Review: OWC's Envoy Pro FX is an Ultra Fast, Expensive Portable SSD for Macs

[jdb8167]

Agreed. Not sure why 4TB isn’t an option as people would definitely pay for it. I just got a new 2tb Mac mini and eventually the time machine will be full. Samsung has 8tb drives now. They’re just not as fast and run a bit hot.

You can get fast NVMe SSDs up to 8GB but they cost over a thousand dollars. https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Rocket-Thunderbolt-External-SB-XTMQ-8TB/dp/B08BZ2Z65B/

 

[SFjohn]

Keyword "theoretical" (i.e., in a perfect configuration)

Doing the math with what I've seen in benchmarks for USB 3.0 and SATA-III, both are very close to 2/3 of the theoretical max. So, TB3/4's more realistic top is ~3,330 MB/s -- which does seem very plausible.



Are you referring to strictly SSD? Because HDD capacities have gotten quite large (I think).

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Our RAID array is not SSD, just 7 HDs running raid 5 with one spare on a Promise 8 bay unit over Thunderbolt 3. We’ve not speed tested it, but it feels as fast as the internal SSD. It’s been rock solid for the past 4 years.

 

[NonTechieMacUser]

The OWC people were suggesting this for someone who wants to put all their Mac files on it (apart from application and system files). Sounds like there'd be little lag BUT can someone suggest someone just as good for a person who isnt editing or gaming that isn't as expensive?

 

[NonTechieMacUser]

If you're on an M1 Mac, then no, it's not a rip off. If you want speeds close to the internal SSD, there'e very few options available right now, since the new TB3/USB4 ports on the M1's aren't very compatible.

So is this one of few options for someone who just wants more accessible external storage on an M1? Debating on buying it but not sure if any other external SSD would work just as well.

 

[extrachrispy]

Why do these benchmarks always report sequential speeds on fresh drives? What's going to be interesting to most users is random reads/writes on drives that have aged a bit (and thus have wear leveling and garbage collection as part of their internal I/O load).

Per SNIA, you're going to want to (using; e.g., fio)

1. Perform a secure erase.
2. Perform two hours of preconditioning via random writes.
3. Give the drive ten minutes to settle.
4. Benchmark 4K random reads and writes (the result will be in IOPS, not MB/s--IOPS is a far more useful measurement for general use).
5. Repeat from step 1 for various queue depths.

That, in addition to sequential streaming speeds, will provide a lot more information. With the exception of users using these drives to edit large video streams, a sequential I/O benchmark on a fresh-out-of-the-box drive is useless--it just confirms or refutes the (consumer) marketing BS for the drive.

Cf., Solid State Storage (SSS) Performance Test Specification (PTS).

 

[NonTechieMacUser]

Why do these benchmarks always report sequential speeds on fresh drives? What's going to be interesting to most users is random reads/writes on drives that have aged a bit (and thus have wear leveling and garbage collection as part of their internal I/O load).

Per SNIA, you're going to want to (using; e.g., fio)

1. Perform a secure erase.
2. Perform two hours of preconditioning via random writes.
3. Give the drive ten minutes to settle.
4. Benchmark 4K random reads and writes (the result will be in IOPS, not MB/s--IOPS is a far more useful measurement for general use).
5. Repeat from step 1 for various queue depths.

That, in addition to sequential streaming speeds, will provide a lot more information. With the exception of users using these drives to edit large video streams, a sequential I/O benchmark on a fresh-out-of-the-box drive is useless--it just confirms or refutes the (consumer) marketing BS for the drive.

Cf., Solid State Storage (SSS) Performance Test Specification (PTS).

Can you recommend an external SSD that would work just as well as this for file storage and quick accessibility (videos, music, docs) with an M1 imac?

 

[extrachrispy]

Can you recommend an external SSD that would work just as well as this for file storage and quick accessibility (videos, music, docs) with an M1 imac?

"As well as" is hard to quantify, given that I don't have random I/O data for this drive, only sequential streaming measurements on a fresh-out-of-the-box drive. For a workload like you're suggesting, just about anything from a reputable manufacturer will do fine. Random I/O performance really starts to matter for transaction-heavy workloads such as databases, or for other heavy random workloads such as backing store for running several virtual machines simultaneously.

For what it's worth, I've been doing Time Machine backups for nearly two years to a 2TB Samsung T5, and the thing absolutely screams (even with FileVault enabled)--I did a full restore from it not long ago, and was utterly floored that what used to take all night with a conventional rotating disc now took well under an hour (reading from external Samsung SSD and writing to internal NVMe over USB3.x).

What I look for in a drive, when I cannot find random I/O data published, is endurance, stated either in total GB or TB or in full-drive-writes per day (DWPD). For a consumer drive, the latter is usually a fraction, which you then multiply by the size of the drive and the number of days the drive is expected to live (if memory serves, it's five years) to get total GB or TB that you can expect to write to it. Then I look at my typical usage and figure out how long I can expect the drive to live.

