In the Production Expert 10th Anniversary Christmas Competition we offered the chance to win an OWC Thunderbolt 2 or 3 Dock & 8.0TB Thunderbay 4 RAID 5 Thunderbolt 2 or 3 Array worth $1,100 as one of over 30 great prizes on offer worth over $30,000 in total.
The competition closed on December 31st 2018 and the lucky winner is Cyrus Hira of Milton, Ontario, Canada.
“I run a small audio production and engineering company as a side business. My biggest challenge is connecting multiple devices to a single machine. I run two HD displays for audio post, external SSDs (for sound libraries, SFX and samples), an Avid control surface over Ethernet and a regular Ethernet connection for internet access. Not to mention the need for multiple USB ports for a keyboard, mouse, midi controller and the odd USB key. Having a Thunderbolt hub would be a fantastic improvement, as I’ll be able to run almost all of that from a single cable!
I also have an old 2-disk RAID with a noisy fan and limited capability. Only having two disks means I can only choose between RAID 1 (mirroring with no performance increase) and RAID 0 (stripped data with no protection). Having a 4-disk unit will expand my RAID options, allowing me to increase disk performance while protecting my data!
The OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock and Thunderbay 4 RAID will be a wonderful improvement to my workflow. Thank you to the OWC and Production Expert Team!
The OWC Thunderbolt 2 or 3 Dock
OWC offered you the choice of their Thunderbolt 2 or Thunderbolt 3 dock, depending on your connectivity requirements. Maybe you have a 2013 Mac Pro with Tunderbolt 2 or a brand spanking new 2018 MacBook Pro with USB-C, as the lucky winner you can select the prize with the connectivity format that is right for you.
Thunderbolt 3 Dock I/O
2 x Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports
5 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, 1 forward facing
1 x SD card reader
1 x FireWire 800
1 x Mini DisplayPort
1 x Gigabit Ethernet port
1 x Analog audio in/out for headphones, speakers, and mics
1 x S/PDIF digital audio output
Thunderbolt 2 Dock I/O
2 x Thunderbolt 2 (20 Gb/s) 1
5 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gb/s)(3) USB 3.1 Gen 1(2) USB 3.1 Gen 1 high-power charging
1 x FireWire 800
1 x HDMI 1.4b
1 x Gigabit Ethernet
1 x 3.5mm Mono Audio Input
1 x 3.5mm Stereo Audio Output
You can also check out our review of the OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock below.
8.0TB Thunderbay 4 RAID 5 Thunderbolt 2 or 3
If you are in need of a vast amount of storage the second half of this prize could be of great interest to you. 8TB of drive space configured in Raid 5 format in am OWC Thunderbay with either Thunderbolt 2 or Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.
ThunderBay 4, OWC's flagship 4-bay RAID ready powerhouse is bigger and faster than ever before. Now with the unbelievable performance of Thunderbolt 3 at up to 1527MB/s sustained performance, it's the ultimate workhorse external storage solution.
Not only faster, the new ThunderBay 4 Thunderbolt 3 is now natively compatible with both 2.5" and 3.5" drives, and with a redesigned chassis, it's even cooler and quieter too. Add vast amounts of high-performance storage with ThunderBay 4.
Utilize each of the four internal drives independently, or use the software RAID of your choice to setup a multi-drive array for high performance or data redundancy.
Features
Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
Dedicated DisplayPort 1.2 port
Up to 1527MB/s sustained performance
Works with 3.5" or 2.5" drives — no adapter needed
Ultra quiet, heat dissipating aluminum chassis
Rigorously pre-tested with multi-hour burn-in
Plug and play RAID Ready
Time-Tested Cooling
Built on OWC's time-tested enclosure cooling technology, ThunderBay 4 utilizes an open "flow-thru" vented design with an oversized 92 mm, low-turbulence, noise-quieting fan to keep the drives running cool and reliably.
Multi-Drive
Daisy-chain up to six ThunderBay 4s for massive storage capabilities and increased performance, or connect multiple ThunderBay 4s to multiple Thunderbolt 3 ports to achieve exponential speed capabilities.
Vibration Dampened
ThunderBay 4's drive isolating design reduces sonic resonance, and is aided by over-sized, rugged, vibration-absorbing, non-skid feet.
DisplayPort 1.2 Support
Dual Thunderbolt ports let you connect the display of your choice that your computer can support, including 4K displays.
OWC Thunderbolt Cable
ThunderBay 4 comes with a certified OWC Thunderbolt 3 cable.
Want To Win?
If you would like to win a prize like the OWC Thunderbolt 2 or 3 Dock & 8.0TB Thunderbay 4 RAID 5 Thunderbolt 2 or 3 Array worth $1,100 head over to our Win Page and see what prizes we have on offer.