{"id":87810,"date":"2023-12-07T13:22:33","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T19:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=87810"},"modified":"2025-04-11T10:19:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T15:19:57","slug":"owc-unveils-its-fastest-drive-yet-the-express-1m2-with-usb4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/87810-owc-unveils-its-fastest-drive-yet-the-express-1m2-with-usb4\/","title":{"rendered":"OWC Unveils Its Fastest Portable Drive Yet, the Express 1M2 with USB4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Today\u2019s an exciting day here at OWC. Not only are we introducing our fastest bus-powered portable external drive ever, we\u2019re also introducing our first ever USB4 drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these aren\u2019t two separate drives. The new OWC Express 1M2 USB4 enclosure<\/a> is all of the above, a portable NVMe SSD powerhouse capable of unprecedented data transfer speeds and universal compatibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We designed Express 1M2<\/a> to allow owners of the latest USB4-equipped Macs and PCs to get the most performance possible out of those machines. Express 1M2 boasts real-world speeds up to 3151MB\/s and gives you the DIY and BYOD (Bring Your Own Drive) flexibility of an enclosure that is built to last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why USB4?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

OWC are known far and wide as the Thunderbolt experts. So, you may be wondering why our fastest drive yet is USB4 and not Thunderbolt<\/a>. You might also be wondering \u201cWhat is USB4?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USB4 is the next generation of the USB standard. It brings significant<\/em> improvements in both speed and connectivity, allowing you to connect to past, present, and future devices and all while enabling data transfer speeds the likes of which have never been seen before. In fact, USB4 enables data transfer speeds that are up to 2x as fast as Thunderbolt\u2014at least when it comes to a 0GB DIY\/BYOD enclosure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The other reason we opted for USB4 on the Express 1M2 had to do with power requirements. For a bus-powered enclosure to be Thunderbolt certified, it must meet Intel power certifications and Thunderbolt ‘options’ can have some higher power draws in general that this certification must meet. While we are able to get specific solutions certified for full speed on Thunderbolt, we would have been limited to a half-speed solution for a DIY\/0GB kit. However, with USB4 and the Express 1M2, we can now unleash these higher speeds for our DIY\/BYOD customers too and we\u2019re excited to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, while you can get similar performance from our Envoy Pro FX Thunderbolt solutions, for the DIYers out there, this is the absolute fastest bus-powered 0GB kit on the market today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many no-name brands claim to be USB4, they are in fact Thunderbolt 3 solutions that simply do not follow Intel specifications. Unlike those budget brand pretenders, the Express 1M2\u2019s true USB4 connectivity assures you of an astounding doubling of the speed a Thunderbolt DIY enclosure would be capable of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, USB4 devices offer universal compatibility with support for USB4, USB 3.2, USB 2, and Thunderbolt 3 & 4 devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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