There are plenty of fast portable SSDs out there, with the quicker ones offering transfer speeds of around 2000MB/s. But OWC's latest Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 SSD blows the competition into the weeds!
Thanks to it's bang-up-to-date 80Gbps Thunderbolt 5 interface, it's capable of read speeds in excess of 6000MB/s - that's three times faster than even a quick USB portable SSD. It achieves this performance with no separate power supply - everything's handled over just a single built-in Thunderbolt cable.
To extract the maximum speed of the drive, you will need a Thunderbolt 5 computer. These are still relatively rare, limited to very high-end laptop PCs, along with Apple M4 Pro- and Pro Max-based MacBooks. Thankfully, the Envoy Ultra can also be used with a much wider selection of PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, iPad Pro and Surface products, as it's backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and USB4 computers, though transfer speeds will of course be bottlenecked by their slower interfaces.
At 5.1x3x0.8" (13x7.5x2cm) and 12oz (341g), the Envoy Ultra isn't the smallest or lightest portable SSD out there, but neither is it inconveniently bulky. It's also IP67 dust and water-resistant to 3.3' (1m), while also being crush-resistant. Despite its incredible speed, the drive's aluminium chassis can dissipate heat without the need for a cooling fan, so the Envoy Ultra operates in complete silence.
The OWC Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 SSD is available in 2TB and 4TB capacities, and OWC has just launched a new 8TB version for the ultimate in portable SSD speed AND capacity. Naturally, you'll pay a hefty premium to be at the forefront of portable storage, as the 8TB model is priced at a whopping $1,699.99. The 4TB version can be had for a slightly less eye-watering $899.99, while the 2TB capacity costs $549.99.
