OWC Thunderbay Flex 8 Thunderbolt 3 Storage Docking Station

The ThunderBay Flex 8 is the definitive Thunderbolt 3 desktop device, offering an unparalleled combination of performance and flexibility. At the heart of its capabilities are two cutting-edge technology standards: NVMe and PCIe.

Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) optimizes the performance of modern flash technology over the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) standard, enabling significantly faster SSD performance with a more direct and optimized path to a computer's processor. The Thunderbolt 3 interface, which utilizes the PCIe bus, provides the fastest data transfers possible on a single cable between computers and peripherals, while also supplying charging power.

The ThunderBay Flex 8 features eight universal drive bays that can accommodate a mix of U.2/M.2 NVMe and SATA/SAS drives, delivering up to 144TB of capacity and real-world speeds up to 2,750MB/s. The top four bays can specifically utilize U.2 SSDs, the emerging storage standard for the media and entertainment industry.

For video professionals working with 4K/8K and even Phantom high-speed files, the ThunderBay Flex 8 offers a variety of drive configurations to saturate the Thunderbolt 3 speed threshold. Users can choose from U.2 NVMe SSDs, 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s SSDs, or 3.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s HDDs in the top four bays, and 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s drives in the four bottom bays. By swapping the built-in SATA drive controller card with a SATA/SAS hardware RAID card, users can configure eight SATA/SAS drives in a hardware RAID 0 setup.

The ThunderBay Flex 8's flexibility extends beyond its drive configurations. By removing the side panel, users can install a half-length, full-height, single-width expansion card in the PCIe x16 connector/x4 lanes slot. This allows for the addition of a 4K video capture card, an audio card, a high-speed networking card, or even a SATA or SAS RAID card, transforming the ThunderBay Flex 8 into a hardware RAID storage solution while keeping a PCIe slot open for other cards.

Complementing the hardware capabilities, the ThunderBay Flex 8 includes SoftRAID, the world's most advanced RAID management solution. SoftRAID makes it easy to create and manage RAID volumes, offering multiple RAID options to balance speed and redundancy. It also provides email notifications for drive and RAID volume health, volume validation to ensure data integrity, and drive certification to ensure safe data storage.

The ThunderBay Flex 8's front-mounted USB-C and dual USB-A 10Gb/s ports, as well as the SD 4.0 and CFexpress card readers with up to 985MB/s speed, further enhance its versatility, enabling seamless connectivity and media ingest for a wide range of workflows.

In summary, the ThunderBay Flex 8 is a powerhouse of performance and flexibility, catering to the diverse needs of video professionals, content creators, and storage enthusiasts alike, with its cutting-edge technologies, comprehensive drive support, and advanced RAID management capabilities.

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