OWC ThunderBlade: macOS Boot Drive Setup

Created on: March 15, 2018
Last updated: April 17, 2025

Relevant Part Numbers: OWCTB3TBV4T1.0 | OWCTB3TBV4T2.0 | OWCTB3TBV4T4.0 | OWCTB3TBV4T8.0 | OWCTB3TBV4T01 | OWCTB3TBV4T02 | OWCTB3TBV4T04 | OWCTB3TBV4T08 | OWCTB3TBL8X08 | OWCTB3TBL8X16 | OWCTB3TBL8X32 | OWCTB5TBL12X012 | OWCTB5TBL12X024 | OWCTB5TBL12X048 | OWCTB5TBL12X096

Details

• The OWC ThunderBlade | OWC ThunderBlade X8 | OWC ThunderBlade X12 cannot be used as a macOS boot volume while in the factory default RAID 0 configuration. 

  • The OWC ThunderBlade device can be used as a macOS boot volume, however, the RAID must be deleted using OWC SoftRAID. Deleting the factory default RAID 0 will allow one of the four installed NVMe M.2 SSDs to be assigned as an individual drive using Independent Mode. 

  • The other three NVMe M.2 SSDs can be configured in OWC SoftRAID as a new RAID 0 volume. 

Creating a macOS Boot Volume Instructions

• NOTE: Changing from the factory default four drive RAID 0 volume to a three drive RAID 0 volume can decrease performance by up to 25% depending on drive type and capacity. Additionally, the total capacity of the OWC ThunderBlade was decrease.

• NOTE: These steps will delete all the files on the OWC ThunderBlade. The volume should be backed up before proceeding with this process.

1. Download and install OWC SoftRAID if not done so already or launch OWC SoftRAID.

• Installation will likely update the OWC SoftRAID driver that ships by default with macOS and will require a system restart. OWC recommends the latest OWC SoftRAID release for use with the OWC ThunderBlade.

2. Locate the OWC ThunderBlade RAID 0 volume in the “Volumes” section located in the right column of the application window.

3. Right-click on the OWC ThunderBlade volume and choose “Disable Safeguard”.

4. Right-click the volume a second time and choose “Delete” and confirm the choice when prompted.

5. Four individual OWC drives will now be present in the left column. Select and right-click the four individual OWC drives and choose “Zero Sectors”. 

6. In the option dialog that appears choose the “First and Last 100” option.

1. Quit OWC SoftRAID and launch Disk Utility.

2. Disk Utility should display the four OWC drives. Select one of the OWC drives and click the “Erase” button. 

3. In the dialog box that appears:

• Name the drive volume. 

• Ensure the Partition Type is set to GUID Partition Table. 

• Format as APFS.

4. Select “Erase” to complete the drive formatting. Select “Done” when complete.

5. The individually formatted OWC drive is now ready for the installation of a macOS operating system.

1. Quite Disk Utility and open OWC SoftRAID.

2. Select the remaining three unformatted OWC drives. Right-click the selected drives and choose “Initialize”.

3. After initialization is complete, select the three OWC drives again. Right-click the selected drives and choose “New Volume”.

4. Choose Volume Type “RAID 0” and choose “HFS+” for the File System. Then name the volume.

5. Select “Create”. Choose 128K for the Stripe Unit Size when a prompt appears. Select “OK”. 

• The process of creating the new volume can take a few moments depending on capacity.

6. In the New Volume window choose 

• Volume Type ‘RAID 0’.

• File System ‘HFS+’.

• For Optimization choose a workflow appropriate setting.

• Name the volume. 

7. The newly created RAID 0 volume can be validated if the OWC ThunderBlade doesn't need to be used immediately. Right-click the newly created RAID 0 volume and select “Validate”. This process can take up to an hour for completion.

8. Quit OWC SoftRAID and the OWC ThunderBlade is now ready for use now with a boot volume.

• The OWC ThunderBlade will now appear as two volumes in macOS Finder, and on the Desktop if system preferences are set to show mounted volumes.