OWC Express 4M2 Ultra 4TB Four-Slot Thunderbolt 5 External Storage Enclosure with SoftRAID (4 x 1TB)

Built to handle 12K raw video, 8K multi-cam sequences, batch processing of high-res images, and large data sets, the Express 4M2 Ultra 4TB Four-Slot Thunderbolt 5 External Storage Enclosure from OWC / Other World Computing is designed for DITs and filmmakers, professional video editors, VFX artists, colorists, photographers, professionals, and power users. Equipped with 4TB of storage, which is configured as four 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 SSDs, the Express 4M2 comes preformatted as a software RAID 0 for Mac, with data transfer speeds that can reach as high as 6622 MB/s and single drive performance reaching as high as 1600 MB/s. Other software RAID configurations that are supported include RAID 1, 4, 5, 6, and 10, each of which provides performance, data redundancy, or a combination of both via included SoftRAID software. For those who do not need a RAID, JBOD is also available.

The Express 4M2 Ultra may be formatted for use with macOS 14 and later, Windows 11, iPadOS, Linux/Ubuntu, and Chrome. It connects to your host system using an 80 Gb/s Thunderbolt 5 port but is backward compatible with 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 4, 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3, and 40 Gb/s USB4. For system expansion, a second Thunderbolt 5 port lets you daisy-chain five additional Thunderbolt devices, including more Express 4M2 Ultras, plus one USB peripheral. An aluminum enclosure offers rugged protection while keeping the drive cool for improved performance, although additional cooling is provided by a 40mm fan that spins up to 4000 rpm. The Express 4M2 Ultra may also be used as a boot drive, but only on Mac. It is plug-and-play, meaning no drivers are required for use. Included is a Thunderbolt 5 cable, a 90W power supply, and a US power cable.

The Express 4M2 Ultra gives creative teams and studios everything they need in a high-performance desktop storage array: massive all-flash NVMe capacity, dependable SoftRAID-managed redundancy, and the dramatically improved workflow efficiency of Thunderbolt 5 bandwidth. It arrives pre-configured and tested, so you can connect it and start working the moment it's unboxed. With a 4TB capacity, the Express 4M2 Ultra gives video, VFX, and photo teams the speed, capacity, and reliability to keep projects moving from capture to final delivery.

With a storage capacity of 4TB, this pre-configured Express 4M2 Ultra lets you start working immediately. It comes with OWC SoftRAID, or your own RAID software to achieve your optimum level of performance and data redundancy. Add additional Express 4M2 Ultra units or other Thunderbolt storage devices to the second Thunderbolt 5 port and flex bigger capacity muscle. However you choose to run it, the Express 4M2 Ultra is ready.

The Express 4M2 Ultra was purposefully built to harness Thunderbolt 5's 80 Gb/s bandwidth. Experience performance of up to 6622 MB/s with your Mac or PC. Connect to Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 systems and still get speeds up to 3200 MB/s. Even Thunderbolt 3 Macs tap into blazing performance.

• A Mac computer with Apple Silicon M3/M4/M5 or newer with Thunderbolt 5 running via 80 Gb/s Thunderbolt 5 can achieve speeds up to 6622 MB/s
• A Mac computer with Apple Silicon M-Series with Thunderbolt 3/4 running via 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 4 can achieve speeds up to 3200 MB/s
• A Windows computer running via 80 Gb/s Thunderbolt 5 can achieve speeds up to 6622 MB/s
• A Windows computer with USB4/Thunderbolt 4 running via 40 Gb/s USB4 can achieve speeds up to 3200 MB/s
• An Intel Mac with Thunderbolt 3 running via 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 can achieve speeds up to 2800 MB/s

In the fast-paced, tight-budget world of filmmaking where time is money, every minute saved is critical. When you're juggling multiple cameras or offloading a variety of media cards simultaneously, you'll keep your production running ahead of schedule by ingesting over twice as fast with the Express 4M2 Ultra vs 40 Gb/s storage.

High-performance NVMe drives in RAID configurations generate serious heat. Whether you're rendering 8K footage, ingesting multiple media cards, or running intensive database operations, you get maximum performance without the noise that breaks creative focus or the thermal throttling that kills productivity. The Express 4M2 Ultra's solid aluminum body provides passive cooling and rugged protection, while a smart adaptive fan quietly activates during sustained workloads.

• Production companies and creative studios wanting turnkey Thunderbolt 5 NVMe RAID storage that arrives pre-configured and tested, ready to deploy across editing bays without dedicating time to building drives.
• Video editors, VFX artists, colorists, and high-volume photographers who need dependable, ready-to-run NVMe RAID performance for 12K raw video, VFX compositing, 8K multicam sequences, and batch editing of ultrahigh-resolution images.
• DITs and on-set teams needing a fast, reliable array to offload and back up media cards without configuring drives themselves, with daisy-chain support for connecting additional arrays or devices in the field.
• IT managers and procurement teams who want consistent, prequalified storage configurations that are easy to deploy at scale across multiple workstations.
• Customers who'd rather build it themselves can start with the bare enclosure, with or without SoftRAID, and install their own choice of NVMe M.2 SSDs.

SoftRAID is a fast and flexible application to configure, maintain, and protect your RAID volumes on Mac and Windows. This OWC enclosure includes 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

Please note that SoftRAID is licensed per computer.

Please note that Thunderbolt 5 requires macOS 15.x and later or Windows 11 and later. Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 require macOS 14.6.x and later. Thunderbolt 3 is only supported on Mac and requires macOS 15.x and later. Intel Macs require macOS 15.x and later. iPadOS, Chrome/Surface, and Linux systems require the latest version of their OS.