High-speed and portable external NVMe SSDs have become an essential tool for data transfer and backup in the office. Especially when transferring large files such as digital content videos and photos, high-speed Thunderbolt SSDs are needed to speed up and save storage time. OWC’s new “Envoy Pro SX” external SSD with excellent texture, durability and IP67 dust and water protection uses Thunderbolt 3 Type C connection, built-in Aura P12 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD, and can reach up to 2847MB/s transfer High performance, allowing video and video workers to have a higher-speed data transmission tool.
Specification
Housing: Aluminum housing
Interface: Thunderbolt 3 Type C (40Gb/s)
Control chip: Intel JHL6340
Built-in SSD: NVMe M.2 Drive
Capacity: 4TB
Cable: 70cm Thunderbolt 3 Type CC cable
Dimensions (LxWxH): 11.4 x 7.0 x 1.6cm
Weight: 231.0 g
Protection: Drop test, IP67 dust and water resistance
Warranty: 3 years
How to choose the OWC Envoy Pro family SX / FX / Express / Elektron / EX?
OWC mainly uses metal casings to create high-quality storage, peripherals and other expansion devices. Among them, the external SSD series Envoy Pro family has different transmission interfaces such as Thunderbolt and USB, as well as built-in SSDs or 0TB external boxes that provide players with DIY SSDs From the model point of view, there are SX / FX / Express / Elektron / EX, etc., and the main differences of these models are also sorted out for players to provide for your reference.
↑ OWC Envoy Pro SX / FX / Express / Elektron / EX spec comparison.
The main differences of the OWC Envoy Pro series lie in specifications such as size, transmission interface, speed, capacity and weight. The shells are all made of aluminum alloy, and the design also maintains a consistent trapezoidal design.
In terms of connection interface, Envoy Pro FX is the first external SSD that supports both Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2 Gen 2 connections, so the price is also the highest, and the transfer speed corresponding to different connection interfaces can reach 2800MB/s or 1000MB/s. The capacity is from 240GB to 4TB.
Then the Envoy Pro SX only supports Thunderbolt 3 transmission, with a maximum transmission performance of 2847MB/s, and the capacity selection is the same as that of the FX. The Envoy Express is one of the few Thunderbolt-certified SSD external boxes. There is a 0TB option for a single box, but because the transfer speed is related to the installed SSD, the speed is only 1553MB/s.
Finally, the Envoy Pro Elektron and Envoy Pro EX both use the USB 3.2 Gen 2 transmission interface, while the Envoy Elektron has the advantage of being super small, but only 2TB is available for the highest capacity. As for the Envoy Pro EX, there are more capacity options, as well as 0TB capacity external boxes to choose from.
High-speed 2800MB/s take it with you! Envoy Pro SX out of the box Thunderbolt SSD
From Thunderbolt to USB, it can meet the needs of Mac and PC users. The newly launched OWC Envoy Pro SX external SSD adopts Thunderbolt 3 Type C connection, uses Intel JHL6340 control chip internally, and has built-in Aura P12 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD, with 240GB / 480GB / 1TB / 2TB / 4TB and other capacity specifications.
In terms of transmission performance, Envoy Pro SX can reach Thunderbolt 3 data transmission performance of 2800MB/s, but when Thunderbolt SSD is in use, PC or NB needs to have Thunderbolt 3 Type C port for normal use. Of course, almost all Mac series products use Thunderbolt 3 Type C is used as a port, so it has high compatibility.
↑ Envoy Pro SX packaging, emphasizing super fast and powerful portable SSD.
↑ On the back there is a description of the lights and the connection interface.
In addition, in addition to the installation instructions mentioned in the box, there is a free 1-year license of Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, which can provide: 1 TB of Acronis Cloud, build a system image, scan the system for malware , back up individual files and folders, create an all-in-one recovery drive, and verify data using blockchain technology.
↑ 1-year free license for Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office (serial number on the back of the card).
The Thunderbolt 3 Type CC cable provided by OWC Envoy Pro SX this time is 70cm long, so there is no need to worry regarding the SSD being squeezed next to laptops and Macs because the cable is not long enough.
↑ This time, a 70cm long Thunderbolt 3 Type CC cable is provided.
The Envoy Pro SX also uses aluminum alloy to build the shell, the appearance is anodized black, and has the gray OWC logo and product model. On the back, there are product label stickers and rubber pads, and the line shape at the bottom can also increase the heat dissipation performance of the SSD.
In addition, the metal body of the Envoy Pro SX has passed the third-party drop test. After all, the aluminum alloy casing and the internal SSD design are inherently resistant to falling; on the other hand, it has IP67 dust and water resistance. It means that the SSD can completely prevent the intrusion of dust, and the waterproof ability can be immersed in 1 meter of water for 30 minutes.
↑ Aluminium, blackened Envoy Pro SX.
↑ The bottom has a design of rubber pads and line grooves.
The Envoy Pro SX has a trapezoidal shape with ThunderBlade-like cooling grooves on both sides. The front of the SSD has a blue indicator light, and the rear is a Thunderbolt 3 Type C port with a lightning bolt.
