OWC Introduces New ThunderBay 4 Mini Portable Storage With RAID 5 Option

I like the form factor and everything, but I'd rather my raid not be using my CPU for the raid math. I know OWC has been selling this idea for a while. But it just seems kind of cheeky to charge that much for dumb disk caddy that leans on your computers processor, even if it is only an infinitesimal load.
There are comparable NAS and DAS products in the same price range that don't rely on your computer at all for raid parity calculation.

Actually, SoftRAID has done an absolute tremendous job with their implementation of RAID 5. There are several advantages of their software RAID 5 over hardware RAID 5.

1. SoftRAID is fully multicore aware and will take advantage of how ever many cores your machine has.
2. With the power of today’s processors, the CPU overhead is so low as to be unnoticeable.
3. Rebuild times are a fraction of what they would be on a hardware RAID.
4. Because the software handles all the parity, disks do not need to be the same size, make, model or firmware, like they would in a hardware RAID.
5. Additionally there is no data loss if you want to resize the disk, in any of the RAID modes, even RAID 5.

There are a lot more benefits to SoftRAID than even I listed here. Definitely worth checking out for anyone who could benefit from a RAID setup.

I like the form factor and everything, but I'd rather my raid not be using my CPU for the raid math. I know OWC has been selling this idea for a while. But it just seems kind of cheeky to charge that much for dumb disk caddy that leans on your computers processor, even if it is only an infinitesimal load.
There are comparable NAS and DAS products in the same price range that don't rely on your computer at all for raid parity calculation.

RAID 5? Isn't that what people who don't care about data security use these days?

Yeah this is great an all... but I think a solid portable SSD with thunderbolt would sell like crazy. I just want a single portable SSD that connects with thunderbolt. Thunderbolt has been out for what... 4 years or so? Why is this so hard to find?!

what like this?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LF87NBK/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687402&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00HRKB2F8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HRY20QVBRB2ZPVPBS9C

There are tons of Thunderbolt portable bus-powered SSD's.

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Actually, SoftRAID has done an absolute tremendous job with their implementation of RAID 5. There are several advantages of their software RAID 5 over hardware RAID 5.

1. SoftRAID is fully multicore aware and will take advantage of how ever many cores your machine has.
2. With the power of today’s processors, the CPU overhead is so low as to be unnoticeable.
3. Rebuild times are a fraction of what they would be on a hardware RAID.
4. Because the software handles all the parity, disks do not need to be the same size, make, model or firmware, like they would in a hardware RAID.
5. Additionally there is no data loss if you want to resize the disk, in any of the RAID modes, even RAID 5.

There are a lot more benefits to SoftRAID than even I listed here. Definitely worth checking out for anyone who could benefit from a RAID setup.

Agree with all thee above, but I think what he means is how can someone justify $450 for a thunderbolt controller and hard drive carriage? The margin on this must be incredible.

Per the OWC website, it looks as though it does have an internal power supply

Internal UL Listed U.S./International Auto Switching 100 ~ 240v, 50/60Hz input, 12 Volt 6.0 Amp output Power Supply (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB4MJB0GB/)

However ... if you look at the photo of the back of the unit, it has a barrel jack labeled "DC 12V", so it does have an external power supply. I guess that external power brick has a standard 3-prong power plug cable included with it. Looks like a "cut & paste" error when they created the spec page.

what like this?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LF87NBK/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687402&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00HRKB2F8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HRY20QVBRB2ZPVPBS9C

There are tons of Thunderbolt portable bus-powered SSD's.

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Agree with all thee above, but I think what he means is how can someone justify $450 for a thunderbolt controller and hard drive carriage? The margin on this must be incredible.

Considering you can get a 5 bay drobo with Thunderbolt for like $100 more and everything is handled by the Drobo with ease of use, expansion, etc... I'd easily pass on this.