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1.0TB OWC ThunderBay 4 mini
Four-Drive Thunderbolt 2 External Storage Solution with Solid-State Drives and SoftRAID
Mfr P/N: TB4MSRSSD01T OWC SKU: OWCTB4MSRSSD01T
Highlights
- Up to 374MB/s read / 496MB/s write sustained RAID 5 performance
- Up to 1317MB/s read / 1320MB/s write sustained RAID 0 performance
- Preconfigured in RAID 5 for optimal data redundancy
- 75% faster rebuild times than hardware RAID.
- 3 Year OWC Limited Warranty
Big RAID System Performance in a Compact Design
A New World of Drive Flexibility
Install or Swap in Minutes
Store More, Go Faster
The Most Powerful RAID Tool on the Planet.
- 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
- 35+ Years of Experience of Pro Support to provide peace-of-mind with setup help, ongoing questions, or urgent disk issues
- And many more unique features.
- Learn more about SoftRAID
Professional Grade = Ready to Work
Support You Can Trust
- When connected to a Thunderbolt (10Gb/s) host, data transfer will be limited to 10Gb/s.
- SoftRAID works with macOS 10.14+, Windows 10+, and Windows Server 2019/2022. M1 Macs require macOS 11.3 or later.
- SoftRAID is licensed per computer.
Includes
- (1) OWC ThunderBay 4 mini External Storage Solution
- (1) 1.0M (39") Thunderbolt 2 Cable
- (1) External Power Supply
- (1) US Power Cable
- (2) Security Keys for Front Panel Lock
- (1) Quick Start Guide for OWC ThunderBay 4 mini with Thunderbolt 2
- (1) Assembly Manual & User Guide for OWC ThunderBay 4 mini with Thunderbolt 2
- (1) 3 Years of SoftRAID Premium Access (License located on device)
- (1) Quick Start Guide for OWC SoftRAID (Digital)
- 3 Year OWC Limited Warranty
Specs
Drive Bays
- 4 bays
Capacity
- 1.0TB
Plug and Play
- Yes
Drive Format
- Included Drive Guide Software will format drive for either OS X, or Windows
Storage Interface
- SATA
RAID Capable
- Yes
Default RAID Level
- JBOD
RAID Levels Supported
- RAID 0
- RAID 1
- RAID 4
- RAID 5
- RAID 10
- JBOD
RAID Features
- Software RAID
Device Ports
- (1) Host Port - Thunderbolt 2 up to 20Gb/s (2500MB/s) - Thunderbolt 1 backwards compatible
- (2) Thunderbolt 2 Ports
Data Transfer Rate (Maximum)
- Thunderbolt 2 : Up to 20Gb/s (or 2500MB/s)
- Thunderbolt : Up to 10Gb/s (or (1250MB/s)
Chipset / Controller
- Thunderbolt
Host Interface Requirements
- Thunderbolt 2 (mDP) port (backwards compatible with Thunderbolt1)
Mac OS Compatibility
- Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
- Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
- Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
- OS X 10.9 Mavericks
- OS X 10.10 Yosemite
- OS X 10.11 El Capitan
- macOS 10.12 Sierra
- macOS 10.13 High Sierra
- macOS 10.14 Mojave
- macOS 10.15 Catalina
- macOS 11.x Big Sur
- macOS 12.x Monterey
- macOS 13.x Ventura
PC OS Compatibility
- Windows 7 32-bit Edition
- Windows 7 64-bit Edition
- Windows 8 32-bit Edition
- Windows 8 64-bit Edition
- Windows 8.1 32-bit Edition
- Windows 8.1 64-bit Edition
- Windows 10 32-bit Edition
- Windows 10 64-bit Edition
- Windows Server 2019
- Windows Server 2022
- Windows 11
Other Requirements
- Boot Camp is not supported. The Thunderbolt certification process does not include Macs running Windows through Boot Camp.
- PCs running Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or later with a Thunderbolt port. Driver required for proper installation.
