Compatible Devices | Laptop |
---|---|
Max Number of Supported Devices | 4 |
Data Transfer Rate | 2800 Megabits Per Second |
Manufacturer | Other World Computing |
UPC | 810586037235 |
Item model number | OWCTB3EX4M2 |
Item Weight | 3.5 pounds |
Package Dimensions | 12.05 x 7.6 x 4.41 inches |
Hard Drive Interface | USB-C |
ASIN | B09S5WQ9M6 |
Date First Available | February 10, 2022 |
OWC Express 4M2 4-Slot M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure w/ Thunderbolt3 Ports
Hardware Interface | USB Type C, Thunderbolt |
Brand | OWC |
Hardware Platform | Windows |
Material | Aluminum |
Memory Storage Capacity | 32 TB |
About this item
- Supports four NVMe Drives and aluminum enclosure featuring two Thunderbolt 3 ports
- Compact, portable and light RAID system for on the go performance
- Speeds up to 2800MB/s
- Thunderbolt Certified for Mac and Windows
- Comes with 1 Year OWC Limited Warranty
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Top Brand: OWC
Compare with similar items
This Item OWC Express 4M2 4-Slot M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure w/ Thunderbolt3 Ports | Recommendations | |||||
Price | $249.99$249.99 | -11% $399.99$399.99 List: $449.99 | $199.00$199.00 | $89.99$89.99 | ||
Delivery | Get it as soon as Friday, Nov 8 | Get it as soon as Friday, Nov 8 | Get it as soon as Friday, Nov 8 | Get it as soon as Friday, Nov 8 | ||
Customer Ratings | ||||||
Sold By | OWC (Other World Computing) | OWC (Other World Computing) | TREBLEET | CZ-Store | ||
hardware interface | usb c, thunderbolt | thunderbolt, displayport | usb c, thunderbolt | usb3.0, usb, pci, thunderbolt, usb2.0, solid state drive | ||
brand | OWC | OWC | TREBLEET | ACASIS | ||
hardware platform | Windows | — | — | Linux, Mac, PC | ||
material | Aluminum | Aluminum | Aluminum | — |
Videos
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Customer Review: Loud
Mr. Charles
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OWC Express 4M2 Quad M.2 Enclosure Review
Mariou Reviews
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Introducing the OWC Express 4M2
OWC (Other World Computing)
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Product information
Technical Details
Additional Information
Customer Reviews |
3.9 out of 5 stars |
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Warranty & Support
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Product Description
The OWC Express 4M2 is designed with superior ease-of-use in mind. We worked with award-winning creatives and listened to the kudos they heaped onto the OWC ThunderBay mini, and we put all that shared knowledge to good use when we set out to build the next-gen Thunderbolt 3 multi-bay drive. The result is the 57% smaller and 2.5x faster OWC Express 4M2. It's smaller and easier to fit into your workflow, studio and on stage. It's faster with four easy-access M.2 slots so you can swap, upgrade or expand your Express 4M2 to configure and reconfigure it to serve any project need. NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) is a hyper-efficient communications interface protocol built from the ground up to properly take advantage of SSD technology and high-performance connection buses like PCIe. The result is exponentially faster and efficient SSD storage, and the OWC Express 4M2 has room for four NVMe SSDs. Display connection flexibility is yours with a convenient DisplayPort located right on the rear of the OWC Express 4M2. There's no need to worry about adapters or extra long cables. Just plug your display directly into the Express 4M2 and you're all set. You can add more Express 4M2 drives to your storage pool using Windows Storage Spaces. Configure and reconfigure your storage however you need by combining multiple OWC Express 4M2 drives together on Mac and Windows. The OWC Express 4M2 is fully backward compatible with Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2. Utilize Thunderbolt 3 performance to work at full speed, and step back to Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 whenever connectivity compatibility is needed for your workflow. Add a Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter along with the appropriate Thunderbolt cable, and you're all set. OWC Express 4M2 comes with an OWC Thunderbolt 3 cable which is Thunderbolt certified for Mac and Windows.
Customer reviews
Customers say
Customers like the build quality and size of the hard drive enclosure. They mention it's stable, compact, and saves space and ports. Customers also appreciate the ease of setup. However, some customers have reported that the fan is loud and makes weird noises. They dislike the software. Opinions are mixed on the speed, functionality, and heat dissipation.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
Overall, very satisfied with the performance.
