OWC Unveils the Envoy Pro SX, a Super-Fast & Rugged SSD
Storage specialist OWC has announced the release of Envoy Pro SX – a small form factor SSD made for demanding situations. Dustproof, waterproof (for 30 minutes at <1 meter), drop-proof (tested from a height of four feet), and equipped with Thunderbolt 3 promises transfer speeds of up to 2,847 MB/s, silently cools, and is bus-powered.
The company writes: “It is test certified to handle the nastiest environments, so you can work from anywhere without a second thought. From managing obstacles in the field to crushing deadlines at home, the Envoy Pro SX lets you unleash your productivity power.”
“For OWC Envoy Pro SX, we wanted to make a drive that’s truly unique,” said Larry O’Connor, CEO, and Founder of OWC. “Listening to our customer’s suggestions from the Envoy Pro EX model, we made sure to add a detachable Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 cable, and while we were at it, we made it a smaller form factor and even more rugged by adding IP67.”
Regarding speeds, it’s fast. The Envoy Pro SX is quoted as capable of reaching sequential read/write performance speeds of up to 2847 MB/s (which was tested while connected to a Windows 10 PC equipped with a Gigabyte Technology motherboard with an AMD 3960X 3.8GHz processor and 32GB RAM running AJA System Test — 4K full resolution, 4GB file size, 16bit RGB codec, single-file test). Just to put that in perspective, that would mean is possible to copy a 128GB camera drive in about 56 seconds.
The rugged black housing is made from aluminum, so it acts as a heatsink. Therefore the drive doesn’t have a fan and is completely silent. Even though there are many SSDs without fans, drives operating at these speeds can heat up really quickly so fanless operation is not taken for granted. OWC says that even in the case of extremely long, intensive data transfers, speed performance should not dip thanks to the effective way it is able to cool itself. Other small details include rubberized feet to keep it in place and an LED that shows power and activity status. OWC also covers the Envoy Pro SX with a five-year limited warranty.
The Envoy Pro SX is both Windows and macOS compatible. Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4 is much more common on Macs than on Windows PCs, but newer high-end windows computers should support this drive as well.
The OWC Envoy Pro SX comes in four capacity options: 240 and 480 gigabytes as well as both one and two terabyte options. The lowest capacity costs $199, while the two terabyte maximum capacity runs $529.
More info on OWC’s website.
