There’s a good reason our ThunderBlade NVMe RAID SSD is called the best production drive in the universe by film pros. Built rugged and silently cool for on-location use, its mobile-ready small footprint blazes through uncompressed high bandwidth content streams with unrivaled speed and reliability. In fast-paced environments where time is money, you’ll keep productions ahead of deadline while elevating your professional reputation to the highest level with ThunderBlade.
Incomparable
Up to 2949MB/s ready-to-run, time-saving speed that has no competitor1
Reliable
Heat-dissipating fanless aluminum chassis keeps you working silently at top speed
Spacious
Up to eight NVMe M.2 SSDs for up to 32TB
Informative
Confirm use status instantly via integrated LED
Includes SoftRAID
Robust software for creating, monitoring, and managing advanced RAID sets
Mobile
Compact footprint and custom-fit ballistic hard-shell case make this the perfect shuttle drive
Versatile
Daisy-chain up to five additional Thunderbolt devices or connect a USB-C device or display via the second Thunderbolt port
Certified
Meets Intel Thunderbolt and OWC operating certifications for assured performance and reliability
Stable
Non-skid rubber feet keep ThunderBlade in place while OWC ClingOn secures the included Thunderbolt connecting cable2
Reliability. Efficiency. Transportability.
Our team is filled with creatives highly experienced in all phases of the video production world. We understand your need for more speed and capacity when it comes to making everything from backups to editing faster. ThunderBlade was purposefully built to be the best high-performance mobile-ready RAID SSD in the universe for:
DITs needing to offload memory cards on set at maximum transfer speeds while also having the option to choose RAID 5 reliability for peace-of-mind or production requirements.
DITs and productions needing a blazing fast, highly reliable shuttle drive that can be easily and safely shipped.
Creative professionals working with cutting edge workflows such as multicam sequences, 8K RAW video, and VFX looking for the best possible performance from an easy to transport, plug and play external storage solution.
Remote editors working with cloud-based workflows such as LucidLink which require a high performance cache drive solution to ensure flawless video editing performance.
Professional video editors desiring a seamless editing experience when working on large projects with all their files centralized for easy access.
Which ThunderBlade is Right for Me?
OWC ThunderBlade
OWC ThunderBlade X8
Interface
2 x Thunderbolt 3 (40Gb/s)
2 x Thunderbolt 3 (40Gb/s)
Drives
4 x 2280 NVMe M.2
8 x 2242 NVMe M.2
Capacity
Up to 8TB
Up to 32TB
RAID Support
RAID 0/1/4/5/1+0 (10)
RAID 0/1/4/5/1+0 (10)
Maximum RAID 0 Speed
2831MB/s Write 2840MB/s Read
2826MB/s Write 2949MB/s Read
Useable RAID 0 Capacity (using 8TB model example)
8TB (4 x 2TB)
32TB (8 x 4TB)
Maximum RAID 5 Speed
2120MB/s Write 2389MB/s Read
2464MB/s Write 2565MB/s Read
Useable RAID 5 Capacity (using 8TB model example)
6TB (3 x 2TB with 1 x 2TB used for redundant protection)
28TB (7 x 4TB with 1 x 4TB used for redundant protection)
Cooling
Silent fanless
Silent fanless
Material
Solid aluminum
Solid aluminum
Key Differences
Smaller footprint, smaller capacity (4TB) model available
Up to 4TB (16.7%) higher capacity in RAID 4/5. Over 16% higher performance in RAID 4 and 5 redundant configurations with Apple Silicon (all M1 and later including Pro / Max / Ultra) machines, improved power connector, LED angle revised to reduce/eliminate on-set light distraction possibility.
Daisy-Chain Possibilities
ThunderBlade isn’t just about being the best performing production drive on the planet. It also gives you all the options you need to work at your best. With an extra Thunderbolt port, you have the flexibility to daisy-chain devices and place a USB-C device at the end of your chain to create a world of possibilities.
