THE INDUSTRY’S FIRST

THUNDERBOLT 3 ALL-IN-WONDER

Tame your workflow with this highly configurable productivity platform for digital imaging, VFX, video production, and video editing professionals. With unrivaled FLEXibility, you can choose drive type(s), enjoy docking convenience, and expand your capabilities with PCIe cards.

FLEXIBLE STORAGE

Eight Universal 3.5/2.5-inch Drive Bays
Use SATA/SAS¹ and U.2/M.2² NVMe drives for up to 128TB of capacity and real-world speeds up to 2750MB/s.

Future-Ready
The top four bays can utilize U.2 SSDs...the emerging M&E industry storage standard.

Powerfully Easy RAID
Create, manage, and monitor advanced RAID sets with SoftRAID, the world's most advanced RAID management solution with easy setup, e-notifications, and drive integrity monitoring.

DOCKING FLEXIBILITY

Connect More
Convenient front mounted USB-C and (2) USB-A 10Gb/s ports for peripherals and mobile devices.

See More
DisplayPort 1.4 for connecting up to an 8K display³

Fast Media Ingest
Frontside SD 4.0 and CFexpress card readers with up to 985MB/s speed

FLEXPANDABLE FOR UNIQUE NEEDS

Do More
A second Thunderbolt 3 port⁴ for daisy-chaining devices or additional display(s).

Play Your Card
PCIe x16 connector/x4 lane slot for audio/video capture, networking, SSD storage, hardware RAID card, or I/O card

FLEX YOUR WAY THROUGH EVERY WORKFLOW

Whether you call it a workflow workhorse, a productivity platform, or a configurable command center, one description of the ThunderBay Flex 8 says it best. It’s a groundbreaking workflow solution for digital imaging, VFX, video production, and video editing professionals from the world’s leading Thunderbolt accessory manufacturer.

ThunderBay Flex 8 offers eight drive bays that support a mix of SATA/SAS and U.2/M.2 NVMe drives for up to 128TB of storage capacity. Next, there’s a plethora of ports including two Thunderbolt 3, one USB-C, and two USB-A for device docking and charging.

See your work in greater detail by adding up to an 8K display via a built-in DisplayPort 1.4 connection. Ingest hi-res images and video via front-side SD 4.0 and CFexpress card readers. And when you want to expand your desktop capabilities, there’s a PCIe slot waiting for your specific project needs.

ThunderBay Flex 8 is the one Thunderbolt 3 desktop device that rules them all. With an irresistible economy of scale, this consolidated solution is ideal for anyone waiting for the right moment to invest in Thunderbolt technology.

NVME. PCIE.WHAT’S IT MEAN TO ME?

At the heart of the ThunderBay Flex 8 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. It enables significantly faster SSD performance with a more direct and optimized path to a computer’s processor.

Tying both of these technologies together is the Thunderbolt 3 interface which uses the PCIe bus. This interface offers the fastest data transfers possible on a single cable between computers and peripherals like storage solutions, docks, and expansion devices while also supplying 85W of power to keep your laptop ready to go at a moment’s notice.

THE FUTURE STANDARD OF STORAGE AVAILABLE TODAY

Right out of the packaging, all eight bays can utilize SATA 6Gb/s 2.5-inch SSDs or 3.5-inch HDDs. To take advantage of 40Gb/s PCIe technology, the top four bays are NVMe U.2 SSD ready. These emerging super-fast SSDs enable ThunderBay Flex 8 to meet the future storage needs of content creators and video production pros.

MUSCLE-FLEXING DATA PERFORMANCE

Are you a video pro working with 4K/8K and even Phantom high-speed files? The ThunderBay Flex 8 offers a variety of drive configurations that deliver real-world read/write speeds of 2750MB/s that saturate the Thunderbolt 3 speed threshold. Try any of these options:

A single U.2 NVMe SSD in Bay A
Multiple U.2 SSDs installed in top four bays (A-D) in RAID 0
Six or more SATA SSDs in any bays in RAID 0
Swap out the built-in SATA drive controller card with a SATA/SAS hardware RAID card and configure 8 x SATA/SAS drives in hardware RAID 0

Done with the drives but need the docking connectivity?Eject the ThunderBay Flex 8 drives and any external drives in a single click with the free OWC Dock Ejector app. It ensures all data has been written before any drive is unmounted to protect against data loss. It will even warn you from accidentally ejecting an in-use drive.

