Jul 14, 2020 Compatibility - The Thunderbolt 3 is only compatible with Thunderbolt 3-ready devices. A new technology, this may minimize your options (although you may find a Thunderbolt to USB accessory). The best Thunderbolt 3 Docks work with both Windows, Mac, and other operating systems, but others are more restricted. File System Considerations. Before we get to Thunderbolt 3, we need to address a basic building.
If you need extremely fast read and write speeds while on the go than the new Netstor NA622TB3 enclosure may be what you need.
The NA622TB3 is the World's first Thunderbolt 3 external enclosure that lets you use M.2 SSD drives rather than spinning disks or SATA SSD drives. Using NVME SSD drives, which currently come in a maximum capacity of 2TB, you can add up to 8TB of blazing-fast storage with data rates up to 2750 MB/s in RAID 0 or RAID 1.
Since it uses Thunderbolt 3, it has more than enough throughput at 40 Gbps, approximately 2.8GB/s.
Metal Enclosure
The NA622TB3 definitely looks solid, with an aluminium housing, it weighs 1.5kg (3.3lbs) which holds the four M.2 NVME drives built-in power supply and two cooling fans.
If you have a few Thunderbolt 3 devices, the enclosure does have two ports so you can daisy chain your devices.
A switch on the back of the device lets you toggle between three fan speeds depending on the working environment.
What drives can I use?
Netstor has provided a compatibility list of drives on their website to let you know which drives will give you the best performance.
PCIe 3.0 Switch
The NA622TB3 uses a Broadcom PEX 8714 PCIe switch which allows for RAID 0/1 configurations. If you set up two RAID volumes, you can use them both at full speeds.
JBOD & RAID Configurations
The NA622TB3 can be configured in the following configurations:
JBOD (Just a bunch of disks) – Each single NVMe SSD can be configured as individual volume
RAID 0 – Each dual NVMe SSD can be configured as a group volume (as RAID 0 / 1 by O.S.)
RAID 1 – Four NVMe SSDs can be configured as a group volume (as RAID 0 by O.S.)
Thunderbolt 3 External Drive
The setup manual provides instructions on setting up the various RAID configurations in your OS.
Pricing & Availability
Best Thunderbolt 3 External Raid Hard Drive
Pricing should be available soon with the device shipping in the coming weeks. You will need to factor in the price of the drives as well.