External Power Adapter
- No
Power Supply
- Internal UL-listed universal auto-switching power supply
AC Input
- 100-240V, 50-60Hz
DC Output
- +12V, 16.66A
Cooling
- (1) 92mm No cooling fan
Security Slot
- Yes
Power Button
- Yes
Power/Activity LED
- Yes
Housing Color
- Black
Housing Material
- Aluminum
Dimensions
- Height: 11.6 cm (4.6 in)
- Length: 19.3 cm (7.6 in)
- Width: 9.6 cm (3.8 in)
Weight
- 1.1 kg (2.43 lbs)
Reach Certification
- Yes
Ambient Temperature
- Operating: 41°F to 107.6°F (5°C to 42°C)
- Non-Operating: -40°F to 149°F (-40°C to 65°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
Shock
- Operating: 65 G max at 2 ms
- Non-Operating: 175 G max at 2 ms
- When connected to a Thunderbolt (10Gb/s) host, data transfer will be limited to 10Gb/s.
Benchmarks
Truth in Numbers: Another OWC Difference
There are many attributes that define “The OWC Difference.” By listing real-world performance tests of OWC solutions, we’re confident you’ll be completely satisfied with your technology investment.
macOS RAID 0 Test Results
QuickBench (with cache active)
Thunderbolt
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QuickBench (cache deactivated)
Thunderbolt
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Blackmagic Disk Speed Test
Thunderbolt
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AJA System Test - 4K
Thunderbolt
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AJA System Test - 2K
Thunderbolt
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macOS RAID 4 Test Results
QuickBench (with cache active)
Thunderbolt
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QuickBench (cache deactivated)
Thunderbolt
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Blackmagic Disk Speed Test
Thunderbolt
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AJA System Test - 4K
Thunderbolt
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AJA System Test - 2K
Thunderbolt
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Compatibility & Installation Videos
MacBook Pro
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MacBook Air
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Mac Pro
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Mac mini
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Videos
Learn More
Customer Reviews
This unit works fine, but beware connectivity hassles. Unless you're quite familiar with Thunderbolt form factors, you may not realize that Thunderbolt 2 cables are physically incompatible with later versions of Thunderbolt. You will almost certainly need a Thunderbolt 2 -> 3 (USB-C) adapter, which will cost you about $50 from Apple. It's not clear to me why OWC is selling units with this connection type, as Thunderbolt 3 came out in 2016, but here we are.
I would recommend this product to a friend!
- Reviewer:info-99525
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! We're thrilled to hear that the unit is working well for you. We completely understand the confusion around Thunderbolt cables, and we appreciate you bringing that to everyone's attention. It's true that Thunderbolt 2 and Thunderbolt 3 have different connections, and we always recommend checking compatibility before purchasing. Your feedback is invaluable, and it helps us improve the experience for all our customers! Happy computing!
horrible. I can't connect it to your dock. I have ordered adapters and cables, but nothing connects. I can't connect to your my new Mac mini. It was a waste of money.
- Reviewer:Reviewer3299512718
Thanks for sharing your candid feedback with us. We're sorry about the issues you're having with the ThunderBay We will have someone reach out to to look into this further with you.
Works well with a refurbished Mac Pro ("trashcan") I bought from OWC. I bought one of these quite a while before they ran out of them. Eventually needed to expand my photo/video storage (internal Mac Pro SSD seems limited to 2TB). Populated this unit with four reliable 2.5" SSDs (wait for a sale?). A cost effective solution. Using MacOS native software RAID as a mirror/stripe set (i.e. no 3rd party software involved). Just use the shortest Thunderbolt 2 cable to connect [and make sure it's alone on it's own Thunderbolt 2 bus for best performance -- Mac Pro ("trashcan") has 3]. No issues and it's fast. Continued lifespan for my Mac Pro ("trashcan"), which, itself was a great deal (and was fully configured and tested by OWC).
I would recommend this product to a friend!
- Reviewer:autoxtl2
We are absolutely thrilled to hear that you're enjoying your storage solution with your refurbished Mac Pro! Your experience is exactly what we love to see—finding effective and cost-efficient ways to expand storage. It's fantastic that you populated it with reliable SSDs and utilized macOS's native software RAID for your setup. Your tip about using the shortest Thunderbolt 2 cable and ensuring it's alone is super helpful! Thank you for sharing your insights and being a part of the OWC community!