↑ Trapezoid shape, indicator light.
↑ Thunderbolt 3 Type C port.
↑ Blue indicator light.
When using a Thunderbolt 3 SSD, you need to pay attention to whether your PC, laptop, and Mac have Thunderbolt 3 Type C ports. Of course, this problem is often encountered on PCs and Windows laptops, and basically Macs and MacBooks themselves have them. Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.
↑ Use the Thunderbolt 3 Type C – C cable to unlock the high-speed transfer performance of an external SSD.
Mac: OWC Envoy Pro SX 4TB benchmark
First use a MacBook Air 2018 for initial setup and testing. The default file format of Envoy Pro SX is a common file format for Windows and Mac. Through the “OWC Drive Guide” program, it can be formatted as the best file system for the system. Of course, if you want to share SSD with two platforms, you can only use exFAT format. Otherwise Windows is mostly NTFS and Mac is APFS.
↑ Envoy Pro SX comes with OWC Drive Guide program by default.
Using the OWC Drive Guide will recommend setting the format of the magnetic area according to the computer system. For Mac, it is mainly APFS or HFS+ and other format magnetic areas. Of course, if it is common to Mac / Windows system, it needs to be formatted as exFAT format.
↑ OWC Drive Guide Setup Program.
↑ Disk format recommendation.
↑ Envoy Pro SX documentation is also available following formatting.
As mentioned above, Envoy Pro SX provides a 1-year free license of Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, and the OWC Drive Guide can also help players install the program to use the backup function.
↑ Installing Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office.
↑ Set up and ready to format.
↑ Formatting is complete.
The formatted SSD will be named OWC Envoy Pro SX with product documentation and a usable capacity of 3.84 TB.
↑ OWC Envoy Pro SX initial setup is complete.
↑ 3.84 TB of free space.
The Envoy Pro SX 4TB was tested on a MacBook Air 2018 laptop, and the AJA System Test was 1905 MB/s read and 2407 MB/s written. Disk Speed Test is 1635.6 MB/s read and 1541.5 MB/s write performance.
↑ AJA System Test。
↑ Disk Speed Test。
PC: OWC Envoy Pro SX 4TB Benchmark
Then use a Windows computer with hardware specifications of Intel Core i9-12900K and ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO motherboard, first view the disk information of Envoy Pro SX from CrystalDiskInfo, use Thunderbolt to connect with the transmission mode of PCIe 3.0 x4, and support TRIM of SSD instruction.
↑ CrystalDiskInfo。
↑ Thunderbolt device information.
↑ Usable capacity is 3.49TB.
In Windows 10 / 11 environment, the system will default the external storage device to “Quick Removal” by default, but if there is a lot of writing volume, you can also change the principle to “Better performance” for the disk device and Open the write cache, but the device must be removed safely and obediently before unplugging.
↑ Enable write cache to make external SSD perform better.
CrystalDiskMark test, in the default random data mode, Envoy Pro SX 4TB using Thunderbolt 3 connection, sequential read 2803.65 MB/s, write 1947.17 MB/s, as for the mixed R70%/W30% sequential up to 2381.5 MB/ s.
↑ CrystalDiskMark。
The Envoy Pro SX can reach the maximum speed of Thunderbolt data transfer of 2800MB/s, but the general Windows file transfer cannot run the speed of the test tool. Therefore, the FastCopy program is used to read and write different data types. The test generally uses the performance of data reading and writing.
Envoy Pro SX can transmit a single video file with a large file size of 28GB, and the read rate can reach 1113.7 MB/s, while the write rate is maintained at 1121.4 MB/s; the transmission performance of RAW files is also quite high due to the fixed size of each photo, and the read 841.8 MB/s , write 822.8 MB/s; as for copying game performance, it is also quite fast to read 1144.6 MB/s and write 1049.9 MB/s; when copying scattered small files, most of them are docx, pdf, jpeg and other files because of different sizes type, so reads are 953.4 MB/s faster and writes are 457.2 MB/s slower.
↑ FastCopy simulates general data read and write performance.
Summarize
OWC Envoy Pro series external SSDs have extremely fast Thunderbolt and the most common USB interface, with large external capacities ranging from 0TB / 4TB to 8TB, allowing users to choose the most suitable external SSD according to the usage environment and needs, or directly Buy an external box to DIY M.2 SSD by yourself.
The new Envoy Pro SX uses Thunderbolt 3 Type C connection and has a maximum storage capacity of 4TB, while OWC’s consistent aluminum alloy shell not only has a low-key and high-quality texture, but also has the ability to resist drop and IP67 dust and water. The first-time use of the more intimate preparation OWC Drive Guide program helps Mac / Windows users to set the most suitable disk format.
The tested Envoy Pro SX 4TB capacity is priced at $29,670 in Taiwan, 2TB / $15,810, 1TB / $9,870, and has a 3-year limited warranty. It depends on whether you usually need to rely on the high-speed transmission of an external SSD to save valuable waiting time to quickly store data, backup and share.
↑ When you go out to take pictures and take pictures, you can quickly store data as long as you have the Envoy Pro SX.
Further reading:
