OWC is introducing the U2 Shuttle, a novel provider module that packs 4 M.2 NVMe SSDs right into a 3.5″ U.2 kind issue. The U2 Shuttle features a PCIe change to permit the 4 M.2 drives to share the bandwidth of the U2 Shuttle’s PCIe 3.zero x4 interface. OWC will probably be promoting the U2 Shuttle as both an empty provider to be populated by the consumer, or with their very own Aura Pro NVMe SSDs pre-installed for as much as 32TB of storage.
There’s hardly any ecosystem round 3.5″ U.2 drives as opposed to the vastly more common 2.5″ U.2 dimension, however OWC supplies help with a number of of their Thunderbolt-attached storage merchandise. Their new Mercury Pro U.2 Dual enclosure can accommodate two U.2 drives (2.5″ or 3.5″) and consequently with a pair of U2 Shuttles put in can maintain as much as eight M.2 SSDs. OWC’s Thunderbay Flex eight can accommodate U.2 SSDs in 4 of its eight drive bays. OWC can be introducing a 3.5″ U.2 retrofit kit for their Mercury Helios 3S PCIe expansion chassis. The U2 Shuttle can also be installed in ordinary 3.5″ inside exhausting drive bays and linked with a U.2 cable, offered there’s enough cooling—4 NVMe SSDs plus a PCIe change can doubtlessly add as much as fairly a bit extra energy than a typical 7200RPM exhausting drive.
The U2 Shuttle is marketed primarily as quick moveable storage for skilled media workflows, the place a sneakernet resolution stands out as the most simple strategy to transport many TBs of media from the set to the modifying room. The U2 Shuttle does not have any RAID performance of its personal, however it may be used together with OWC’s SoftRAID software program RAID system. When used within the Thunderbay Flex eight or an acceptable workstation or server setup, RAID performance can be offered by way of a tri-mode SAS/SATA/NVMe controller card.
U2 Shuttle with Mercury Pro U.2 Dual enclosure
The U2 Shuttle’s PCIe change is ASMedia’s 12-lane ASM2812X, so every of the 4 M.2 SSDs within the U2 Shuttle solely will get a PCIe 3.zero x2 connection to the change. This makes a RAID configuration extremely really useful, as a result of no single M.2 SSD contained in the U2 Shuttle will be capable to use the complete 4-lane throughput.
The OWC U2 Shuttle is on the market for buy direct from OWC. Pricing begins at $149.99 for the empty U2 Shuttle with no SSDs, and goes as much as $5299 for the 32TB configuration. For the smaller capacities, shopping for the U2 Shuttle with OWC’s SSDs pre-installed is not essentially any cheaper than simply buying a typical 2.5″ U.2 enterprise SSD. However, 32TB U.2 drives aren’t precisely a commodity product but, and going the DIY route with the empty U2 Shuttle and cheaper consumer-grade TLC SSDs could be a extra reasonably priced strategy to pack a number of TB of NVMe storage into one gadget.
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