I ran a series of tests using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, AJA System Test (full version), AJA System Test (Lite) and AmorphousDiskMark. This causes the drive heads to shuttle all over the drive, slowing down overall transfer speed.įar worse, though, is that the software we use to measure speeds delivers wildly different results. The reason is that each time you transfer a file, the operating system has to update the disk directory as well as moving the data. However, as you transfer multiple files at the same time, speeds slow down. This is always the fastest way to transfer any file. When we measure transfer speeds, we are testing the speed to transfer a single file. Measuring performance is dependent on a number of related factors. Remember that “rabbit hole” I mentioned? Well, accurately measuring data transfer speeds is an exercise in futility. Also, SSDs can easily survive physical abuse that would break an HDD. However, SSD blades are less likely to fail over time than a spinning hard disk. Formatting the device as RAID 0 provides the fastest speeds while maximizing capacity, but without any redundancy should an SSD blade die. Storage capacity varies based on the SSDs it contains and how the Thunderblade is formatted. These allow you to loop other Thunderbolt devices through the unit. There are two Thunderbolt 3/4 ports on the back. For best results, format this unit as RAID 0 using Apple Disk Utility. Proper backups using less expensive storage will yield greater performance at lower cost than formatting the Thunderblade into RAID 4, 5 or 1+0. When comparing speeds when the Thunderblade is formatted using Apple Disk Utility or OWC SoftRAID, Apple Disk Utility yields faster performance, though with fewer formatting options. Even then, the Thunderblade does not fully deliver the speed I would expect of an NVMe system. While it can be formatted into RAID 0, 1, 4, 5 or 1+0, the only format that makes sense in terms of storage and speed is RAID 0. In terms of performance, the Thunderblade is really fast, but not as fast as you might think. Even during all my tests, the case stayed cool. The power plug fits tightly into the unit and not likely to come out if the unit is jostled. Painted flat black and dead quiet because it has no fan, the unit gets its power from a small power brick plugged into the wall. It connects via a supplied 0.7 meter Thunderbolt 3/4 cable to a current Mac or Windows system. The Thunderblade is contained in a cast aluminum chassis about the size of a paperback book. NOTE: Here’s a tutorial that explains what RAID levels mean. This software provides a system-level RAID driver with a variety of formatting enhancements over Disk Utility. RAID 4, 5 or 1+0 require SoftRAID from OWC. JBOD, RAID 0 and 1 can be formatted using Apple Disk Utility. (Each SSD is called a “blade,” which is where the unit gets its name.) These can be formatted as a JBOD (Just a Bunch of Drives) where each SSD appears separately on your desktop, or as RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, or 1+0 which appear as a single icon on the desktop. The Thunderblade is a hardware storage device that contains four NVMe SSDs. While the unit supports both Mac and Windows systems, all my testing was done on a Mac. NOTE: This review looks at using the Thunderblade for media creation. Measuring data transfer speeds is a VERY squishy thing. I mean, how hard can it be to test the speed of an external drive? THAT question tossed me down the rabbit hole. Once it arrived, I figured it would be fun to test just how fast this SSD RAID was. I wanted something really fast with enough storage to hold a variety of projects. A couple of weeks ago, I purchased an 8 TB Thunderblade SSD RAID from OWC for my personal use.
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