned to perfection with over 20 years of development to provide rock-solid protection of your data and optimize drive performance. It is packed with features like multiple RAID options, validation and verification of drives, and predictive disk failure with SoftRAID Monitor.

SoftRAID provides a level of storage performance that you simply can't get with hardware RAID and is ideal for anyone who needs to safely store and backup massive amounts of data, including educational institutions, government agencies, businesses, content creators, and M&E professionals. If you need even more power and flexibility, you can upgrade to SoftRAID Pro to spread volumes over two or more disk enclosures.

OWC understands having confidence in gear reliability is paramount to creative professionals. That's why OWC Flex 1U4 solutions go through a multistep performance certification prior to shipping. This ensures they arrive operating properly and are immediately ready for demanding use.

Unexpected disconnects during file transfers or a work session can be devastating. The OWC ClingOn, sold separately, helps reduces and eliminate cable strain on the OWC Flex 1U4's Thunderbolt connection ports.

Up to two 4K displays at 60 Hz

One 8K display at 60 Hz

One 4K display at 120 Hz

One 5K display at 60 Hz

Thunderbolt 3: up to 8K at 60 Hz or 4K at 120 Hz via a native Thunderbolt 3 display or other display that supports USB-C connections and DisplayPort 1.4

DisplayPort 1.4: up to 8K at 60 Hz or 4K at 120 Hz

One Thunderbolt 3 port with 85W of power delivery

One Thunderbolt 3 port with 15W of power delivery

Two USB-C ports with 15W of power delivery

Four bays supporting 2.5" SATA drives, 3.5" SATA drives, 2.5" U.2 drives, 3.5" U.2 drives, M.2 drives (with an M.2 to U.2 adapter), 2.5" SAS drives (with a SAS drive controller card), and 3.5" SAS drives (with a SAS drive controller card)

Bays 1 and 2 each support PCIe x4, while bays 3 and 4 support PCIe x1

Related Questions and Answers

Q: 1. Will this enclosure handle the OWC 8TB U2 Shuttle One?

A: This enclosure does not support the U.2 form factor.

Q: 2. Can this be used as a 16TB time machine to backup my Mac? Or only in a RAID configuration?

A: The OWC 16TB ThunderBlade Thunderbolt 3 is compatible with Time Machine.

Q: 3. Is there any way to set this system up to be "hot-swappable", meaning adding a larger capacity drive(s) to increase space without re-formatting? Something similar to Synology's SHR or Drobo's BeyondRAID?

A: No, the OWC ThunderBay 8 8-Bay Thunderbolt 3 RAID Enclosure BH #OWCTB38JBKIT does not support that functionality.

Q: 4. DoI need SoftRaid XT if I just want to mount disk as JBOD??

A: You do not need SoftRAID to use the OWC ThunderBay 8 8-Bay Thunderbolt 3 Raid Array with SoftRAID XT BH #OWTB38SRKIT0 in JBOD.

Q: 5. Hi, Can you provide specs or link? Thanks

A: Product Specifications Mechanisms Supported Eight (8) 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA drives Display Support Up to two 4K displays @ 60Hz, or one 5K display @ 60Hz Display Support by Port Thunderbolt 3: Up to 5K @ 60Hz via a native Thunderbolt 3 display or 4K @ 60Hz via a Thunderbolt display or a USB-C display adapter DisplayPort 1.2: Up to 4K @ 60Hz Bootable Mac only Hot Swap Support Yes Chipset Thunderbolt: (1) Intel JHL-6540 SATA Controller: (2) JMicron JMB-585 Certifications CE, FCC, VCCI, RCM, BSMI Data Transfer Rate (Maximum) Thunderbolt 3 : 40 Gb/s (or 5000 MB/s) Plug and Play Yes RAID RAID Capable Yes RAID Levels Supported JBOD RAID Features Software RAID Reliability MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) Varies depending on drive mechanism installed Contact Start Stops Varies depending on drive mechanism installed Compatibility Mac OS Compatibility macOS 10.12 Sierra macOS 10.13 High Sierra macOS 10.14 Mojave macOS 10.15 Catalina macOS 11.1 Big Sur PC OS Compatibility Windows 10 64-bit Edition Other Requirements SoftRAID XT works with macOS 10.12 or later and Windows 10. Intel-based Macs require macOS 10.12 or later. M1 Macs require macOS 11.1 or 11.3 and later. Host Port Requirements Thunderbolt 3 port Driver Required No Power Power Supply Internal UL-listed universal auto-switching power supply AC Input 90-264V, 47-63Hz, 3.5A At 115V, 1.8A At 230V DC Output +12V, 25A Wattage 300 Watts External Power Adapter No Physical Number of Bays 8 Device Ports (2) Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) Ports (1) DisplayPort Port Cooling (1) 92mm cooling fan Security Slot Yes Power Button Yes Power/Activity LED Yes Housing Color Black Housing Material Aluminum Dimensions Height: 18.0 cm (7.1 in) Length: 24.0 cm (9.4 in) Width: 26.0 cm (10.2 in) Weight 7.3 kg (16.14 lbs) Environmental Ambient Temperature Operating: 41°F to 95°F (5°C to 35°C) Non-Operating: -4°F to 140°F (-20°C to 60°C) Altitude Operating: -304.8 m to 3,048.0 m (-1,000 ft to 10,000 ft) Non-Operating: -304.8 m to 12,192.0 m (-1,000 ft to 40,000 ft) Humidity Operating: 8% to 90% non-condensing Non-Operating: 5% to 95% non-condensing Acoustics Noise Varies depending on drive mechanism installed Notes Intel JHL-6540 chipset supports two 4K displays (4096 x 2160 30bpp @ 60 Hz) or a single 5K display.

