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OWC ships second-gen ThunderBlade SSD supporting Thunderbolt 3 daisy chains

OWC on Tuesday released an updated version of its ThunderBlade external SSD, equipped with dual Thunderbolt 3 ports for daisy-chaining and in some cases a speed boost.

The drive is deliberately stackable, and designed to operate cooler than the first-generation model, OWC said. Up to six ThunderBlades and/or other Thunderbolt devices can be linked together, whether for use separately or in a RAID configuration.

The product comes in capacities up to 8 terabytes. Transfer normally peak at 2.8 gigabytes per second, but joining multiple drives together via SoftRAID can push performance up to 3.8 gigabytes.

For durability OWC is offering not just a rugged design, but a free ballistic hard-shell carrying case with each order.

OWC ThunderBlade case

Prices for the ThunderBlade start at $799 for a 1-terabyte model. 2- and 4-terabyte models are $1,199 and $1,899, respectively, but the cost for 8 terabytes jumps to $3,499.