Designed as a workhorse external storage solution, the ThunderBay 4 4-Bay Thunderbolt 3 RAID Enclosure from OWC / Other World Computing can handle multi-stream compressed 4K video and other bandwidth-intensive operations. Built with four SATA drive bays that can handle 2.5" or 3.5" hard drives and SSDs, the ThunderBay 4 delivers sustained data transfer speeds of up to 1527 MB/s in RAID 0 and connects to your host Windows or Mac system using a Thunderbolt 3 port, while a second Thunderbolt 3 port can be used to daisy-chain up to six ThunderBay 4 enclosures. There is also a dedicated DisplayPort 1.2 port that supports a 4K display. Thanks to the SoftRAID software RAID controller, the ThunderBay 4 can be configured as RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, and 10, each of which provides data redundancy, performance, or a combination of both. For those who do not require a RAID, JBOD is available.
SoftRAID works with macOS 10.12 or later and Windows 10 and 11. Intel-based Macs require macOS 10.12 or later. M1 Macs require macOS 11.1 or 11.3 and later. macOS 11.3 is currently available as a public beta. SoftRAID is licensed per computer. The SoftRAID serial number will work with both Mac and Windows but can only be active on one computer at a time. Additional seats can be purchased. RAID 4/5/1+0 (10) are currently Mac only at this time.
Please note that SoftRAID is included as a 14 day trial. After the trial ends, you must purchase the software to continue using it.
Packed with features like drive validation, verification, and failure prediction, SoftRAID includes features you simply don't get with hardware RAID. It's like having a datacenter on your desktop. From home users looking to protect photos and documents to professionals needing to protect and quickly access projects, SoftRAID is a good solution.