Q: 6. Does this come with Softraid software License?

A: Yes, it is included.

Q: 7. Is there a version that can fit more as M.2 rather than U.2?

A: The OWC 4TB Flex 1U4 4-Bay Thunderbolt 3 Storage Array (4 x 1TB SSDs) is not currently available in an alternate M.2-based configuration.

Q: 8. I do not want to use the RAID on the OWC? Is that possible?

A: SoftRaid software can be used with the OWC 16TB ThunderBlade Thunderbolt 3 RAID Array to remove the RAID family and yield JBOD volumes.

Q: 9. I have recently purchased SoftRaid 5.8.3 software directly from OWC. I have a Thunderbay 4 bay unit that I have configured to Raid 5. If I buy this 8 bay unit (that does not come with software that enables Raid 5), can I use the Softraid 5.8.3 that already purchased to configure this 8 bay Thunderbay to Raid 5?

A: Yes, SoftRAID XT will work with any OWC enclosure.

Q: 10. Hi, can this product be used without plugging it to electricity? Or if no, can I use external battery?

A: The OWC ThunderBlade X8 16TB 8-Bay Thunderbolt 3 RAID Array (8 x 2TB) requires its included 90W power supply to function.

Evan	28/09/2024
[16 TB] This drive is lightening fast, easy to set up and confifgure, and works very well with several Mac computers. It is truly plug and play and belongs in any serious photographer's toolkit, assuming that they have many images to store and retrieve. I have more than 60,000, mamy of them from 100 MP camera gear, so.... 5

Gregory	28/09/2024
[Yes ] This OWC Gemini 36 TB Drive Dock is the perfect solution for archiving my photos. I purchased this unit to replace an older HDD that was slowing down my workflow as it had relatively low read/write speeds. This OWC Dock has super fast read and write speeds (more than double that of my old HDD), and was easy to set up with my Lenovo P16 laptop running Windows 11 Pro. Setup was very straightforward - i.e. once it was powered up and recognized by Windows just click on My PC in File Explorer and then click on the icon for the OWC Drive and select the OWC Setup application for a PC. Steps are similar for a Mac. Then just follow the prompts in the software to format the drives (NTFS for Windows). Note that the default setting is for RAID 0, but it can also be formatted for RAID 1, SPAN, and JBOD. Others have commented that it is noisy, and that is true. But mine is set up in a desk enclosure that is ventilated (the unit also has an internal cooling fan) so the noise is considerably muffled. Overall I am very happy with this purchase. So far it has performed as advertised and has fully met my expectations. 5

Norman	23/09/2024
[16 TB] Very fast 2000 megabyte per second read or write. Not using raid. Don't bother installing softraid unless you want to use it+ 5

Johnny	08/09/2024
[3x Fans] Very fast. Read speed 950 MB/s. Great enclosure so far. 5

Stephen	16/08/2024
[16 TB] It's hard to believe how much storage I have with the speed it provides. This thing came ready to use out of the box. No software needed to get it going. 5

John	14/08/2024
[1 x 300 W] Have two of these OWC Thunderbay 8 raids and they are amazingly fast, not to mentioned, incredible tech support from OWC! 5

Taylor	12/08/2024
[1 x 300 W] This is my first ever RAID setup and it's painful to think I waited so long to go this route (15+ years of using individual external HDDs and SSDs). I loaded this thing with 8x 16TB IronWolf Pro drives and setup a RAID 5 (128TB = 112TB total storage with 1 drive for redundancy/recovery). The speeds I am getting with this thing average 750-800MB/s write and 1,300-1,400MB/s read. Note that you MUST use 8 total drives to achieve higher speeds like this, I see a lot of people complaining they are getting slow speeds, but they are usually using only 4 or so drives, or 5,400RPM drives. I can easily playback 6K R3D files from my Red Komodo as well as all filetypes, resolutions and frame rates from my Sony FX3. Definitely happy with this purchase and would recommend to any video editors who need speed, but also care about protecting their data! 5

Corey	06/08/2024
[16 TB] This OWC 16TB ThunderBlade RAID drive replaced a 24TB Promise Pegasus RAID and I'm never going back to HDD drives. The Promise could be heard from the other rooms in the house, while the ThunderBlade is completely silent, even when working right next to it on the desk. It's also a LOT smaller. I suggest removing the OWC soft raid software which has caused issues for us in the past. We have the drive formatted as RAID 0 directly in Sonoma 14.3 running on our Mac Studio M1 Ultra. SSDs are a lot more reliable than HDD so I'm more comfortable running these in RAID 0 vs another RAID. However, SSD is not a replacement for a backup, and I have this drive being backed up onto my old HDD once a month. 5

Marc	05/08/2024
[16 TB] It might be a bit pricey, but it's a lot of fast storage that you can easily carry around. It holds about 10TB of virtual instruments for me and I love its portability. Seems very rugged as well. 5

Cristofer Rafae	27/06/2024
[3x Fans] If you want the high speed that OWC claims ( up to 2,500 Mb/s ) you need to use the 8 disks. In my case just use 4 disks and just get 768Mb/s. In general OWC is an excellent option. If you use 5 disks of 14TB in Raid 5 option, you will get 42TB. 5