Mega drive from Other World Computing is a pocket rocket

Posted on Mar 30, 2026 by Pro Moviemaker

Other World Computing (OWC) has introduced a world-first 8TB bus-powered Thunderbolt 5 portable SSD, expanding its Envoy Ultra range into workstation-class territory

Designed for speed, capacity and durability in a portable form, the new 8TB Envoy Ultra delivers rapid performance without external power or adapters.

Thanks to Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, the Envoy Ultra offers transfer speeds over 6000MB/s, up to twice the performance of Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 devices while remaining backwards compatible with earlier Thunderbolt and USB-C systems. The result is external storage that keeps pace comfortably with high-bit-rate codecs, large photo libraries as well as demanding multi-stream workflows.

The Envoy Ultra is practical and compact, bus-powered via an integrated Thunderbolt cable and runs silently thanks to a fanless aluminium enclosure. An IP67 rating means it is crushproof, dustproof and waterproof, good for location shoots.

There is support for Macs, PCs, iPad Pro, Chromebooks and Surface devices, backed by official Thunderbolt 5 certification. Costs start at $450 for smaller capacities, with the 8TB model priced at $1700. No UK prices have been revealed.

Shuttle on steroids

OWC is also expanding its Thunderblade X12 production shuttle RAID, doubling max capacity to 192TB. Built around Thunderbolt 5, the Thunderblade X12 is designed for the speed and scale of high-end production workflows.

Using twelve 16TB NVMe M.2 SSDs, the Thunderblade X12 delivers up to 6600MB/s peak and nearly 6000MB/s sustained write speeds, so it is suitable for multicam 4K, 6K and 8K Raw, 12K workflows and stereoscopic VR.

The X12 is a production shuttle, housed in a compact, fanless aluminium chassis and a custom hard-shell travel case. The 96TB is £18,400/$17,000 and there is no 192TB price yet.