OWC Express 4M2 (0 TB) Four-Slot M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure with SoftRAID XT, Up to 2800MB/s, Four M.2 NVMe SSD bays, Add up to 32TB of storage

Product Information

When using more than two heating mat / cables to connect into 1 thermostat it may be a little tight to get all the cables into the thermostat terminals – in this case you can use a junction box to connect them which can be positioned on the wall behind a blanking plate or similar. I do find their fan to be a bit too noisy at times and I’ve wondered if these may actually do ok with the fan unplugged.

In general, avoid QLC drives for this device to avoid slowdowns on sustained workloads, and avoid Gen4 drives since they’ll be overkill for a device running on Gen3 (do as I say, not as a do).However, in this case, the cable is pre-fixed to a glass-fibre mesh providing the perfect spacing between each line of cable. The underfloor heating mat is laid onto the floor and is then covered by flexible tile adhesive, which is used to fix the tiles to the floor. In other words, the OWC Express 4M2 is the type of enclosure built to meet the specific needs of someone working with lots of heavy data. In the screenshot of Pomfort Silverstack XT below, you can see that I’m offloading a card, verifying checksums of another card, and transcoding footage all at the same time with no impact on performance on any of the operations (note that the offload operation is limited to about 1GB/s because of the other drives, not the 4M2). The 4M2, with its massive 8TB capacity and fast speeds is particularly apt for video editing workflows.

Also worth mentioning that OWC includes a certified ~2ft Thunderbolt 3 cable in the box, which is immensely appreciated. I guess you could mess this up if you decidedly don’t pay attention, but for most of us, disassembly takes just a few minutes. The 60mm fan is configured as exhaust and the front intake grill has a non-removable filter to keep dust and debris out.

The fan is definitely needed as under load, the drives get a bit toasty, but not alarmingly hot, and the fan remains quiet enough that you’ll only really notice it in the quietest of rooms. I especially recommend it if you need a storage device that can handle multiple operations at a time and physical space is not a luxury.

Manufacturers have to choose which of these two chips they want – they can’t use both and there are no alternatives. One of the benefits to formatting a drive using RAID 4 or RAID 5 is that you can expand the system by replacing one SSD with a larger capacity, then allowing the RAID to rebuild. Install up to 32TB of capacity and experience up to 2800MB/s of mind-bending performance via Thunderbolt 3. I understand the constraints on space, but I think if OWC ever does a version 2, an internal power supply would be a nice option, though the external brick does provide flexibility if you run the rest of your equipment off 12V DC; there are considerations for both options. NOTE: If you want an SSD that is DEAD quiet, consider the Thunderblade which has no fan and no moving parts.The OWC Express 4M2 is one seriously fast drive to have by your side to take your digital capabilities to a new level. It’s easy to install under most floor finishes, can cost as little as 4p/m2 to run and is covered by a 10 year guarantee. Yes, you can use any two NVMe SSDs as a RAID 0, attached to different Thunderbolt ports and far exceed the speed of Thunderbolt 3/4. Simply remove a couple of thumb screws, remove the cover, disconnect the fan, and install the modules.