Review: OWC Express 4M2 SSD enclosure - 8TB! 

Regarding the OWC website, you can have up to 32TB, so 8TB for each slot. Just wanted to mention this, because many resellers write on their websites, that you just can have 8TB in total.

Have had one of these for the past year running 4TB on two 2TB SSDs and it's worked flawlessly. I've now upgraded to the full 8TB with another 2 SSDs of 2TBs ea (all in a raid 1 configuration just done in Mac Disk Utility), and can now plough through 4K and 6K B-raw, averaging nothing less than 2000MB/s read and write. Can't recommend this enough, worth every penny.

I did the same thing with my old eGPU boxes after I switched to an M1 MAX Macbook Pro. I picked up a nvme pci card that held 4 drives from Amazon for $25 and 4 of the Silicon Power 1TB SSDs. The total cost was around $230 but I already has the eGPU box that I was using with my older Intel Macs. I Sold my gpus at the height of the shortage since I no longer needed them with the M1 Max. But I still had 2 of the Sonnet EGFX thunderbolt enclosures. So one of them became a NVME storage device for my recording studio and the other one I put in a $90 EZcap 334 capture card that worked perfectly with MacOS on Apple Silicon. But if you have been thinking about a product like this but you already have an old eGPU box laying around you can save yourself some money by making a DIY version out of the stuff you already have.

I will not have use for such a device for a long, long time. I do know people that could use it and they will like this video. Jeff, keep these simple reviews coming. I like that you don't fluff us to make your videos longer. Good length and detailed.

I wish someone would make something like this with just USB C Gen 2. Many of us (I know this for a fact), don't need *concurrent* multiple drive access, but only one at a time.. it's all about the *amount* of nvme storage in our case.. cause we have ryzen laptops without thunderbolt. You will not believe how impossible it is to find such a thing. I mean no one has even thought to make a thunderbolt one that is USB C backward compatible.

This is an exciting product. I hope M.2 drives come down in price more quickly than 2.5” SSDs did. Thanks for the review.

Hi Jeff, I have few questions: 1. Is it possible to power the unit just through the thunderbolt 3 cable? Let’s say from a thu3 monitor 85W cable to OMW and from OMW second Thun3 cable into my laptop to power up my laptop? 2. One review on Amazon has mentioned this I purchased the Express 4M2 direct from the manufacturer. I was drawn to this product because of OWC’s past reputation with the Mac community and the product’s feature set and compact size. Bait & Switch When researching this product, I saw multiple references to their “SoftRAID” and “SoftRAID engine.” I fact, there are 14 mentions of this on their product page. HOWEVER, only the last mention, after clicking on the fourth tab on the bottom of the page, so you see that the software included is actually the SoftRAID LITE, with limited functionality. More on that later... SSD vulnerability Newer, cheaper nvme SSD’s on the market utilize a technology called “multi-level cells.” That essentially means more bits are packed into the chip (more accurately “stacked” on the chip) yielding higher density at a lower cost. YEA consumers, right? That benefit comes at a risk, though. Newer triple level cells (and upcoming quad-level cells) are more prone to failure. That’s why a nvme RAID is such a great idea... speed and data integrity. I won’t go into all things RAID at this stage, but in a nutshell: 1. a striped RAID has no data protection but allows you to use all the storage you paid for. If a cell in the SSD fails (and it will), you lose data. 2. A mirrored RAID allows you to use half of the capacity you purchased. Everything it writes to one SSD stick is also copied to a second. If one fails, you still have a second copy. 3. RAID 5 allows you to reserve just one SSD for data protection. It allows you to utilize three out of four SSDs for storage capacity and still yields full data security in the case any one of the four fails. Best of both worlds. Bait and Switch (or the dubious up-sell) Since SoftRAID is mentioned so many times on the page and it’s well know for its RAID 0,1,5 and 10 capabilities, one would expect that you’ll enjoy your Express 4M2 and all its RAID flexibility. Well, you’d be wrong. The bundled LITE software only supports STRIPE and MIRROR raids, so you either lose half your capacity or get no data protection. Customer Support So, I called customer support to inquire. I was told that since I could click through the product page embedded links to learn that only the LITE version is included (even though there is no definition of what the LITE version does relative to the full version) I would need to purchase the upgrade or settle for a mirror or striped raid. I asked that they clarify the product page so other customers wouldn’t discover this after purchase and I was told simply “no.” It’s unfortunate, really. The product is solid, compact and well built. It could be a much better product with the upgraded software bundled. Could they do this? Sure! OWC owns SoftRAID. So of course they have an incentive to push customers into an upgrade. I won’t be one of them. I despise this type of covert salesmanship. If they were more clear up-front what it does out of the box and how much it costs to get full functionary, I’d feel differently. As a result, I’m returning the unit and will avoid OWC in the future. Would you consider that as a problem? 3. What M.2 ssds would you recommend? Thank so much for your video!

so I thought I would buy this and apparently I read this rewiew: " Each of the 4 m.2 pcnvme slots have only 1 pci express lane. This means that the drive in the slot is limited to 8Gbit transfer speeds. If you populate all 4 slots and use the included softraid software you will be able to reach the announced speed of 2600Mbyte/sec speed but with fewer drives you will loose out on speed. As long as you are aware of this individual limitation this is a great unit that gives you heaps of fast storage." I did not know that at all!!!!! this means that your SSD blade will be significantly bottlenecked if you only buy 1 blade as I was planning until I needed more storage. What a huge let down!

