03
1.1 MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System:
-Mac: macOS 10.13 or later
-PC: Windows 10 or later
Hardware:
-Mac or Windows PC with Thunderbolt 3 or later
1.2 PACKAGE CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
OWC ThunderBlade
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Phone: M–F, 8am–8pm CT
1.866.692.7100 (N. America)
+1.815.338.4751 (Int’l)
Chat: M–F, 8am–8pm,
Sat. 9am–5pm CT
www.owc.com/support
Email: Answered
within 48 hours
www.owc.com/support
© 2021 Other World Computing, Inc. All rights reserved. OWC, the OWC logo, SoftRAID, and the SoftRAID logo are trademarks of New Concepts De-
velopment Corporation, registered in the U.S. and/or other countries. ThunderBlade is a trademark of Other World Computing, Inc. Mac and macOS
are trademarks of Apple Inc. registered in the U.S. and in other countries. Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation
or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corpora-
tion in the United States and/or other countries. Other marks may be the trademark or registered trademark property of their owners.
INCLUDES
-OWC ThunderBlade
-Ballistic hard-shell case
-Thunderbolt 3 cable
-Power supply and cable
-SoftRAID license
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating System:
-Mac: macOS 10.13 or later
-Windows PC: Windows 10 or later
Hardware:
-Mac or Windows PC with Thunderbolt 3 or later
INSTALLATION & RAID INFORMATION
For detailed assembly steps, SoftRAID information, and additional
capabilities, the Assembly Manual & User Guide is available at:
www.owc.com/support/manuals
THUNDERBLADE
External Solid-State Drive
OWCQSGBLADETB3 — 04.07.2021
Quick start guide
INTRODUCTION
Ballistic hard-shell case
SoftRAID license
1.3 GETTING STARTED
-To use the ThunderBlade, connect it to your computer via the included Thunderbolt 3 cable.
Device drivers are not required, however use of SoftRAID requires the SoftRAID driver and application
to be installed. See reverse for more information.
-The LED array indicator on the front of the device will glow blue when the device is receiving power and
is connected to an active host. The LED will glow white when the device is connected to a host that
is in Sleep or hibernation mode, or when it has power but is not connected to a host. This LED is also
connected to an ambient light sensor on the back of the ThunderBlade which enables automatic
brightness adjustments based on ambient light levels.
-The LED has four segments, one for each M.2 SSD. When one or more of the SSDs are accessed
for read/write operations, the corresponding segments will blink blue.
-While it is possible to connect a DisplayPort 1.2 display to the spare Thunderbolt 3 port by using the
appropriate cable or adapter, HDMI and other types of displays require an active display adapter
with a USB-C connector.
-Software RAID volumes cannot be used as boot drives in macOS 10.13 and later. In order to boot to this
device, do the following: break down the RAID, format one of the drives as an independent volume, then
install macOS on that drive. The remaining drives can be reconfigured as a RAID 0 volume if necessary.
For more details, please see:
www.owcdigital.com/thunderblade-boot
Thunderbolt 3 cable
Power supply and cable