My only gripe is the noise. Please OWC, just put a decent fan in the damn thing and charge $5 more, or have it be temperature controlled, something. It sits ~6ft away and you can 100% tell it's there and running. Seems like a stupid place to cheap out especially since the whole thing is surprisingly user serviceable with only phillips heads needed to install the drives and made with very solid metal construction
I am using this as my primary RAID for video production. Mainly editing 4k and 6k .BRAW 8:1 footage - usually @ 23.97fps, but sometimes 60fps as well. I’m currently on the 2023 version of Premiere with Mac OS Ventura. This things screams. Tested with the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test app I’m getting just over 2900 MB/s.
I’ve loaded it up with 4x 2tb Samsung 970 EVO Plus’s and built as a RAID 0 using Mac OS Ventura’s Disk Utility and formatted as GUID APFS. I did not want to be bound to OWC’s SoftRAID software because I need this to occasionally move to different Macs and I don’t want to rely on a 3rd party piece of software to access my data.
Getting 4 fast M.2’s and doing a RAID 0 is the key to getting the enclosure’s advertised speed. I see many people make the mistake of only putting one or two drives in, or doing a RAID 1 on 4 drives. I knew this going into it and already had most of the M.2’s on hand so it wasn’t an issue for me, but something for everyone to keep in mind.
I’ve tested the daisy chaining ability out by connecting a USB-C monitor that has a keyboard and mouse KVM’d to it and the Mac sees everything and I cannot detect any r/w performance hits when using it. I have not tested the display port on this yet.
Power-wise the enclosure automatically powers down overall, once my Mac has turned off. I say “overall” because the fan and front LED turns off and the M.2’s do not generate any more heat so I assume they are off. But the blue LEDs inside are still lit.
Speaking of heat. The M.2’s generate a ton of heat. And as many of you probably know by now, the fan is pretty loud. To that end, I decided to take the advice of other users online and purchased low profile copper heat sinks for them. I also changed out the very loud 12v 60mmx15mm fan with a 24v one. Because the enclosures is only providing 12 V to that fan, it spins at half speed. That has cut down the sound issues considerably and seems to keep air moving well. The unit feels cooler than it was before the fan and heatsink upgrade.
For those of you who would like to do the same.
This is the fan (its a tad smaller at 10mm thick”:
https://a.co/d/8IbOUmL
The fan needs a 2-3 pin adapter:
https://a.co/d/gzv6xqD
And the heat sinks:
https://a.co/d/7fW4Whh
I'm using 4x Samsung 990 Pro 2 TBs, overkill for this for sure, but again I wanted something reliable and they weren't too much more expensive than 980 pros.
My real complaint is the fan, it's noisy. If you're working in a noise-sensitive environment you'll hear it and you'll hate it. Since I planned to put low profile 2mm heatsinks on all 4 drives, I decided to use a 92mmx15 slim noctua fan I had laying around. The size is perfect to cover all 4 drives so that they would be cooled equally, I used a low-noise adapter since the fan basically runs at full speed. I used some rubber mounts that came with my noctua and just position it so that the fan doesn't touch any surface and it wouldn't move about when using the enclosure vertically or horizontally.
This is an expensive piece of kit, but compared to others on the market, this has the best build quality. Just wish they include a quieter, bigger fan and allow more space for larger nvme heatsinks.
-Fan is on the louder side, not ideal for quiet spaces
-No SoftRaid Software included (I bought the package deal)
-No off button (you have to unplug it to turn the fan and Blue LED light off)
Plus:
-It's small
-It's FAST (RAID 0)
If you buy it, I recommend getting the enclosure without the software and saving yourself the extra cost because there's a good chance you won't receive the software (at least if purchased over Amazon). Overall, I'm more on the disappointed side.
Top reviews from other countries
This is a quality product from packaging, to materials to support.
Beware of payment needed after one month to use service.
Ich selber habe das Modul mit vier NVME à vier Terabyte Voll ausgebaut und es schnurrt wie eine Katze. Die Geschwindigkeit beim Kopieren ist atemberaubend.
Trotzdem finde ich das Gerät ein wenig überteuert.
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