[10:06 Thu,6.August 2026 � by Thomas Richter] ��� |
After OWC already introduced the compact four-slot NVMe RAID enclosure Express 4M2 Ultra in April, additional models are now arriving: Effective immediately, the Express 4M2 Ultra is also available pre-configured and thus ready for immediate use with installed SSDs set up via SoftRAID in 4 TB, 8 TB, 16 TB, and 32 TB variants.  OWC Express 4M2 Ultra
Four NVMe SSDs in RAID via Thunderbolt 5The hardware remains unchanged compared to the bare enclosure: Four M.2 SSDs (2280 or 2242, PCIe 3.0/4.0/5.0) are connected via Intel&s Thunderbolt 5 controller JHL9480, with each slot receiving its own PCIe 4.0 lane for maximum speed. Individual SSDs achieve a transfer speed of 1.6 GB/s - in a RAID configuration with parallel operation, OWC states that up to 6,622 MB/s are possible - making it more than fast enough, for example, for editing high-resolution, uncompressed video. A prerequisite for this speed is that the connected computer features true Thunderbolt 5 and PCIe 4.0 SSDs (or newer) are used. With older PCIe 3.0 SSDs, OWC caps the speed at 3,800 MB/s even in a RAID configuration. On Thunderbolt 4 or USB4, the maximum is 3,200 MB/s, and on Thunderbolt 3, it is around 2,800 MB/s. The various RAID levels 0/1/4/5/10 as well as JBOD for a custom balance between speed and reliability can be configured via the included SoftRAID software.  OWC Express 4M2 Ultra Specially for Video WorkflowsWith the Express 4M2 Ultra, OWC is clearly targeting applications in the professional video editing sector, where large amounts of data must be read or written quickly. The OWC Express 4M2 Ultra is designed to ingest data more than twice as fast as classic 40 Gb/s storage hardware, for instance during the simultaneous offload of multiple cameras or media cards. Target groups are accordingly studios and post-production houses that want fully configured RAID arrays with no setup effort, editors and colorists handling high data volumes with 12K RAW or 8K multicam footage, and DITs who need to back up card material quickly and reliably on set. To prevent heat buildup under continuous load during RAID operation, OWC relies on a passively cooled aluminum enclosure that only engages a fan under sustained loads and is designed to be quiet enough for use right next to the editing workstation. For even more capacity, multiple drives can be daisy-chained using the two Thunderbolt 5 ports - allowing a total volume of up to 128 TB to be achieved via OWC Express 4M2 Ultra RAIDs.  OWC Express 4M2 Ultra Ingest According to the manufacturer, the scope of delivery for the pre-configured models includes the enclosure itself, a 0.7 m (28") long 80 Gb/s Thunderbolt 5 cable, a 90-watt power supply unit including a US power cord, a digital quick-start guide, and a 3-year license for SoftRAID Premium pre-loaded on the device. The warranty for the pre-configured SSD solutions is 3 years (for the bare enclosure, it is 2 years according to the product page). Also newly added is a bundle with two 90-day licenses for the cloud-free remote access software Strada, valued at 180 dollars.  OWC Express 4M2 Ultra SoftRAID Pricing and ClassificationThe multi-camera ingest unpopulated with SoftRAID costs around 530 euros, while the versions with SSDs cost 2,399.99 dollars for 4 TB, 3,799.99 dollars for 8 TB, 5,579.99 dollars for 16 TB, and 10,299.99 dollars for 32 TB.  OWC Express 4M2 Ultra The pre-configured Express 4M2 Ultra is clearly aimed at studios and post-production teams that want RAID redundancy, capacity, and speed in a ready-to-use device - however, OWC charges markups for these models that are significantly higher than the pure market price of the SSDs (for comparison: a Samsung SSD 990 PRO 8TB is available starting at around 1,600 euros). Therefore, anyone who handles the SoftRAID configuration and SSD installation themselves will get off noticeably cheaper with the bare enclosure and their own NVMe SSDs - but will then have to forego the factory pre-configured and tested RAID setup as well as the 3-year warranty instead of 2 years.  �more infos at bei www.owc.comdeutsche Version dieser Seite: OWC Express 4M2 Ultra NVMe RAID-System mit maximal 32 TB verfügbar |
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