Description

OWC

ThunderBay 4 mini
Four-Bay Thunderbolt 3 External Drive Enclosure

Big RAID System Performance in a Compact Design

The ThunderBay 4 mini is a compact data storage enclosure that you can populate with new or existing 2.5-inch HDDs or SSDs. It’s big on performance and flexibility, yet ThunderBay 4 mini is about the length of a pencil and can weigh as little as 3.1 pounds with drives.

The rugged heat-dissipating aluminum enclosure features two Thunderbolt 3 (Thunderbolt 2/Thunderbolt backward compatible) ports for up to 1556MB/s speeds, so you have more than enough bandwidth to handle personal and business backups — all the way up to today's highest resolution audio, photo, and video formats. If you are seeking big RAID performance that's small enough to fit on a desk, in a rack, or on a DIT cart, your wish is now a reality.

Speed, size, and convenience — the OWC ThunderBay 4 mini provides everything a demanding workflow requires.

A New World of Drive Use Flexibility

With four drive bays, you can mix or match different brand and capacity 2.5-inch SSDs and HDDs. Use mixed drives independently or combine drives as a RAID with the included SoftRAID setup and management software. You can populate this empty enclosure with your own drives, or choose a pre-configured capacity solution to achieve your desired balance of storage, performance, and data redundancy.

Expand production capabilities in industry-leading creative platforms like Final Cut X, Avid Pro Tools, Apple Pro Logic, and Adobe Lightroom, edit large images, manage massive photo and audio libraries, store drone videos, use it as a transport drive…whatever the day or project demands, the ThunderBay 4 mini is the perfect workflow solution.

Install or Swap in Minutes

Want to access a drive or expand your storage capacity? Simply open the front panel security lock to access the four individual bays. Drives mount to a tray that slides back in and automatically plugs into a drive connector so you can get back to work in minutes.

Store More, Go Faster

With the ability to daisy-chain you can add up to five additional ThunderBay 4 mini solutions to create massive storage capacities. Merge them with SoftRAID for even more flexibility, capacity, and capability. Or if speed is what you’re after, connect multiple ThunderBay 4 mini solutions to multiple Thunderbolt 3 ports on your Mac or PC to achieve exponential speed capabilities.

Professional Grade = Ready to Work

We understand having confidence in gear reliability is paramount to creative professionals. That’s why every ThunderBay 4 mini enclosure undergoes a multi-step performance certification prior to shipping. This ensures your ThunderBay 4 mini enclosure arrives ready for demanding use.

Works with SoftRAID: Easy and Complete Drive Management

SoftRAID (sold separately) is OWC's powerful and intuitive software RAID utility for macOS and Windows that allows you to quickly access and robustly protect your data. SoftRAID makes it a breeze to create RAID volumes by helping you through the entire process. With multiple RAID options, you decide what you’re using your RAID volume for and how much space to allocate to it. It's that simple to create your preference of speed and/or redundancy for your data volume.

SoftRAID Highlights

Advanced: Create RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 1+0 (10) volumes (RAID 6, 6+ coming in soon) and get email notifications for drive and RAID volume health with SoftRAID XT (Mac only)
Verify: volume validation ensures sectors can be read, parity is correct, and any potential volume failure is minimized
Certified: drives are validated before use to ensure they are safe for data storage
Vigilant: predictive warnings help protect against unexpected drive failure
Outperforms: up to 86% faster than AppleRAID
Thorough: full TRIM support improves internal and external SSD performance in all RAID levels

Try SoftRAID COMPLETELY FREE for 14 Days

Start protecting yourself and your data today! Get all of SoftRAID's great disk checking and monitoring features, plus the fastest and most efficient software RAID there is. Download SoftRAID for Mac »

Secure Your Workflow with OWC ClingOn

Greatly reduce — if not eliminate — cable strain and accidental disconnects with the OWC ClingOn. These custom cable stabilizers (sold separately) screw into the ThunderBay 8's housing to secure your Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C connections and prevent work session interruption and possible data loss.

Backed by OWC

You can rely on OWC's award-winning US-based support for the ThunderBay 4 solution. Plus, ThunderBay 4 comes with an OWC Limited Warranty.

Advanced RAID features require RAID management software (such as OWC SoftRAID, sold separately).

Specifications

Product Specifications

Specifications

Mechanisms Supported
- Four (4) 2.5-inch SATA drives
Bootable
- Independent volumes bootable in macOS.
Chipset
- Thunderbolt: Intel JHL6540
- SATA Controller: ASMedia ASM-1062
Drive Interface
- SATA
Certifications
- CE
- FCC
- VCCI
- RCM
- BSMI
Data Transfer Rate (Maximum)
- Thunderbolt 3 : 40 Gb/s (or 5000 MB/s)
Reach Certification
- Yes

RAID

RAID Capable
- Yes
RAID Levels Supported
- JBOD
RAID Features
- Software RAID

Compatibility

Mac OS Compatibility
- macOS 10.13 High Sierra
- macOS 10.14 Mojave
- macOS 10.15 Catalina
PC OS Compatibility
- Windows 10 64-bit Edition
- Windows Server 2016
Host Port Requirements
- Thunderbolt ™ 3 port
Driver Required
- No

Power

Power Supply
- External UL-listed universal auto-switching power supply
AC Input
- 100-240V, 50-60Hz, 2.0A
DC Output
- +12V, 6A
Wattage
- 72 Watts
External Power Adapter
- Yes

Physical

Number of Bays
- 4
Device Ports
- (2) Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) Ports
Cooling
- (1) 60mm cooling fan
Security Slot
- Yes
Power/Activity LED
- Yes
Housing Color
- Black
Housing Material
- Aluminum
Dimensions
- Height: 11.7 cm (4.6 in)
- Length: 19.1 cm (7.5 in)
- Width: 9.6 cm (3.8 in)
Weight
- 1.1 kg (2.51 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

Manufacturer provided specifications for OWC p/n OWCTB3QMJB000

Compatibility

This product is compatible with...

Learn how to find your Mac's model ID

Mac Pro Rack (Early 2020)

(January 2020)

Model ID: MacPro7,1

3.5GHz 8-Core

Description

OWC

ThunderBay 4 mini Four-Bay Thunderbolt 3 External Drive Enclosure

Specifications

Product Specifications

Compatibility

Includes

ThunderBay 4 mini
Four-Bay Thunderbolt 3 External Drive Enclosure