DOCKING FLEXIBILITY

A virtual buffet of productivity-enhancing possibilities awaits you with the docking connections built into ThunderBay Flex 8. Power your notebook with up to 85W power delivery while capturing multi-stream hi-res footage at full frame rate. Connect audio and video mixers, digital camera, keyboards, and other peripherals and charge mobile devices via one USB-C and two USB-A 10Gb/s ports. Ingest and work with 4/8K RAW video and RAW photo files immediately at speeds up to 985MB/s with frontside SD 4.0 and CFexpress card readers. Add more viewing space with up to an 8K monitor via the DisplayPort 1.4 interface. And if all that’s not enough to satisfy your project needs, daisy-chain up to five additional Thunderbolt 3 devices!

FLEXPANDABLE FOR UNIQUE NEEDS

By removing the enclosure’s side panel, you can expand your capabilities by installing a half-length, full-height, single-width expansion card in the PCIe x16 connector/x4 lanes slot. Add a 4K video capture card for direct ingest of multi-stream high-res footage. Record high-quality tracks with an audio card and then edit and archive tracks.

Create a powerful file server with a high-speed networking card. By replacing the built-in SATA drive controller with a SATA or SAS RAID card, you can turn ThunderBay Flex 8 into a hardware RAID storage solution while keeping a PCIe slot open for other cards.

A FLEXTRAORDINARY PLATFORM

ThunderBay Flex 8 is a user-configurable platform that you can use to launch into projects with a new realm of time and money-saving results. To get you started, we suggest three sample configurations that make the most of the extraordinary highlights that have made OWC solutions the choice of performance enthusiasts and cinematographers around the world:

Plug and play with no drivers needed and Thunderbolt 3 cable included
Free lifetime US-based support
Worry-free ownership with up to 5 Year OWC Limited Warranty⁵

EASY AND COMPLETE DRIVE MANAGEMENT

Now you can quickly access and robustly protect your data with SoftRAID for Mac. SoftRAID makes it a breeze to create RAID volumes by helping you through the entire process. With multiple RAID options, you decide what you’re using your RAID volume for and how much space to allocate to it. It's that simple to create your preference of speed and/or redundancy for your data volume.

ADVANCED

Create RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 1+0 (10) volumes (RAID 6, 6+ coming in 2020) and get email notifications for drive and RAID volume health with SoftRAID (Mac only)

VIGILANT

Predictive warnings help protect against unexpected drive failure

CERTIFIED

Drives are validated before use to ensure they are safe for data storage

VERIFY

Volume validation ensures sectors can be read, parity is correct, and any potential volume failure is minimized

OUTPERFORMS

Up to 86% faster than AppleRAID

THOROUGH

Full TRIM support improves internal and external SSD performance in all RAID levels

A PROTECTIVE, ECONOMICAL POST-PRODUCTION SOLUTION

Sending a drive from set to post-production typically entails tedious and time-consuming drive enclosure disassembly to access the storage drive or costly shipping of the entire enclosure to the post lab. But ThunderBay Flex 8 offers a flexible option.

By installing an OWC U.2 NVMe Interchange System carrier tray (sold separately) with a built-in U.2 connector into a ThunderBay Flex 8 drive tray, you can protect the U.2 SSD drive’s connector from repeated install/removal wear for improved drive longevity and investment. When done with your shoot, just ship the lightweight protective carrier and drive to the lab where the carrier can be installed into an OWC Helios 3S equipped with the OWC Interchange System. It’s a complete solution to safeguard your data while lowering shipping costs.

