Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I like the OWC TB5 Envoy but I despise the integrated cable. That is a point of wear and failure, and being able to choose your specific cable length can be important. Also drives without integrated cables are more portable and require less fuss to pack. The OWC has also been shown to throttle back to 1500MB/s after writing 50GB to its cache.

An OWC engineer posted in one of the threads a while back that the reason for the integrated cable was performance. At TB5 data rates, the length of the cable mattered.

I'm looking forward to seeing more real world performance data from the rest of the market when it comes to modular enclosures . I was hoping to see much more announced at CES for TB5 (ASUS did announce a dock with a built in M.2 NVME slot that operates at TB5 speeds).

The biggest thing I want from all these enclosures is better cooling. I'd love the next TB5 CalDigit of Satechi dock to have 2 M.2 slots, I'll pay a pretty penny for them.
 
It sounds like the ioDyne Pro Data is for you then.

It even supports PCIe tunneling and has four upstream TB connections for faster speeds. You can buy it in 12TB, 24TB or 48TB.

TB4 only, half the speed of the TB5 enclosure. Not sure how common it is to have 6 people within 6f(2m) of the enclosure that all need access to the same time.
 
Most don't handle heat well, Acasis included (the fan model too). They heat up even at idle.

Having said that, wouldn't get an overpriced LaCie either. Hopefully Samsung steps up with a good one.
Fact, but how do the non-DIY TB4 and TB5 external drives handle the heat then? I was playing with a TB4 enclosure and yes -- the enclosure gets really hot (it's doing it's job as a heatsink). Where does the heat go on these retail drives? Are they not burning hot?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ender78
TB4 only, half the speed of the TB5 enclosure. Not sure how common it is to have 6 people within 6f(2m) of the enclosure that all need access to the same time.
Yes, I am aware but the person was asking for expensive high capacity options and they exist. It will probably get updated to TB5 at some point.

PCIe tunneling means you can connect multiple upstream TB3 connections for 5GB/s read and write.

This is clearly not for normal users and starts at over $4,000 ... also optic fiber Thunderbolt cables exist.
 
I think 4TB at current prices is enough for this stuff. If you want more it is better price wise upgrading to 25Gb or 40 Gb networking. It might not match the performance exactly but you can eventually scale up to 100Gb and more. I’d rather spend $7,000+ on that and a NAS vs a 24 TB Thunderbolt SSD. You can still get amazing speeds with traditional hard drives in RAID. I have a setup that maxes out one of my 25Gb link. And it’s all hard drives.
 
  • Like
Reactions: splifingate
Lacie is always being premium and also unreasonably expensive.
From memory, the LaCie Little Big Disk is the only brand of drive that ever failed for me. Before Seagate acquired them. Never bought another LaCie product, and never will. Most of my drives are Seagate, however. Never had any issues with them. Some compatibility bus issues with Western Digital, so avoid them too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LelandHendrix
Fact, but how do the non-DIY TB4 and TB5 external drives handle the heat then? I was playing with a TB4 enclosure and yes -- the enclosure gets really hot (it's doing it's job as a heatsink). Where does the heat go on these retail drives? Are they not burning hot?
I wonder the same thing too, and the only logical answer is they throttle speeds when they hit peak operating temperature. The reason for fans in enclosures is for sustained performance. But that doesn't seem to be this LaCie drive's purpose. Doesn't this seem more like a device for a backpack that is designed to quickly move huge photoshoots and drone videos?

For my uses of 4TB storage over TB5, I'm running virtual machines, editing video projects, gaming--sustained use rather than large sequential read/write bursts that are followed by long idles. My enclosure solution is definitely not as rugged, and I likely won't ever connect it outdoors. But it will definitely be in and out of backpacks and vehicles, multiple times a month and working hard mostly all day long.

I'm currently using the SSD in the TB4 version with my mini M4 Pro. I have documented the thermal performance well, and will definitely share how the thermals and performance compare when I move to the new enclosure in the coming week.

***my speculation is based on this, but plan to confirm personally:
 
Last edited:
Fact, but how do the non-DIY TB4 and TB5 external drives handle the heat then? I was playing with a TB4 enclosure and yes -- the enclosure gets really hot (it's doing it's job as a heatsink). Where does the heat go on these retail drives? Are they not burning hot?
To be honest, seems like an industry-wide issue with Thunderbolt. True that the enclosure getting hot means is doing its job, but doesn't seem enough in some cases. Thunderbolt's bandwidth is amazing but also present these kind of challenging issues, which one would expect to be resolved for the premium price.

Samsung for example discontinued its Thunderbolt model X5.
USB 3.2 gen2 (or even 2x2 but no mac support) which their T7 & 9 offer, may be the best balance between speed & thermals at the moment. We'll see.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: LelandHendrix
Great speeds until you run out of pSLC cache (usually ~300-500GB) and your overpriced TB5 SSD drops to the level of your standard TB3 drive or even lower.
 
Where that comes from?

Could you rephrase the question? Maybe if I expound it’ll clear things up?

Corporate/government budgets are generally fixed. You may get $10,000 to buy and maintain equipment for 5 years. If you have a 5 year warranty and minimal in-house work to setup and maintain, you can confidently spend your budget. If your purchase has an unknown maintenance cost, that’s risk. Risk results in the need for underbuying so your budget hopefully has the money to pay upcoming costs, or not having the money to maintain the equipment you bought.

Basically, when corps and gov “overpay” for things, what they are generally doing is buying insurance against risk.
I’m not stating these units fit into that category. This is just one reason why buying a warranted singular unit may be the right choice, instead of hand assembling components at a lower upfront cost.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bgillander
OWC has a 4TB SSD at the same price as the new 4TB LaCie SSD, but which "only" supports USB4 instead of TB5.
Is there some spec I should be considering to understand why the OWC can justify the same price as the LaCie?
 
OWC has a 4TB SSD at the same price as the new 4TB LaCie SSD, but which "only" supports USB4 instead of TB5.
Is there some spec I should be considering to understand why the OWC can justify the same price as the LaCie?
OWC also has the Envoy Ultra, which is the product you should be comparing 😅

The Express 1M2 is just an older product now but it can be had for only $120 without any NVMe SSD, so you can put your own in it.
 
I'll rephrase my question.

How are the prices of less capable SSDs being justified?

A better case in point:
LaCie 4TB Thunderbolt 3 SSD at over $1000, vs the article's
LaCie 4TB Thunderbolt 5 SSD at $600?
 
  • Like
Reactions: zapmymac
I'll rephrase my question.

How are the prices of less capable SSDs being justified?

A better case in point:
LaCie 4TB Thunderbolt 3 SSD at over $1000, vs the article's
LaCie 4TB Thunderbolt 5 SSD at $600?

Brand new tech vs old tech? New products in tech are pretty universally more bang for the buck. If there is zero advantage to the old model, they will be pulled shortly after or upon release of the new model.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.