Is it possible to connect it a usb-type-c. 3.1 connection? Or is it Thunderbolt 3 only. Thanks it advence!!

Great review. I look at the cost of the Mac Mini and peripherals like this OWC Express for my audio needs and am confirmed that I get better value from owning a PC.

Thank you for reviewing the unit. I love OWC products for their performance and value and glad this holds up to their standards. This is definitely on my list 😍

Hey Jeff, that is a very interesting device - as for the noise: Did you ever consider swapping the fan for a noctura or something? Should be VERY silent then... ?

I was forced to replace the fan and introduce a thermostat into this device. The cheap and constantly running fan was just TOO MUCH!! Luckily problem was fixed with about an additional $25.

This is an awesome Tech. With everything you need to know. I don’t have a MacBook. I have an old Lenovo Thinkpad W500. But this is still great to know. You sir have a new subscriber. One last thing.? Just like Bernd Kiltz had said. In the comments down below. I was thinking of. Changing out the fan. For a Noctua fan. They make some quiet fans.

Ugh, I bought one of those and that thing is LOUD. Louder than the 2018 Mac Mini going at full blast. Louder than my regular PC with constantly running case, CPU and gfx card fans. Louder than my external mechanical dual 3.5" drives. Louder than a Synology NAS with 4 drives in it. I mean LOUD. Will have to get a replacement fan before I can stand to keep this powered on. Thank you SO MUCH for NOT fitting it with a power switch, OWC. Or making the fan spin down when not in use. Gawdammit. For anyone who's also suffering from the noise pollution: the fan is 60mm x 60mm and can be a maximum of 16mm deep. So unfortunately, the 6cm Noctuas won't fit. So annoying, and it's not like the thing was cheap, at all. "Sad."

I have a feeling the TB3 cable that comes with the enclosure is not the same that you show the enclosure connected to the mac. Call it a hunch. 03:57 Is this a joke? Am I the only one who can't hear anything from the fan?

Pretty big design flaw: why have thumbless screw access and then require the user to use a screwdriver to access the drives?

Is there a way to check the thermals of NVMEs?

Thanks for the review. I'd be really curious to compare/contrast the Express 4M2 to OWC's 8TB Thunderblade product. This seems to be a better value proposition, at least for 8TB's of RAID configurable external storage. Would you be able to do that?

Ok 4 years ago when this video was posted the OWC Express 4M2 SSD enclosure could only handle 8TB? Today their website says 32TB.

I love this thing, highly recommended especially considering how cheap ssd's have gotten. You can get an 8TB SSD raid that does 2300mb read/write for like $900. Really looking forward to an updated one that supports Gen4 SSD's.

Can I instal 4x8Tb M.2 SSD?

I just bought the TS4; this may seem like a dumb question but is there a preferred workflow for an attached storage solution like this one so that will eject properly? Transitioning from a desktop (iMac) and I have this exact unit with 8TB which seems to have issues when restarting or shutting down. Any suggestions?

Can you use it as a NAS ? Plug it in back of your routers usb port and view to the folders. Maybe launch games from it.

wonder how it would handle the heat of a Crucial T700 with out the heatsink i had 4 of them going

Hoping there's a cheaper version line 2 slots only.

Awww a canon r5 8k raw file play back or read speed would so make a great test

Thanks for this. OWC confirmed in response to a question on Amazon, that this enclosure can be used in a RAID 5 config, as well as RAID 10, if upgrading the software from the included Lite version to XT ($129 at the time of this comment). I'm okay with that. What I haven't been able to determine, is what r/w speeds I am likely to get in each of these configs. Does anybody know? Using 4x SSDs populating all slots, I'm assuming that in RAID 10, I should see the maximum speeds the device is capable of, which is 2800MB/s. Is this a reasonable expectation? IN RAID 5, with all slots populated, I'm assuming that I'd get around 50% of the the RAID 10 speeds, maybe 1300MB/s write and possibly slightly higher read speeds. I'm a video editor. Single user access. Trying to work out if it is advantageous to upgrade from my current RAID 5 SSD SATA III, to this NVme solution. If anyone is able to offer any insight, I'd be as grateful as penguin on fish Friday!

Other sources have sighted that nvme write and read better when the chips are warm do to the composition of the material and it's only the controller chip that needs a heatsink to keep things smooth. So it may be more quiet to leave the cover and fan off and just copper heatsink the controller chip on each nvme. One source: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KzSIfxHppPY.html

What is this is for storage gaming display? Thunderbolt gives 40Gbps from NVME to Thunderbolt that is why I want to know is it for RAID 0 storage configuration.

Why does it need external power supply? Doesn't Thunderbolt 3 support up to 100W?

Выключить нельзя нажав на кнопку. Только выдернув шнур болта или питания. Шумит не слабо по сравнению с Imac. Кабель в комплекте очень короткий.

