The 49TB Flex 1U4 4-Bay Thunderbolt 3 Storage Array from OWC / Other World Computing is 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 49TB, which is split between three 16TB 7200 rpm SATA 3.5" hard drives and a 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD, with the SSD being housed in an OWC U2 ShuttleOne, which is a 2.5" U.2 NVMe enclosure. Connectivity to your host system is established using a 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 port, which supports data transfers of 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 ports, three 10 Gb/s USB-A ports, and one DisplayPort 1.4 port provide additional connectivity options. Further expansion methods, such as audio/video capture cards, 10Gb Ethernet, SSD storage, a hardware RAID, or other I/O card, can be used via 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.
- 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.
- 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 content 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.
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.
Please note that the included SoftRAID license provides 3 years of coverage.
- 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
- macOS 10.15 Catalina
- macOS 11.x Big Sur
- macOS 12.x Monterey
- macOS 13.x Ventura