Other World Computing (OWC) has announced the OWC Envoy Pro FX, a universally compatible Thunderbolt and USB-C portable SSD that the company says can reach up to 2800 MB/s and is dust, water, and shockproof.
The Envoy Pro FX is designed for both Mac and PC compatibility, and the bus-powered SSD promises to impress with both ruggedness and speed. The drive uses a heat-dissipating aluminum housing that is IP67 rated. IP67 means that the drive is completely protected against dust and can be submerged in up to 15cm of water for up to 30 minutes. OWC says this level of protection is designed to keep the drive (and therefore any data stored on it) safe in even the dirtiest and wettest environments. The company also says the drive is protected by “MIL-STD810G certified military-level drop toughness.”
OWC says the Envoy Pro FX supports the max performance capability of any Thunderbolt and USB interface, which means transfer speeds of up to 2800 MB/s.
The SSD will be available in four different size configurations: 240 GB for $169, 480 GB for $199, 1 TB for $299, and 2 TB for $479. The Envoy Pro FX comes with a 3-year OWC limited warranty and will begin shipping this month.
OWC enters a competitive portable SSD field against Samsung, SanDisk, LaCie, and G-Tech. Samsung and SanDisk both state up to 540 MB/s read speeds on their 2TB USB-C drives that come in at $230 (and LaCie asks $380 for its iteration), but are obviously less protected from the elements and only reach a fraction of top transfer speeds that OWC promises. The closest competitor to the Envoy Pro is likely the G-Technology G-DRIVE mobile Pro Thunderbolt 3, which has the same 2800 MB/s data transfer speed spec and 2TB capacity but costs a whopping $1500. I reviewed the G-Technology drive in 2019 and while it does mostly live up to those performance promises, it’s wildly expensive (at cheapest, it’s been seen as low as $700).
Compared to that price, OWC looks like a much smarter buy.