Wesley Hilliard
The OWC Express 1M2 is a new USB 4 drive enclosure, and is the fastest single blade NVMe enclosure that OWC has ever offered.
SSD enclosures with USB 4 connectivity promise universal compatibility without compromise. They are compatible with Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2, USB 2, and everything in between.
OWC is taking advantage of the spec with its newest NVMe SSD enclosure. The Express 1M2 offers real-world speeds of up to 3,151 MB/s and USB 4 connectivity to maximize the performance capabilities of current and future Macs.
OWC says reliability in safeguarding critical user data is part of their brand recognition, and the Express 1M2 upholds that. It has a solid aluminum heat sink to ensure maximum performance.
"The Express 1M2 is built to keep the drive cool and performance high, continuing OWC's tradition of building products right vs. targeting a low-priced disposable commodity level," said Larry O'Connor, founder and CEO of OWC. "Our customer's data reliability is our number one priority and the Express 1M2 is the ideal choice for those seeking long-term reliability and high performance."
Photo and video professionals will benefit from the high speed the drive offers. Use OWC's Aura SSDs or add your own 2230, 2242, or 2280-sized NVMe M.2 SSD.
Get the Express 1M2 without an SSD starting at $119.99. Configurations that add 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB capacities are also available.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
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Malcolm Owen
16 Comments
I'd complain about there not being a link to the product anywhere, but it appears that every other news article for this enclosure contains a dead link anyway: https://www.owc.com/solutions/express-1m2
Product doesn't appear on OWC's website at all, did they announce it prematurely?
Bit odd how the image in the article above seems to show two cables, but a picture circulating of the opened enclosure only show a USB-C port, suggesting it's bus-powered...
Try https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-express-1m2 It's on their website. You have to remember that OWC is MacSales so start at the retail website. Everyone needs to read all the information on their page since it talks about limitations when connected to certain devices.
"Because we’re widely considered the Thunderbolt experts, we must know all the little details that others purposefully overlook or hide. For a bus-powered enclosure to be Thunderbolt certified, it must meet Intel power certifications. As such, speeds are limited to 1500MB/s. While many no-name brands claim to be USB4, they are in fact Thunderbolt 3 solutions that do not follow Intel specifications. Unlike those budget brand pretenders that will leave you feeling fooled and disappointed in far lower speeds, the Express 1M2’s true USB4 connectivity assures you of an astounding doubling of Thunderbolt’s speed."
Drives bought with included NVMe drives use "OWC Aura Ultra IV PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD" https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/S3DIG3P4T10/ higher capacity drives available.
Now we just need OWC/MacSales to upgrade their 4 blade 4M2 enclosure to handle USB4.