Overview
OWC ThunderBay Flex 8
A groundbreaking workflow solution for digital imaging, VFX, video production, and video editing professionals from the world’s leading Thunderbolt accessory manufacturer.
Flex Your Way Through Every Workflow
ThunderBay Flex 8 offers eight drive bays that support a mix of SATA/SAS and U.2/M.2 NVMe drives for virtually limitless storage capacity. Next, there’s a plethora of ports including 2 x Thunderbolt 3, 1 x USB-C, and 2 x USB-A for device docking and charging.
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) optimises 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 optimised path to a computer’s processor.
Muscle-FLEXing Data Performance
Right out of the packaging, all eight bays are configured with SATA 6Gb/s 3.5-inch HDDs. With real-world read/write speeds of 2750MB/s that saturates the Thunderbolt 3 speed threshold, you’re ready to handle 4K/8K and even Phantom high-speed files.
Docking FLEXibility
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.
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.
Includes SoftRAID XT: Easy and Complete Drive Management
SoftRAID XT is the most powerful, intuitive software RAID utility on the market. Multiple RAID options let you select the RAID level that fits you or your project’s needs best. If you need maximum volume capacity, optimum drive performance, data protection, or a combination of attributes, SoftRAID has you covered.
From home users looking to protect photos and documents to professionals needing to protect and quickly access projects, SoftRAID is the perfect solution.
- Storage solution #1: 32TB OWC U.2 Shuttle SSD (4 x 8TB NVMe M.2 SSD)
- Storage solution #2: 126TB HDD RAID (7 x 18TB)
- Eight drive bays: use a mix of SATA / SAS and U.2 / M.2 NVMe drives for virtually limitless capacity and real world speeds up to 2750MB/s
- Future ready: top four bays can use U.2 SSDs…the emerging M&E industry storage standard
- Powerfully easy RAID: create, manage, and monitor advanced RAID sets with SoftRAID
- Do more: second Thunderbolt 3 port for daisy chaining devices or additional display(s)
- See more: DisplayPort 1.4 for connecting up to an 8K display
- Fast media ingest: front-side SD 4.0 and CFexpress card readers with up to 985MB/s speed
- Play your card: 1 x PCIe slot for audio/video capture, networking, SSD storage, hardware RAID card, or I/O card
Video
Introducing the OWC ThunderBay Flex 8. Tame your workflow with this highly configurable productivity platform for digital imaging, VFX, video production, and video editing professionals.
Compatibility
Compatible with the devices listed below.
MacBook Air
MacBook Pro
Mac Pro
iMac
Mac Studio
Specifications
- Mechanisms Supported
-
- 3.5 or 2.5 inch SATA drives
- 2.5 inch U.2 drives (top 4 bays only)
- NVMe M.2 drives (via U.2 adapter)
- 3.5 or 2.5 inch SAS drives (requires SAS card, not included)
- Total Capacity
-
- 158TB
- Standard Mechanism
-
- 7 x 18.0TB Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 7,200RPM hard disk drive with 512 MB cache
- 1 x 32.0TB OWC U2 Shuttle 3.5-inch NVMe U.2 SSD
- Chipset
-
- Thunderbolt: intel JHL7440
- PCIe switch: ASMedia ASM-2824
- USB controller: Genesys Logic GL-3590
- Drive Interface
-
- SATA 6.0 Gb/s
- Certifications
-
- BSMI, CE, FCC, RCM, VCCI
- Data Transfer Rate (Max)
-
- Thunderbolt 3: up to 40 Gb/s (or 5000 MB/s)
- RAID Levels Supported
-
- RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 4, RAID 5, JBOD
- RAID Features
-
- Software RAID
- MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
-
- Varies depending on drive mechanism installed
- Contact Start Stops
-
- Varies depending on drive mechanism installed
- Mac OS Compatibility
-
- macOS 10.15 Catalina
- macOS 11.x Big Sur
- macOS 12.x Monterey
- PC OS Compatibility
-
- Not compatible with Windows PCs
- Other Requirements
-
- macOS 10.15.1 or later required
- Host Port Requirements
-
- Thunderbolt 3
- Supported PCIe Cards
-
- Supports one full-height, half-length, single-width card (driverless or with Thunderbolt-aware driver). GPUs not supported
- Power Supply
-
- Internal UL-listed universal auto-switching power supply
- AC Input
-
- 100-240V, 47-63Hz, 4.0A-8.0A
- DC Output
-
- +12V, 42A
- Power Delivery
-
- 2 x Thunderbolt 3 ports (15W, 85W)
- Number of Bays
-
- 8
- Expansion Slots
-
- 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 physical, x4 electrical, full-height, half-length, single-width
- Device Ports
-
- 2 x Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports
- 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 type-C port up to 10Gb/s (1250MB/s) - USB 2.0/3.0 backwards compatible
- 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 type-A ports up to 10Gb/s (1250MB/s) - USB 2.0/3.0 backwards compatible
- 1 x DisplayPort port
- Memory Card Slots
-
- 1 x CFexpress
- 1 x Secure digital (SD)
- Cooling
-
- 1 x 120 mm, 1,600RPM cooling fan
- Security Slot
-
- Yes
- Power Button
-
- Yes
- Dimensions
-
- H: 349 x L: 390 x W: 149 mm
- Weight
-
- 9200 g
What's in the box?
- 1 x OWC ThunderBay Flex 8
- 1 x Thunderbolt 3 Cable
- 1 x External Power Cable
- 2 x Keys for Front Panel Lock
- 1 x Hex Key
- 1 x Assembly Manual and User Guide
- 1 x SoftRAID Software Bundle
- 1 x Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office (1 Year Subscription)
Warranty
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
Part Number
- OWCTB3F81S158X