New OWC portable USB-C SSD is tiny, rugged, and fast

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in macOS edited October 2020
Mac upgrade specialist OWC today announced the Envoy Pro, a tiny and portable USB-C SSD that starts at $99.

OWC Envo Pro SSD with MacBook Pro


The Envoy Pro can reach up to 1011MB/s speeds, enough to transfer 91 high-resolution photos in one second or a 5GB movie in less than five seconds. The drive is a USB 3.2 type-C bus-powered and plug-and-play model, not requiring any power adapters or software to use with a Mac. It operates silently and has a drive-status LED on its side. The drive includes a USB-C to USB-A adapter to widen compatibility.

The tiny drive is small enough to fit in a pocket, measuring 3 x 2.1 x 0.5 inch and weighing 3 oz.

OWC Envoy Pro USB-C Drive with iPad


The portable SSD uses a heat-dissipating aircraft-grade aluminum exterior. Its IP67 rating means it's dust-proof and water-resistant for up to 30 minutes at less than one meter.

The 240GB and 480GB variants are available now, ringing up for $99 and $149, respectively. Versions with 1TB and 2TB storage arrive in early-to-mid November, retailing for $199 and $369. OWC includes a three-year limited warranty with the drive.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,727member


    So, this is an alternative, if a wee bit larger but not much:  I have numerous setups like this and they all work great on my Macs and my PCs. 2TB SSDs or higher could just as easily be used.  I have several similar setups using NVMe SSDs too but I do use a small enclosure for those.  This is just an example.  They do not get hot and of course, the bare SSDs are dustproof already and pretty tough.  I have had some for years that have been taken all over the world in carry-on luggage in a ziplock bag so I can add storage for RAW images and 4K video when using an MBP. These setups are not waterproof so if planning to take your Mac underwater I'd advise not using these suggestions.   I just used BlackMagic on one of the SSDs over TB3 and got roughly 360 MB/s read and write.

    1TB bare SSD $89.99
    https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y5VDNT9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    1 USBc/Thunderbolt 3 adapter $11.48
    https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0735KY2SL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
    edited October 2020
  • Reply 2 of 8
    bsbeamerbsbeamer Posts: 77member
    The USB-C NVMe enclosures that operate at 10Gbps will run much cooler than the 40Gbps via true TB3.  Speed is sacrificed as a tradeoff.  Usually under 1000MB/s for 10Gbps adapters via USB-C to 2000-2500MB/s for 40Gbps via TB3 with the same NVMe blade.

    The links in the post above are SATA SSDs.  Fine for bigger mostly faster storage.  There are ways to get around 450MB/s-500MB/s when using better adapters/enclosures via USB-C.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,727member
    bsbeamer said:
    The USB-C NVMe enclosures that operate at 10Gbps will run much cooler than the 40Gbps via true TB3.  Speed is sacrificed as a tradeoff.  Usually under 1000MB/s for 10Gbps adapters via USB-C to 2000-2500MB/s for 40Gbps via TB3 with the same NVMe blade.

    The links in the post above are SATA SSDs.  Fine for bigger mostly faster storage.  There are ways to get around 450MB/s-500MB/s when using better adapters/enclosures via USB-C.
    I find for most uses the speeds are fine although I have a lashup with 4 SATA SSDs that gets around 1,500 MB/s using Apple's own RAID 0 over TB3, which is nice for Photoshop scratch and Capture One 2020.  The point is they are all homemade, and dirt cheap.  BTW I tried using SoftRAID and it totally messed up a few things on a 24 TB RAID I use for Photos and iCloud linkage amongst other things.  I reverted to Apple drivers and all is well again.
    edited October 2020
  • Reply 4 of 8
    felix01felix01 Posts: 294member
    @SoftRAID

    I didn't see that you'd ever posted your problem on the     SoftRAID forum. 
  • Reply 5 of 8
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,095member
    USB4 will pretty much be the time that speeds really take off with the inclusion of TB3 as part of the spec.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,727member
    felix01 said:
    @SoftRAID

    I didn't see that you'd ever posted your problem on the SoftRAID forum. 
    I have weeks of emails back and forth directly with a tech as I was also trying several other of their products and he was asking me to do a few tests.  BTW how the would you know if I had or had not been on the tech forums?  Just curious.
    edited October 2020
  • Reply 7 of 8
    neilmneilm Posts: 987member
    MacPro said:


    So, this is an alternative, if a wee bit larger but not much:  I have numerous setups like this and they all work great on my Macs and my PCs. 2TB SSDs or higher could just as easily be used.  I have several similar setups using NVMe SSDs too but I do use a small enclosure for those.  This is just an example.  They do not get hot and of course, the bare SSDs are dustproof already and pretty tough.  I have had some for years that have been taken all over the world in carry-on luggage in a ziplock bag so I can add storage for RAW images and 4K video when using an MBP. 
    How hot they get depends on how you use them. 

    For transferring a few dozen photos or files, no big deal, but for heavier workloads it's a very different story. I regularly use external SSDs to clone a user's Mac for subsequent transfer to a new Mac, and can tell you that my SSDs — a 1TB Samsung T5 USB-C, and a new OWC TB3 enclosure with Samsung M2 innards — both get spanking hot during a 200-300GB transfer. In fact they get hot enough that I'll typically place some kind of improvised external heatsink against the case to help keep the temperature in check. Another solid aluminum drive enclosure stacked on top works well, although at home I've used a flat aluminum saucepan lid to great effect!
    edited October 2020
  • Reply 8 of 8
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    This article skips past a lot of important details and doesn't even get the product name correct. There have been multiple products named "Envoy Pro" in the past: The "Envoy Pro" is a USB 2.0/3.0 (480Mbps/5Gbps) enclosure. The "Envoy Pro EX with USB 3" is a USB 3.0 USB-A (5Gbps) only enclosure. The "Envoy Pro EX with USB-C" is a USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps) enclosure. The "Envoy Pro EX with Thunderbolt 3" is a TB3 enclosure. The "Envoy Pro mini Ultra-Portable SSD" is a USB 3.0 thumb drive.

    This is the "Envoy Pro Elektron" which is a USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) enclosure. I'm guessing the difference with this one, which is rated only a tiny bit faster — 1011MBps vs 980MB/s than the USB-C non-Elektron Envoy Pro EX, is a different controller and drive requirement (NVMe M.2 SSD with 2242 form factor and M-Key connector), I guess? That increase is so small that this is barely an upgrade unless other performance metrics are noticeably different.

    Also, this thing uses the Aura P13 NVMe M.2 2242 SSD which I'm not sure about specs for, bu the P12 has read/write speeds of 3400MB/s & 3000MB/s, so they're completely wasted in a USB 3.1 gen 2 enclosure. 

    I'm not sure why you'd opt for one of these over the TB3 version, or more importantly this newer $79 TB3 enclosure which just came out — which I'd love to see reviewed: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/envoy-express/thunderbolt-3

    edited October 2020
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