Specifications

Mechanisms Supported
- 3.5 inch SATA drives
- 2.5 inch SATA drives
- 2.5 inch U.2 drives (top 4 bays only)
- NVMe M.2 drives (via U.2 adapter)
- 2.5 inch SAS drives (requires SAS card, not included)
- 3.5 inch SAS drives (requires SAS card, not included)
Standard Mechanism
- (8) Toshiba 4TB MG04ACA Series Enterprise Class Hard Disk Drives
- *1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending upon operating environment (typically 5-10% less). The actual total capacity will depend on your own defined file settings/preferences.
- **OWC reserves the right to replace or upgrade to equivalent or better components.
Display Support
- DisplayPort 1.4: Up to 8K @ 60Hz or 4K @ 120Hz
- Thunderbolt 3: Up to 5K @ 60Hz via a native Thunderbolt 3 display or 4K @ 60Hz via a Thunderbolt display or a USB-C display adapter
Bootable
- Dependent upon configuration. Independent Mac volumes should boot in most scenarios.
Hot Swap Support
- Yes
Hot Plug Support
- Yes
Chipset
- Thunderbolt: Intel JHL7440
- PCIe Switch: ASMedia ASM-2824
- USB Controller: Genesys Logic GL-3590
Drive Interface
- SATA 6.0 Gb/s
Rotational Speed
- 7,200RPM
Certifications
- BSMI
- CE
- FCC
- RCM
- VCCI
Data Rate
- Thunderbolt 3: 40Gb/s (or 5000MB/s)
Data Transfer Rate (Maximum)
- Thunderbolt 3 : 40 Gb/s (or 5000 MB/s)

RAID

RAID Capable
- Yes
RAID Levels Supported
- RAID 0
- RAID 1
- RAID 0+1
- RAID 4
- RAID 5
- JBOD
RAID Features
- Software RAID

Reliability

MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
- 1,400,000 hours
Contact Start Stops
- Varies depending on drive mechanism installed

Compatibility

Mac OS Compatibility
- macOS 10.15 Catalina
Other Requirements
- macOS 10.15.1 or later required.
Host Port Requirements
- Thunderbolt 3
PCIe Cards Supported
- Supports one full-height, half-length, single-width card (driverless or with Thunderbolt-aware driver). GPUs not supported.
Driver Required
- SoftRAID Only The SoftRAID driver is installed within the SoftRAID application.
- For PCIe cards that require a driver, please check the manufacturer web site. Drivers for PCIe cards must be Thunderbolt-aware to function.

Power

Power Supply
- Internal UL-listed universal auto-switching power supply
AC Input
- 100-240V, 47-63Hz, 4.0A-8.0A
DC Output
- +12V, 42A
Wattage
- 504W Watts
External Power Adapter
- No
Power Delivery
- (2) Thunderbolt 3 Ports (15W, 85W)

Physical

Number of Bays
- 8
Expansion Slots
- (1) PCIe 3.0 x16 physical, x4 electrical, full-height, half-length, single-width
Device Ports
- (2) Thunderbolt 3 Ports
- (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C Port up to 10Gb/s (1250MB/s) - USB 2.0/3.0 backwards compatible
- (2) USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A Ports up to 600MB/s
- (1) DisplayPort Port
Memory Card Slots
- (1) CFexpress
- (1) Secure Digital (SD)
Cooling
- (1) 120mm 1,600RPM cooling fan
Security Slot
- Yes
Power Button
- Yes
Power/Activity LED
- Yes
Housing Color
- Black
Housing Material
- Aluminum
Dimensions
- Height: 34.9 cm (13.7 in)
- Length: 39.0 cm (15.4 in)
- Width: 14.9 cm (5.9 in)
Weight
- 9.2 kg (20.26 lbs)

Environmental

Ambient Temperature
- Operating: 50°F to 95°F (10°C to 35°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: Varies depending on drive mechanism installed
- Non-Operating: Varies depending on drive mechanism installed

Acoustics

Noise
- Varies depending on drive mechanism installed

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