We take cryptocurrency — so the coins you hold can buy real hardware.Pay in crypto, spend it on real hardware. Free insured shipping worldwide over $399. Plain, unbranded boxes, sent from Germany.Free insured shipping over $399. Your rate is locked for 30 minutes once checkout opens.Rate locked 30 minutes. Every item sealed, serial-checked and covered by a 24-month warranty.Sealed, 24-month warranty.

Saved items Sign in
Black rectangular desktop enclosure with four drive bays, front lock and Thunderbolt cable

OWC

OWC ThunderBay 4 8TB 3.5" 4-Drive RAID Thunderbolt Black

SKU CH-0WNY-D6KP0

Four-bay desktop RAID enclosure holding 8 TB across 7200 RPM drives with Thunderbolt connectivity for macOS and Windows

  • Total capacity8 TB
  • Interface typeThunderbolt
  • Form factor3.5 in (8.89 cm)
  • Cache memory512 MB
  • Rotational speed7,200 RPM
  • Supported RAID modesSystem (0, 1, 4, 5, 10, JBOD)
  • 8TB capacity stores large media libraries
  • 7200 RPM drives deliver fast sequential throughput
  • RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 10 and JBOD protect or maximise space
  • Thunderbolt 3 enables high-speed single-cable connection
  • macOS 10.12 to 13 and Windows 10/11 supported

ThunderBay 4 8TB four-drive RAID

The OWC ThunderBay 4 is a desktop external enclosure that holds four 3.5-inch drives in a single black chassis. It connects through Thunderbolt and ships with a 0.7-metre cable. The unit arrives pre-configured with 8TB of total storage running at 7200 RPM and a 512MB cache. Hardware RAID supports modes 0, 1, 4, 5, 10 and JBOD.

Suits Mac and Windows RAID workflows

Editors and studios needing hardware RAID on macOS 10.12 through 13 or Windows 10 and 11 will find the ThunderBay 4 ready to deploy. The front-panel lock and included security keys add physical protection for shared environments. Buyers who need a single-drive backup device or portable bus-powered storage should consider other form factors. The four-bay design also exceeds the needs of users with modest capacity requirements.

Hardware RAID 0 1 4 5 10 JBOD

The built-in RAID controller is the specification that determines whether this enclosure matches a workflow. It presents the four installed drives as a single logical volume or mirrored pair without host software overhead. Supported levels include striping, mirroring and parity options up to RAID 10. If a project requires software-defined RAID or a different controller feature set, this hardware implementation will not align.

How it compares

Measured against everything we stock in High-Capacity External Drives, at today’s prices. Recalculated every night.

Price $975.99
Pricier than about 87% of the 144 comparable items (median $379.99).
Total capacity 8 TB
Lower than about 60% of the 101 comparable items (median 12 TB).
Price per TB $122.00 per TB
Pricier than about 90% of the 101 comparable items (median $37.00 per TB).

New to this? Paying with USDT: TRC-20 or ERC-20 — what to check, what it costs to pay, and what is never asked for.

Specifications

Product
Brand nameOWC
Model nameOWCTB3SRT08.0S
Total capacity8 TB
Product colorBlack
Performance
Rotational speed7,200 RPM
Storage
Cache memory512 MB
Supported RAID modesSystem (0, 1, 4, 5, 10, JBOD)
Ports & slots
Interface typeThunderbolt
Thunderbolt 3 supportYes
Size & build
Form factor3.5 in (8.89 cm)
Product dimensions7 in × 5.3 in × 9.6 in

Questions about this item

Should I pick RAID 5 or JBOD for the 8.0 TB array?

RAID 5 gives you roughly 6 TB of protected space and survives one drive failure; JBOD presents all 8.0 TB as separate volumes with no redundancy.

What sustained throughput will I see from the 7200 RPM drives over Thunderbolt?

The four 7200 RPM drives can deliver multi-drive sequential speeds that saturate a typical Thunderbolt link, so real-world reads and writes run at the link's practical ceiling.

Does the Thunderbolt interface limit the 512 MB cache or 7200 RPM spindle speed?

No — the Thunderbolt connection has more bandwidth than the mechanical drives can fill, so neither the 512 MB cache nor the 7200 RPM speed is capped by the interface.

More in High-Capacity External Drives

Similar items