At one lane per card this is a let down. I’d rather have dual TB port 8-16 lane m.2x4 for RAID 0 using SoftRAID (which is multithreaded where as AppleRAID is single threaded). Still looking for the perfect external case for m.2 drives.

Where's the m.2 nvme egpu

Thunderbolt 4 equivalent(double the bandwidth of t3) and pcie4.0 in 2019

Im new to these - I wanted to know can I edit directly onto and from this OWC drive using Final Cut Pro x or Davinci on my M1 MAX Macbook Pro?

So it can only handle 2TB sticks and not the 8TB sticks?

Thanks for the review. Is there a silent (or less noisy) alternative?

is there any silent or near-silent 4-way Thunderbolt 3 NVMe enclosure at all?

That thing should be damn fast set up as a RAID aray. Are those SSDs SATA or Pcie?

How that compares to the Highpoint RocketStor 6661A-nvme?

Very complete review. You said that 8TB is the maximum the unit support. Do you mean "at the moment since there is no drives above 2TB disponible, or do you mean that even if the release 4TB m.2 ssd the unit will not be able to take advantage of them? thanks.

Soft raid volumes are compatible with Macs with out Softraid software installed correct? And how many softraid or softraid xt installations are allowed from 1 account?

What do you think of the U2 version

Which direction does the fan blow? Mine died and I had to replace, but didn't take note.

i had it for 1 hour and then packed it up again. the fan is MUCH too noisy, are the serious??? what you can hear in this video is due to the microhone that it so quiet.

Could this work as a NAS?

Where’s the link to those particular ssd’s you’re using?

You don't need a fan on these things. I don't know why it's "the norm" to install fans in these SSD enclosures. Inside your PC, it gets much warmer ... and there are usually no fans directly on the SSDs despite them being connected directly to the motherboard in some cases, and right around high-head producing components like GPU's, CPU's etc. Just disable the fan or take it out completely.

Nonsense. Enclosure over 300$ with cheap fan (sic! close to Interface audio on the table) - about 300$. 8TB SSD M2 - about, I suppose, 6.000 $. Yep. Good job, dear OWC, good job.

Can it handle AHCI ssd's from Samsung?

They should have used a larger fan for a more quiet product !!!!!

Is there a cheaper alternative for this tho?

Off-topic: Can someone help me pls? I am thinking on changing a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar of 2016 by one of 2018. In Geekbench benkmark the new double in score to the second in multicore. Both are the TB base model i5. I am graphic designer and I play eventually games like FIFA. I will notice so much difference to spend € 300? Sorry for the long text

Can you use it with just two drives to start with?

is it possible to upgrade past 8tb

Save a TON of money. Just get dual m.2 to SATA Adapters for $20 each (can hold 2x m.2 SSDs) then put those Sata drives in an array together. Done.

Also could you please try samsung's 970 to it? I bet it will be blazing fast than 2800MBps

Would this work for a windows boot?

I like it alot...but geez it's expensive!!!

Ooof... $300? more like $80 with no ssd

5:00 Why is the speed so slow? I'd rather max out the Apple SSD on my next Mac. Faster, no extra device with cable shit and fan and one more USB-C slot.

Can I use SATA SSD in RAID?

You are a BALLER!!! MMMMM that m.2 goodness

The comparison with the Toshiba product is not apples to apples and in fact is misleading. The only way you can get 2K performance on the OWC Express M2 is to use it in a RAID configuration. A valid comparison would be to remove all but one of the M.2s from the OWC Express 4M2. This video is misleading and for that reason, I would not purchase any items from OWC.

Can it be set to raid 0?

probably replace the fan with noctua...

has anyone tried pulling the fan out and sticking some heatsinks on the ssd's?

Thanks for the informative video. The price is okay, but the fan is an exclusion criterion!

there is a NAS version of this?

One of the few devices that will saturate thunderbolt3 bandwidth

Wow! Thanks for this!

Love it! It's a bit expensive tho.

What is the purpose of the displayport port?

A good choice for 2018 and 2019 Macs ,,,with the new Macs with the T2 chip the software will not work and you will end up with a $300 enclosure! I was under the impression that OWC was a good and reliable company ..They proved me wrong. the unit came with no instructions about the software and were to get it. Tech support was not able to install the software an IMAC 2020. Very disappointed ..will be sending this one back!!!!!

I don't even want to know the total price of that black box...lol

Anyone here who say ssd is cheap now, can you buy me a drive to backup? Especially if money isn't an issue for you now?

why display port for enclosure?

Not fast enough for the price. A single drive is faster than this in RAID 0.

деревянная линейка с прикидкой плюс минус сантиметр)))

Yea the enclosure is cheap but with the installed 8.0 TB of SSD you are looking at $3200 for just the storage! Yikes!!! But hey if you are doing production video work then this is a drop in the bucket for what you need to do!

Loud fan, and annoying LEDs.

Yeah, it was an awesome iPhone Xs max hands on!

This thing is so loud.

you are post narrating so no reason not to script sizes etc

RAID 0 doesn’t really make SSDs faster.

More stupid NAS prices.