OWC Envoy Pro SX 960GB Portable SSD Review

TweakTown Rating: 99%

Our Verdict

Nearly perfect in every way, the Envoy Pro SX is as good as it gets.

Introduction & Drive Details

OWC has a new portable SSD. The Envoy Pro SX is essentially a refined version of OWC's award-winning Envoy Pro EX. Refinements include a removable Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 cable and downsizing the ultra-rugged enclosure by 1/3, for increased portability. The SX version may be more compact, but it still retains all the features of its predecessor, including being dustproof, drop-proof, and waterproof for up to 30 minutes at 1-meter depth.

Like its predecessor, the Envoy Pro EX, the Envoy Pro SX delivers the ultimate in portable performance, and it too is bus-powered. No power adapters are required; we love that. Capable of delivering up 2,800 MB/s throughput via Thunderbolt 3, the Envoy Pro SX is right in there with the fastest portable solutions in the world. As we see it, the Envoy Pro represents the very pinnacle of ultra-fast portable storage in every way.

Enclosure Details

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At 8 ounces, this thing is beefy. Encased in a ½ pound solid aluminum casing, the Aura P12 Pro 1TB (960GB) at the heart of the matter has little chance of overheating no matter the workload. The OWC Aura P12 Pro that drives the Envoy SX to record-level performance is the result of a collaborative effort between Phison Electronics and Other World Computing (OWC). The Aura P12 Pro is Phison E12S controlled with a quality 96L BiCS 4 flash array and onboard DRAM. The good stuff.

Jon's Test System Specifications - Intel NUC 11 Pro

Note: For USB 3.2 Gen2 x2 SSDs, we test on our Z590 system set to match our Intel NUC 11 specs (4.8GHz, 8-threads, DDR4 3200, balanced power plan).

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, ATTO & Blackmagic

CrystalDiskMark

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For whatever reason, our NUC would not quite get us to 2,800 MB/s throughput. No matter, this is close enough, and its 2,600 MB/s sequential write throughput is almost otherworldly. Then when we factor in its astounding 4K Q1T1 random performance, we feel as though this might be the best overall CDM performance we've seen from a non-RAID portable storage device. Impressive.

ATTO

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100% full speed at QD4 128K transfers and a beautifully consistent pattern that doesn't show any signs of throttling as transfer sizes climb higher. Everything we want to see, including more than 50MB/s at 512B transfers.

Blackmagic

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OWC touts the Envoy Pro SX as being the ideal portable on-set project drive for editing dailies, and as Blackmagic demonstrates, it can easily handle even 4K 60 fps duties. Wow.

Real-World Testing: PCMark 10 & Transfer Rates

PCMark 10 Data Drive Benchmark

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The OWC Envoy Pro SX delivers a new lab record for ANY portable, including the massive 16TB XTRM-Q running in RAID 0. Otherworldly is right.

Transfer Rates

We brutalize our test subjects with our extremely hard-to-swallow 100GB data block. This data block is the same one we use for our internal SSD testing and is composed of more than 62K files. Unsurprisingly, the Envoy Pro SX delivers the best we've seen from a non-RAID portable storage device.

Final Thoughts

The Envoy Pro SX is portable storage at its finest. OWC has again outdone itself with this portable masterpiece. 2,800 MB/s throughput encased in a nearly indestructible, compact, and thermally effective housing is indeed something special. The Envoy Pro SX is an elite performer forged from the highest quality components and is worthy of TweakTown's highest award.

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Pros

• Bus Powered
• Throughput
• Professional Grade

Cons

• None