Akitio Releases Thunder3 Quad X 4Bay Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure

Akitio releases a new four-bay Thunderbolt 3 storage solution for Mac and PC called the Thunder3 Quad X. While the new unit resembles the non-X version, it is an all-new design with improved compatibility.

“New Apple MacBook Pro users have looked to Akitio for their external Thunderbolt 3 storage solution needs for quite some time now. The Thunder 3 Quad X is our third macOS compatible enclosure and will be especially useful for anyone dealing with large amounts of data such as 4K and 8K uncompressed video files”, said Richard Wright, VP of Sales & Marketing for Akitio. “The Thunder3 Quad X is extremely affordable and will allow users to better store, transfer, save, protect, and edit their creative content while also freeing up valuable space on their computers.”

High-Speed DAS Storage

Akitio’s Thunder3 Quad X holds 4 drives which can be 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch SSDs and HDDs. That means that easily you can install up to 40TB HDD capacity or 8TB SSD capacity. With it, the unit can deliver transfer speeds of up to 1480 MB/s.

Thunderbolt 3 Does More

Thunderbolt 3 can do a lot more than just connect storage to your system. It has 40Gbps bandwidth available which means that you can get the above-mentioned performance while simultaneously providing two 4K video streams to connected displays. That’s simply not feasible by other common interfaces such as USB due to the limitations of their features and bandwidth.

The Thunder3 Quad X even comes with its own DisplayPort video output for a connection with the latest 4K 60Hz displays. More devices can be connected through the 2nd Thunderbolt 3 port. The protocol supports daisy chaining of up to 6 devices on a single host port. An added bonus, the 2nd port is a combo port which also works with USB Type-C devices.

Power Delivery

The advantages rise when you connect the Thunder3 Quad X to a portable system. It can deliver 27 Watts of power too and thereby work as a charger while being a fast storage solution and docking station. The unit’s PSU is built-in and can deliver a total of 200W.

Feature Highlights

• Thunderbolt 3 interface for lightning fast transfer speeds up to 40 Gbps
• Second Thunderbolt 3 port supports Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 (10 Gbps), and DisplayPort devices
• Power delivery provides up to 27W of power to recharge compatible laptops
• Dedicated DisplayPort for additional monitor to expand the workspace
• Holds up to four 2.5” or 3.5″ drives with SATA 6Gb/s interface
• Removable trays for easy SSD and HDD installation
• Two big handles make it easy to carry the device
• Large fan for active cooling with power switch
• Kensington security slot

Pricing and Availability

The Thunder3 Quad X will have a suggested MSRP of $379 USD and will be shipping in Q3 2017.