I would not purchase a QLC drive unless I were expecting a read-dominant workload, which Time Machine isn't. It would be fine for holding your Plex video library, though.

 

[NonTechieMacUser]

"As well as" is hard to quantify, given that I don't have random I/O data for this drive, only sequential streaming measurements on a fresh-out-of-the-box drive. For a workload like you're suggesting, just about anything from a reputable manufacturer will do fine. Random I/O performance really starts to matter for transaction-heavy workloads such as databases, or for other heavy random workloads such as backing store for running several virtual machines simultaneously.

For what it's worth, I've been doing Time Machine backups for nearly two years to a 2TB Samsung T5, and the thing absolutely screams (even with FileVault enabled)--I did a full restore from it not long ago, and was utterly floored that what used to take all night with a conventional rotating disc now took well under an hour (reading from external Samsung SSD and writing to internal NVMe over USB3.x).

What I look for in a drive, when I cannot find random I/O data published, is endurance, stated either in total GB or TB or in full-drive-writes per day (DWPD). For a consumer drive, the latter is usually a fraction, which you then multiply by the size of the drive and the number of days the drive is expected to live (if memory serves, it's five years) to get total GB or TB that you can expect to write to it. Then I look at my typical usage and figure out how long I can expect the drive to live.

I would not purchase a QLC drive unless I were expecting a read-dominant workload, which Time Machine isn't. It would be fine for holding your Plex video library, though.

I understand most of this so thank you. So for my purposes, it wouldn't be Time Machine but as an extension of the HD. It would be, for example, my entire Apple Music library, my photos, my documents, video files - all of which I would access and save to fairly frequently every day. Would you still recommend the Samsung as a durable and quick responding drive?

 

[extrachrispy]

I understand most of this so thank you. So for my purposes, it wouldn't be Time Machine but as an extension of the HD. It would be, for example, my entire Apple Music library, my photos, my documents, video files - all of which I would access and save to fairly frequently every day. Would you still recommend the Samsung as a durable and quick responding drive?

I've been very happy with mine, and if it fits your budget, it's a great choice. I'm sure it's been superseded (someone above mentioned a T7), but I don't think that matters for your use case.

 

[UrbanEric]

Does anyone know if there is a teardown video? Can I replace the internal NVMe drive and use the case with a 3rd party 4tb drive? Can this unit be dissembled? I am looking for the cheapeest possible way to have an upgradeable/replaceable, fast @ 3000MBp/s, SSD, external, bootable drive for M1 mac. I have no problem paying $200 for one of these OWC 240tb drives just to use it as a "case" and slapping a Sabrent drive in it, so long as it actually works well.

 

[edubfromktown]

Amazon has SanDisk Extreme Pro portable 1TB on sale $161 (48% off) for Prime Day. Not as fast but still a decent deal...

 

[phrehdd]

I have had very good luck with this drive. It also comes in 1, 4, 8 terabyte sizes.​

​

Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q 2TB USB 3.2 / Thunderbolt 3 External SSD | up to 2700 MB/s in Thunderbolt 3 Mode or up to 900 MB/s in USB 3.2 Mode (SB-XTMQ-2TB)​

 

[Rock Star]

[.....]

By comparison, SanDisk's 1TB Extreme Pro SSD also uses M.2 NVMe 1.3 technology, but without Thunderbolt 3, sequential read performance is limited to up to 2,000 MB/s. And at the low end, external HDDs often top out at read speeds of around 100 MB/s to 150 MB/s. Of course, both of those options are far cheaper than the Envoy Pro FX, with some comparisons included in my pricing section below.

[.....]

Article Link: Review: OWC's Envoy Pro FX is an Ultra Fast, Expensive Portable SSD for Macs

Does anybody know how the OWC Envoy Pro FX performs in AmorphousDiskMark 3.1, when connected to a M1 Mac Mini?

 

[robalb81]

Does anyone know if there is a teardown video? Can I replace the internal NVMe drive and use the case with a 3rd party 4tb drive? Can this unit be dissembled? I am looking for the cheapeest possible way to have an upgradeable/replaceable, fast @ 3000MBp/s, SSD, external, bootable drive for M1 mac. I have no problem paying $200 for one of these OWC 240tb drives just to use it as a "case" and slapping a Sabrent drive in it, so long as it actually works well.

The NVME appears to be upgradable. To open the case you need to remove the rubber feet to reveal 4 T6 screws. Obviously in doing so you will void your warranty. I then unscrewed the retaining screw holding the drive in place and was then able to remove the drive. I cant comment on compatibility with other drives since I don’t have any to test. I personally will stick with the OWC AURA P12 and upgrade to a 2TB drive.