OWC Unveils New Additions to ThunderBay Pro-Grade Storage Lineup at CES 2020: ThunderBay 8 and First-of-its-Kind ThunderBay FLEX 8

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Jan 05, 2020, 08:50 ET

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CES 2020 — OWC®; a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company and one of the world's most respected manufacturers of hard drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions and performance upgrade kits, today announced two new massively powerful additions to its industry-leading ThunderBay product family – the ThunderBay 8 and the all-new ThunderBay FLEX 8.

ThunderBay 8
The ThunderBay 8 is a professional-grade 8-Bay Thunderbolt 3 storage solution for pros who refuse to compromise. Think of it like a high-performance personal data center offering a multitude of configuration possibilities and almost limitless storage capacity for filmmakers, video production gurus, photographers, graphic designers and small business workgroups. With 8 hot swappable drive bays, OWC ThunderBay 8 offers massive professional-grade storage capacity in a Thunderbolt 3 desktop-sized design. Mix 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch HDDs and/or SSDs in any combination up to 112TB of capacity and use them independently or match drives and combine them in a speed and/or redundant RAID with the included SoftRAID setup and management software.

Monstrous Capacity, Monstrous Bandwidth
Need even more capacity? Daisy-chain up to 6 of these storage behemoths together for up to a staggering 672TB to create your own custom, one-of-a-kind data center. With real-world tested speed up to 2586MB/s via Thunderbolt 3 and the ability to SoftRAID together 8 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 connect multiple ThunderBay 8 solutions to multiple Thunderbolt 3 ports on your Mac or PC to achieve exponential speed increases.

Highlights

Pro-grade transfer speeds – up to 2586MB/s of real-world tested speed via with Thunderbolt 3 port (Thunderbolt 2/Thunderbolt backward compatible)
Massive capacity – store up to 112TB of critical footage, images, and files
Create a data center – daisy chain 6 units together for up to 672TB of storage capacity
8 hot-swappable universal drive bays – mix or match 2.5-inch (no adaptor needed) and 3.5-inch HDDs and SSDs
SoftRAID – robust software for creating, monitoring, and managing advanced RAID sets
See your work: DisplayPort 1.2 for connecting up to 4K monitor
Daisy-chain expansion: Second Thunderbolt 3 port for adding up to 5 additional Thunderbolt devices
Deployment ready – pre-configured solutions undergo rigorous multi-hour drive burn-in
Hardware Plug-and-Play – no drivers needed; includes Thunderbolt 3 cable
OWC ClingOn-ready: cable stabilizer prevents work session interruption and possible data loss
Worry-free – up to 5-Year OWC Limited Warranty with 1-Year Level 1 data recovery

Pricing & Availability
The OWC ThunderBay 8 will be available in Q1 in capacities from 0GB (add your own drives), or from 16TB to 112TB with pricing starting at $1,228.99.

ThunderBay FLEX 8 – The Future Standard of Storage – Available Today
Whether you call it a workflow workhorse, a productivity platform, or a configurable command center, one description of the ThunderBay FLEX 8 says it best. The ThunderBay Flex 8 was designed as the solution for the most advanced, demanding workflow needs. It's a groundbreaking, industry-first 3-in-1 Thunderbolt 3 storage, docking, and PCIe expansion solution from the world's leading Thunderbolt accessory manufacturer.

The ThunderBay FLEX 8 offers 8 drive bays that support a mix of SATA/SAS/U.2 NVMe drives for up to 128TB of storage capacity. Next, there are a plethora of ports including (2) Thunderbolt 3, (1) USB-C and (2) USB-A ports for device docking and charging. See your work with greater clarity by adding an up to 8K display via the built-in DisplayPort 1.4 connection. Ingest hi-res images and video via front-side SD 4.0 and CF-Express card readers. When you want to expand your desktop capabilities, there's a PCIe x16 slot waiting for your specific project needs.

ThunderBay FLEX 8 was built from the ground up to address the storage standards of today and tomorrow. All 8 bays can utilize legacy SATA 6Gb/s 2.5-inch SSDs or 3.5-inch HDDs. To take advantage of the direct connection PCIe technology offers to achieve transfer rates up to 40Gb/s, the top four bays are NVMe U.2 SSD ready. With these super-fast SSDs emerging as the preferred drive form factor of media and entertainment industry professionals, ThunderBay FLEX 8 is ready to meet the future storage needs of content creators and video production pros.

Highlights

Eight FLEXible drive bays with up to 2750MB/s real-world tested speed:

Four top bays: install your choice of U.2 NVMe SSDs (one bay PCIe 3.0 x4, three bays PCIe 3.0 x1), 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s SSDs, or 3.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s HDDs.
Four bottom bays: install your choice of 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s drives.

Massive capacity: store up to 128TB of critical footage, images, and files
Connect up to five additional Thunderbolt devices in a daisy-chain
Includes SoftRAID: robust software for creating, monitoring, and managing advanced RAID sets
Deployment ready: pre-configured solutions undergo rigorous multi-hour drive burn-in
Connect and charge your devices: (1) USB-C and (2) USB-A ports for audio or video mixers, digital cameras, peripherals, and mobile devices
See your work: DisplayPort 1.4 for connecting up to two 4K displays or one 8K display
Fast and easy camera uploads: up to 985MB/s with frontside SD 4.0 and CFexpress card readers
Play your card: (1) PCIe (x16) slot for half-length, full-height, single-width audio and video capture cards, high-speed networking card, SSD storage card, hardware RAID card, and even I/O cards like FireWire, Fiber Channel, or USB 3.2.
Power to spare: 500W handles drives, expansion cards, and charging up accessories

Pricing & Availability
The ThunderBay FLEX 8 integrated storage, docking and PCIe expansion solution will be available in Q1 as a 0GB enclosure (add your own drives) or from 16TB to 128TB solutions.

About OWC
Other World Computing (OWC), founded in 1988, is dedicated to helping Mac and PC enthusiasts do more and reach higher. OWC creates and delivers the best storage, connectivity, software and expansion solutions for performance, reliability and longevity to enhance, accelerate and extend the capabilities of technology. We believe in sustainability and OWC solutions are truly built to last, go the distance, and enable users to maximize the technology investment they have already made. True sustainability is good business – maximizing existing hardware vs. starting over or needing to replace saves time, money and benefits the environment and resources we all share. OWC's operation provides leadership in business sustainability, with our headquarters among the first in the world awarded LEED Platinum Certification and running as a net provider of renewable wind and solar energy to the local power grid. OWC features an award-winning technical support team, as well as an unparalleled library of step-by-step DIY and informational videos. From the home desktop to the enterprise rack, to the audio recording studio to the motion picture set and beyond, there should be no compromise, and that is why OWC is here.

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© 2020 Other World Computing, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple and Mac are the trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Intel and Thunderbolt are trademarks of Intel Corporation registered in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other marks may be the trademark or registered trademark property of their respective owners.

SOURCE OWC