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ThunderBlade

The Fastest Thunderbolt Shuttle and Editing RAID SSD in the Universe

  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 facing right
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 facing left
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 front view
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 rear view
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 side view
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 front elevated view

Incomparable Performance and Reliability

  • Incomparable: up to 2949MB/s ready-to-run, time-saving speed that has no competitor1
  • Spacious: up to eight NVMe M.2 SSDs for up to 32TB
  • Includes SoftRAID: Robust software for creating, monitoring, and managing advanced RAID sets
  • Versatile: daisy-chain up to five additional Thunderbolt devices or connect a USB-C device or display via the second Thunderbolt port
  • Stable: non-skid rubber feet keep ThunderBlade in place while OWC ClingOn secures the included Thunderbolt connecting cable2
  • Reliable: heat-dissipating fanless aluminum chassis keeps you working silently at top speed
  • Informative: confirm use status instantly via integrated LED
  • Mobile: compact footprint and custom-fit ballistic hard-shell case make this the perfect shuttle drive
  • Certified: meets Intel Thunderbolt and OWC operating certifications for assured performance and reliability
  • Worry-Free: 3 Year OWC Limited Warranty
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 facing right
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 facing left
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 front view
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 rear view
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 side view
  • OWC ThunderBlade X8 front elevated view

Incomparable Performance and Reliability

  • Incomparable: up to 2949MB/s ready-to-run, time-saving speed that has no competitor1
  • Spacious: up to eight NVMe M.2 SSDs for up to 32TB
  • Includes SoftRAID: Robust software for creating, monitoring, and managing advanced RAID sets
  • Versatile: daisy-chain up to five additional Thunderbolt devices or connect a USB-C device or display via the second Thunderbolt port
  • Stable: non-skid rubber feet keep ThunderBlade in place while OWC ClingOn secures the included Thunderbolt connecting cable2
  • Reliable: heat-dissipating fanless aluminum chassis keeps you working silently at top speed
  • Informative: confirm use status instantly via integrated LED
  • Mobile: compact footprint and custom-fit ballistic hard-shell case make this the perfect shuttle drive
  • Certified: meets Intel Thunderbolt and OWC operating certifications for assured performance and reliability
  • Worry-Free: 3 Year OWC Limited Warranty

Time Saver
Life Changer

ThunderBlade is fervently revered among DITs, production companies, video editors, and creative professionals for good reason. Hailed as the fastest production drive in the universe. Legendary confidence inspiring reliability. Shuttle use ready with a compact footprint and ballistic case.

With ThunderBlade, you don’t merely reduce the time you need to work. You gain precious time back for your personal life. More than anything, people want more time. ThunderBlade isn’t just a drive. It’s a life changer.

OWC ThunderBlade X8 on DIT cart

“They were very, very fast. It just makes sense to have a lot of very fast, reliable hard drives that you can send out with the crew on productions. I always recommend these drives to the commercial production companies I work with. They will pay for themselves after three jobs.”

B Kelley
DIT / Underwater Camera Operator / Phantom Technician

“Having that speed is really convenient for me as the DIT. But as for the producer, it’s a money saving value. Having drives like the ThunderBlade really do give you the confidence that you’re not going to be going into a lot of overtime waiting for that last card. With the reliability, the durability, just the consistency, it makes me feel comfortable and then I can impart that to the producer and honestly say ‘You are going to be taken care of.’”

Wyatt Cagle
DIT / Director / Cinematographer / Editor

OWC ThunderBlade X8 side view

Created For Pros Like You

Our team is filled with creatives highly experienced in all phases of the video production world. We understand your need for more speed and capacity when it comes to making everything from backups to editing faster. ThunderBlade was purposefully built to be the fastest Thunderbolt shuttle and editing RAID SSD in the universe for:

DITs needing to offload memory cards on set at maximum transfer speeds while also having the option to choose RAID 5 reliability for peace-of-mind or production requirements.

DITs and productions needing a blazing fast, highly reliable shuttle drive that can be easily and safely shipped.

Creative professionals working with cutting edge workflows such as multicam sequences, 8K RAW video, and VFX looking for the best possible performance from an easy to transport, plug and play external storage solution.

Remote editors working with cloud-based workflows such as LucidLink which require a high performance cache drive solution to ensure flawless video editing performance.

Professional video editors desiring a seamless editing experience when working on large projects with all their files centralized for easy access.

OWC ThunderBlade X8 front view
OWC ThunderBlade X8 rear view

Trust the Truth

We understand your workflow requires real-world speed you can count on. Instead of promoting eye-catching maximum theoretically possible performance numbers, we take the time-consuming step to run our storage solutions through intensive performance testing and share our test parameters in the results. By truthfully listing the speeds we observed, our commitment to the “OWC Difference” ensures your ThunderBlade will deliver the performance you require and expect.

Unlimited Workflow Possibilities

Working at your best means getting more than blazing through uncompressed high bandwidth content streams with unrivaled speed and reliability. With an extra Thunderbolt port, you have the flexibility to daisy-chain devices and place a USB-C device at the end of your chain to create unlimited possibilities.

