OWC Envoy Pro USB 3.0 External Enclosure for Solid State Drive

Product Information

The Elektron's PCMark 10 overall score is on the low side, trailing six of our nine comparison drives including both USB 3.2 Gen 2 and Gen 2x2 models. (The other comparison drives that you see in this review's charts were tested using an earlier version of PCMark 10 and are omitted from this chart as the results are not compatible.) Still, its score is well within normal parameters. OWC has published a collection of benchmarks that outline the speeds that can be achieved with optimal configurations. Using a MacBook Pro 16 M1, the best speed achieved was 2,044 MB/s write 2506 MB reads on the 2TB capacity drive.

It’s also certified dustproof, drop-proof, and waterproof, and comes bundled with a cord that supports both Type-C and Type-A ports.While the OWC is technically not the fastest USB Type-C drive we've ever tested, the differences in speed among all of these USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCI Express-based models are so minimal that you'd really need to be looming over the drives with a stopwatch to detect them. And even then, you might not. A Great Choice at the Top End Sequential read/write (max) performance based on testing an OWC Aura Pro III equipped Envoy Pro Elektron connected to an iMac Pro Late 2017 (iMacPro1,1) with 32GB RAM and 3.2GHz processor running AJA System Test (4K-Full resolution, 64GB file size, 10bit RGB codec, single file test) and Diglloyd DiskTester (fill-volume test). And once you have a day’s work — or a week’s — on an external drive, you don’t want to take the chance than a mishap will trash the drive. Something as simple as a coffee spill can be a disaster.

Lightning Fast: Advanced OWC Aura Pro SSD storage technology with TRIM support works with Thunderbolt to deliver the fastest and most reliable performance available in a portable driveVery fast speeds: Thunderbolt 3/4 compatibility allows for very fast read/write speeds up to an advertised 2,800 MB/s. I test speeds below. One other thing we looked at is heat dissipation. With high performance, there can sometimes be high heat, which can introduce issues. We took a look at the drive while it was being tested with our Seek Scan Thermal Camera. As one can see, the drive is very good with heat dissipation, keeping the drive running at optimal performance. For USB 3.2 Gen 2 connecting users, OWC makes a few less expensive options that are equally robust, and these deliver similar performance levels to the Envoy Pro FX on that interface.