RAID 5 Ready
Using RAID 5 in the past meant giving up precious capacity and taking a big hit on performance. Our 8 drive ThunderBlade X8 model solves that problem by offering the most amount of useable capacity while still offering eye-popping write speeds up to 2464MB/s. Now you can streamline ingestion and backup times on set, edit ultra-high-res multi-cam sequences, and adhere to mandatory requirements (the 3-2-1 Principle) when producing content for large studios such as Netflix.
Hold at least three copies of all original camera files (OCF) and audio.
Store the OCF and audio copies on at least two different types of media.
Keep at least one of these backups in a different geographical location from the others.
Capture Device
E.g., camera or sound card
RAID 5, 6, or 10 (or above) Storage
RAID 0 is only acceptable for temporary transfer/shuttle drives, and not for backup purposes.
LTO
6, 7, 8 or 9 written in LTFS format
Access Your Drives Anywhere with Strada. No Cloud Required.
Receive 5 Strada licenses for 90 days (a $450 value) with your purchase.1
Strada turns your storage solution into a serious archival library at a fraction of what you would pay for equivalent cloud storage. With Strada (strada.tech), your remote team members can access, share, review, and edit files as if this drive was sitting right next to them. No costly cloud subscription. No time-consuming uploads. No shipping drives back and forth. Just because your hardware must stay in your studio doesn’t mean your files have to. Every qualifying OWC drive ships with Strada licenses included for 3 months, so your team can be working together the day it arrives.
Strada / OWC coupon code offer only available to new Strada customers and existing Strada customers who add new Team Licenses to their Workspace.
The Most Powerful RAID Tool on the Planet
SoftRAID is the world’s fastest and most flexible application to configure, maintain, and protect your RAID volumes on Mac and PC. OWC enclosures include 3 Years of SoftRAID Premium.
High-Performance RAID 0/1/4/5/1+0 (10) volumes
Predictive Health Monitoring proactively notifies of Volume and Disk issues well before failure — provided on your computer and remotely
Seamless Cross-Platform Sharing with support for Apple-formatted APFS and HFS+ SoftRAID volumes between Mac and Windows at no additional cost
35+ Years of Experience of Pro Support to provide peace-of-mind with setup help, ongoing questions, or urgent disk issues
Select OWC solutions and enclosures include 3 Years of SoftRAID Premium! See Includes section for details.
Really Cool Details
You’ll never have to worry about heat throttling slowing you down because we focus on the little details that will keep you working at consistent top speed. Besides keeping ThunderBlade securely in place, the non-skid rubber feet elevate the heat dissipating aluminum housing to create a highly effective silently cool encompassing airflow.
Pre-Tested = Ready to Work
We understand having confidence in gear reliability is paramount to creative professionals. That’s why every ThunderBlade undergoes our rigorous multi-hour "burn-in" performance certification prior to shipping and includes a Thunderbolt connecting cable. This ensures your ThunderBlade arrives operating properly and immediately ready for demanding use.
Combine & Conquer
While one ThunderBlade is great, two are awesome when daisy chained together for additional speed and capacity gains. Keep them running cool and fast by stacking them vertically with the OWC ThunderBlade X Spacer. This innovative, no tools required aluminum drive spacer keeps your drives secure while enhancing your conquer any challenge image.
Work with Ultimate Confidence
Active workspaces expose gear to unexpected bumps and shoves. OWC ClingOn custom cable stabilizers (available separately) screw into the OWC ThunderBlade to reduce – if not completely eliminate – cable strain on Thunderbolt and USB-C connections so you can work with ultimate confidence even in the highest foot traffic environments.
Up to 2949MB/s peak performance with 8.0TB (8 x 1.0TB OWC Aura SSDs) ThunderBlade X8 connected to a 16-inch MacBook Pro 2021 (MacBookPro18,1) with 16GB RAM and Apple M1 Pro 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU running AJA System Test (8K-Full resolution, 64GB file size, 16 bit RGBA codec, single file test). ThunderBlade ready-to-run SSD vs unproven enclosure only choices.
OWC ClingOn cable stabilizer available separately.
1-800-275-4576
