Anyone using the OWC ThunderBlade V4 - need review

[bxs]

Subject: Anyone using the OWC ThunderBlade V4 with iMac Pro - need review

I'm wanting to know how well this device meets the OWC's claim for up to 2800 MB/s for reads and up to 2450 MB/s for writes.

I'm suspecting the closest to these numbers will be for writing/reading small files (less than 100 MB).

Given this devices has 4x M.2 SSD blades that are RAIDed that it cannot be used for booting unless the blades are configured as JBOD or at least one as a single blade with the other three setup as RAID-0.

Then there's the OWC's Envoy unit that also has claims for delivering some 1600 MB/s.

Thanks for any feedback....

 

[SecuritySteve]

I'm pretty interested in this question too. I've been mulling over my external drive options and in two weeks I'll be ready to buy.

 

[bxs]

Subject: Anyone using the OWC ThunderBlade V4 with iMac Pro - need review

I'm wanting to know how well this device meets the OWC's claim for up to 2800 MB/s for reads and up to 2450 MB/s for writes.

I'm suspecting the closest to these numbers will be for writing/reading small files (less than 100 MB).

Given this devices has 4x M.2 SSD blades that are RAIDed that it cannot be used for booting unless the blades are configured as JBOD or at least one as a single blade with the other three setup as RAID-0.

Then there's the OWC's Envoy unit that also has claims for delivering some 1600 MB/s.

Thanks for any feedback....

Well.... to answer my own enquiry I obtained the 1TB ThunderBlade V4 (TBV4) and ran a series of dd commands on it.
The TBV4 was the only external device attached to my iMP and was running macOS X 10.13.3 Build 17D2012.

Here is what I found....

I ran a series of dd tests writing and read zero filled files of sizes from 1 MB to 1000 MB as shown below.
Note that I used ‘purge’ before running the dd command to ensure there was no buffering using the kernel buffer cache.

Writing files
2101 MB/s for 1 MB
2749 MB/s for 2 MB
3781 MB/s for 3 MB
3348 MB/s for 4 MB
4122 MB/s for 5 MB
4183 MB/s for 6 MB
4437 MB/s for 7 MB
4622 MB/s for 8 MB
4433 MB/s for 9 MB
3920 MB/s for 10 MB

For reading these files
784 MB/s for 1 MB
851 MB/s for 2 MB
867 MB/s for 3 MB
941 MB/s for 4 MB
1039 MB/s for 5 MB
1061 MB/s for 6 MB
1094 MB/s for 7 MB
1228 MB/s for 8 MB
1147 MB/s for 9 MB
1195 MB/s for 10 MB

Testing writing and reading larger files; 100 MB up 1000 MB

Writing
2370 MB/s for 100 MB
2014 MB/s for 200 MB
1859 MB/s for 300 MB
1876 MB/s for 400 MB
1810 MB/s for 500 MB
1822 MB/s for 600 MB
1797 MB/s for 700 MB
1750 MB/s for 800 MB
1771 MB/s for 900 MB
1798 MB/s for 1000 MB

Reading
1480 MB/s for 100 MB
1469 MB/s for 200 MB
1465 MB/s for 300 MB
1558 MB/s for 400 MB
1458 MB/s for 500 MB
1477 MB/s for 600 MB
1476 MB/s for 700 MB
1452 MB/s for 800 MB
1524 MB/s for 900 MB
1477 MB/s for 1000 MB

I also ran AJA and Blackmagic and in all cases the read and write rates never exceeded 1750 MB/s. I did however see the odd 2250 MB/s for reading small size files (128 MB in size) but it was very inconsistent using an older version of AJA which allows sweeping file sizes.

 

[driftless]

Thanks for info, bxs.

 

[bxs]

Well.... to answer my own enquiry I obtained the 1TB ThunderBlade V4 (TBV4) and ran a series of dd commands on it.
The TBV4 was the only external device attached to my iMP and was running macOS X 10.13.3 Build 17D2012.

Here is what I found....

I ran a series of dd tests writing and read zero filled files of sizes from 1 MB to 1000 MB as shown below.
Note that I used ‘purge’ before running the dd command to ensure there was no buffering using the kernel buffer cache.

Writing files
2101 MB/s for 1 MB
2749 MB/s for 2 MB
3781 MB/s for 3 MB
3348 MB/s for 4 MB
4122 MB/s for 5 MB
4183 MB/s for 6 MB
4437 MB/s for 7 MB
4622 MB/s for 8 MB
4433 MB/s for 9 MB
3920 MB/s for 10 MB

For reading these files
784 MB/s for 1 MB
851 MB/s for 2 MB
867 MB/s for 3 MB
941 MB/s for 4 MB
1039 MB/s for 5 MB
1061 MB/s for 6 MB
1094 MB/s for 7 MB
1228 MB/s for 8 MB
1147 MB/s for 9 MB
1195 MB/s for 10 MB

Testing writing and reading larger files; 100 MB up 1000 MB

Writing
2370 MB/s for 100 MB
2014 MB/s for 200 MB
1859 MB/s for 300 MB
1876 MB/s for 400 MB
1810 MB/s for 500 MB
1822 MB/s for 600 MB
1797 MB/s for 700 MB
1750 MB/s for 800 MB
1771 MB/s for 900 MB
1798 MB/s for 1000 MB

Reading
1480 MB/s for 100 MB
1469 MB/s for 200 MB
1465 MB/s for 300 MB
1558 MB/s for 400 MB
1458 MB/s for 500 MB
1477 MB/s for 600 MB
1476 MB/s for 700 MB
1452 MB/s for 800 MB
1524 MB/s for 900 MB
1477 MB/s for 1000 MB

I also ran AJA and Blackmagic and in all cases the read and write rates never exceeded 1750 MB/s. I did however see the odd 2250 MB/s for reading small size files (128 MB in size) but it was very inconsistent using an older version of AJA which allows sweeping file sizes.

I've also tested the OWC 1TB Envoy Pro EX which claims Reading up to 1800 MB/s.
This is a bus power M.2 unit and very much smaller in physical size compared to the big brother ThunderBlade V4.

I ran a few quick dd tests and found this unit to be impressive IMO.

AJA and Blackmagic both show 750 MB/s writes and 1150 MB/s reads.

My dd tests gave

Writing files
2171 MB/s for 1 MB
2975 MB/s for 2 MB
3357 MB/s for 3 MB
3895 MB/s for 4 MB
3858 MB/s for 5 MB
4051 MB/s for 6 MB
4171 MB/s for 7 MB
4344 MB/s for 8 MB
3333 MB/s for 9 MB
2499 MB/s for 10 MB

For reading these files
748 MB/s for 1 MB
834 MB/s for 2 MB
913 MB/s for 3 MB
992 MB/s for 4 MB
1034 MB/s for 5 MB
1087 MB/s for 6 MB
1148 MB/s for 7 MB
1112 MB/s for 8 MB
1136 MB/s for 9 MB
1163 MB/s for 10 MB

Writing larger files (just ran a couple of dd tests)
784 MB/s for 1 GB
776 MB/s for 10 GB

Reading larger files
1540 MB/s for 1 GB
1546 MB/s for 10 GB

 

[bxs]

I think some of the very high data rates for small files are attributed to compressing the zero filled files I was using for the dd test.