Video production on set with camera and monitor

When Reliability Is a Requirement

Using RAID 5 with most solutions means giving up precious capacity and taking a big hit on performance. Our 8 drive ThunderBlade model solves that problem by offering the most amount of useable capacity while still offering eye-popping write speeds up to 2464MB/s. Now you can streamline ingestion and backup times on set, edit ultra-high-res multi-cam sequences, and adhere to mandatory requirements (the 3-2-1 Principle) when producing content for large studios such as Netflix.

3 Icon

Work Faster

Hold at least three copies of all original camera files (OCF) and audio.

2 Icon

Work Bigger

Store the OCF and audio copies on at least two different types of media.

Capture Device

E.g., camera or sound card

RAID 5, 6, or 10 (or above) Storage

RAID 0 is only acceptable for temporary transfer/shuttle drives, and not for backup purposes.

LTO

6, 7, 8 or 9 written in LTFS format

1

Built for RAID

Keep at least one of these backups in a different geographical location from the others.

The Most Powerful RAID Tool on the Planet.

SoftRAID is the world’s fastest and most flexible application to configure, maintain, and protect your RAID volumes on Mac and PC. OWC enclosures include 3 Years of SoftRAID Premium.

  • High-Performance RAID 0/1/4/5/1+0 (10) volumes
  • Predictive Health Monitoring proactively notifies of Volume and Disk issues well before failure — provided on your computer and remotely
  • Seamless Cross-Platform Sharing with support for Apple-formatted APFS and HFS+ SoftRAID volumes between Mac and Windows at no additional cost
  • 35+ Years of Experience of Pro Support to provide peace-of-mind with setup help, ongoing questions, or urgent disk issues
  • And many more unique features.
  • Learn more about SoftRAID

M1 Macs require macOS 11.3 or later. SoftRAID is licensed per computer.

iMac Pro with SoftRAID

Which ThunderBlade is Right for Me?

OWC ThunderBlade
OWC ThunderBlade X8

Interface

2 x Thunderbolt 3 (40Gb/s)

2 x Thunderbolt 3 (40Gb/s)

Drives

4 x 2280 NVMe M.2

8 x 2242 NVMe M.2

Capacity

Up to 8TB

Up to 32TB

RAID Support

RAID 0/1/4/5/1+0

RAID 0/1/4/5/1+0

Maximum RAID 0 Speed

2831MB/s Write
2840MB/s Read

2826MB/s Write
2949MB/s Read

Useable RAID 0 Capacity
(using 8TB model example)

8TB
(4 x 2TB)

32TB
(8 x 4TB)

Maximum RAID 5 Speed

2120MB/s Write
2389MB/s Read

2464MB/s Write
2565MB/s Read

Useable RAID 5 Capacity
(using 8TB model example)

6TB
(3 x 2TB with 1 x 2TB used for redundant protection)

28TB
(7 x 4TB with 1 x 4TB used for redundant protection)

Cooling

Silent fanless

Silent fanless

Material

Solid aluminum

Solid aluminum

Key Differences

Smaller footprint, smaller capacity (4TB) model available

Up to 4TB (16.7%) higher capacity in RAID 4/5. Over 16% higher performance in RAID 4 and 5 redundant configurations with Apple Silicon (all M1 and later including Pro / Max / Ultra) machines, improved power connector, LED angle revised to reduce/eliminate on-set light distraction possibility.

Really Cool Details

You’ll never have to worry about heat throttling slowing you down because we focus on the little details that will keep you working at consistent top speed. Besides keeping ThunderBlade securely in place, the non-skid rubber feet elevate the heat dissipating aluminum housing to create a highly effective silently cool encompassing airflow.

OWC ThunderBlade X8 with lights on

Pre-Tested = Ready to Work

We understand having confidence in gear reliability is paramount to creative professionals. That’s why every ThunderBlade undergoes our rigorous multi-hour "burn-in" performance certification prior to shipping and includes a Thunderbolt connecting cable. This ensures your ThunderBlade arrives operating properly and immediately ready for demanding use.

Video editor working on two displays
OWC ThunderBlade X Spacer with one and two OWC ThunderBlades

Combine & Conquer

While one ThunderBlade is great, two are awesome when daisy chained together for additional speed and capacity gains. Keep them running cool and fast by stacking them vertically with the OWC ThunderBlade X Spacer. This innovative, no tools required aluminum drive spacer keeps your drives secure while enhancing your conquer any challenge image.

OWC ClingOn

Work with Ultimate Confidence

Active workspaces expose gear to unexpected bumps and shoves. OWC ClingOn custom cable stabilizers (available separately) screw into the OWC ThunderBlade to reduce – if not completely eliminate – cable strain on Thunderbolt and USB-C connections so you can work with ultimate confidence even in the highest foot traffic environments.

  1. Up to 2949MB/s peak performance with 8.0TB (8 x 1.0TB OWC Aura SSDs) ThunderBlade X8 connected to a 16-inch MacBook Pro 2021 (MacBookPro18,1) with 16GB RAM and Apple M1 Pro 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU running AJA System Test (8K-Full resolution, 64GB file size, 16 bit RGBA codec, single file test). ThunderBlade ready-to-run SSD vs unproven enclosure only choices.
  2. OWC ClingOn cable stabilizer available separately.