OWC ThunderBlade X12: Apple silicon (M1/M2) Performance Notice

Created on: April 14, 2025
Last updated: April 15, 2025

Details

• Some users may experience slow read performance with RAID 0 (stripe) volumes on OWC ThunderBlade X12 devices. This is only seen on Mac systems with Apple silicon M1 and M2 processors. Mac systems with Intel or Apple silicon M3 and M4 processors do not experience slow read performance.

  • Note about macOS: We have reported this anomalous behavior to the Apple Thunderbolt team and provided them hardware to aid in addressing the slow read performance on Mac computers with Apple silicon M1 and M2 processors.

Instructions

• Recreating a RAID 0 volume will help restore the OWC ThunderBlade X12 to full read performance when connected to an Apple silicon M1 or M2 system. Please review and complete the RAID 0 volume instructions below.

  • NOTE: Recreating a RAID 0 volume may cause users to experience slow read and write speeds on a Windows PC.

NOTE: These steps will delete all the files on the ThunderBlade X12. The volume should be backed up before proceeding with this process.

1. Ensure only the OWC ThunderBlade X12 is connected to the Mac system.

2. Launch the OWC SoftRAID application.

3. Select the tile for the volume entitled "ThunderBlade X12" on the right side of the main window.

4. Select “Disable Safeguard” from the Volume menu.

5. Select “Delete” from the Volume menu.

6. Select “New” from the Volume menu.

7. Select all 12 disks in the list on the left of the New Volume menu

8. Name the volume.

9. Select “RAID 0” as the Volume type.

10. Select “APFS” for the File system.

11. Select the “Create” button.

• NOTE: Select 16 KB as the Stripe Unit Size in the dialog box that appears over the New Volume window.

12. Select “OK” and the SoftRAID application will create the volume.