Why You Can Trust CNET Fast ThunderBlade X8 Storage System Gets a Notch Faster
This fast and fanless storage array holds up to eight SSDs.
- Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
Other World Computing's ThunderBlade X8 is a fast SSD array that connects to computers over a Thunderbolt port.
If your laptop needs some fast and relatively portable storage capacity, Other World Computing announced a second-generation version of its ThunderBlade system at CES 2024 on Monday.
The new ThunderBlade X8 offers 17% more capacity in RAID 4 or RAID 5 than its predecessor and transfers data 17% faster when connected to Macs using Apple's M-series processors. The system costs $1,750 for an 8TB model and $2,750 for a 16TB model. A 32GB option is due to go on sale "soon."
I've tested the first-generation ThunderBlade system, an SSD array that connects to laptops with a high-speed Thunderbolt connection, and found it reliable and fast, good for photo and video editors who need speed, capacity and reliability. It can protect data with RAID technology that preserves files even if any single SSD in the array fails.
It's a premium product, but plenty of laptops just don't have enough storage capacity for serious work, and pros often are willing to pay extra to avoid slowdowns while waiting for files to load and save. Beefy peripherals like this help laptops match some of the power of desktop computers.
The system holds up to eight 4TB NVMe M.2 2242 SSDs for a raw capacity up to 32TB. Its data transfer speed reaches a rip-snorting 2.9 gigabytes per second. Because the earlier ThunderBlade uses four physically larger 2280 SSDs that are available in 8TB sizes, the old and new ThunderBlades each max out at 32GB for now. The ThunderBlade X8 can use seven of eight SSDs for data storage and the eighth for data protection, though, which accounts for its larger RAID capacity and performance boost.
Like the earlier ThunderBlade, it needs to be plugged into the wall for power. It's not bus-powered, drawing electricity from its Thunderbolt 3 connection to the laptop, a convenient option available for lower-performance SSDs. But it's fast, fanless and has a second Thunderbolt port that lets you connect a daisy chain of other Thunderbolt devices like monitors or additional storage systems.
Also new with the ThunderBlade X8 is a power connection redesigned to be more rugged and a new LED status light that's less obtrusive for people using the system on a video production set. It's designed to be used on the move and ships in a rugged hard-shell case.