OWC Envoy Pro SX 480GB Portable SSD Review

OWC's Envoy Pro SX might be one of the best available portable Thunderbolt and solid state storage solutions on the market.

Published
Manufacturer: OWC (TB3ENVPSX.5)
1 minute & 37 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 91%
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The Bottom Line

Envoy Pro SX is a top notch storage solution for those needing Thunderbolt and USB 4 compatibility.

The Envoy lineup has been OWC's portable solution for years; this includes several upgrade kits for MacBooks and standalone products like today's Envoy Pro SX.

The Envoy Pro SX is an all-black aluminum design portable SSD offering several capacities that include 240GB, 480GB, 1TB, and 2TB models. Connectivity is being provided over Thunderbolt 3 and USB4 with marketing performance at 2840 MB/s. Additionally, this is a bus-powered solution, so no external power is needed.

You can pick up the OWC Envoy Pro SX in the 240GB capacity for $199 and the 480GB for $249.99; the 1TB model retails for $349 while the top capacity 2TB lands at $529.99. All four SKUs carry a three-year warranty.

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Packaging includes an image of the drive and capacity top right.

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The back includes a few words about that drive and its compatibility.

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Included in the box, we have a Thunderbolt cable and reading materials.

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The drive carries an all-aluminum design, heat sink fins milled into the enclosure.

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The end offers the Type-C connection for both Thunderbolt 4 and USB.

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Internally, we have the Aura Pro P12, but this drive can easily be swapped.

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OWC includes software to format the drive.

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Acronis True Image is included as well.

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Performance testing included a run-through CDM. In this test, we reached 2816 MB/s read, and 1521 MB/s write.

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Running through our sustained write test, we see the Envoy Pro SX land near the top of all drives with an average performance of 906 MB/s.

Envoy Pro SX is the first solution to come through, offering Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4 connectivity wrapped up in a sleek aluminum enclosure. Build quality is quite good on the surface, and at the hardware level, we have proven components in the Aura P12, a Phison E12 solution paired with the JHL6340 Thunderbolt controller.

Performance in testing met our expectations, 2816 MB/s read and 1520 MB/s write, while in our sustained performance testing, the Envoy Pro SX averaged 906 MB/s over a 200GB file.

Closing this out, the Envoy Pro SX demands a premium with its Thunderbolt connectivity, but it attempts to make that up by offering a robust aluminum enclosure that is user-serviceable.

TweakTown External Storage Test System

Performance

90%

Quality

95%

Features

95%

Value

85%

Overall

91%

The Bottom Line

Envoy Pro SX is a top notch storage solution for those needing Thunderbolt and USB 4 compatibility.

TweakTown award

Tyler joined the TweakTown team in 2013 and has since reviewed 100s of new techy items. Growing up in a small farm town, tech wasn't around, unless it was in a tractor. At an early age, Tyler's parents brought home their first PC. Tyler was hooked and learned what it meant to format a HDD, spending many nights reinstalling Windows 95. Tyler's love and enthusiast nature always kept his PC nearby. Eager to get deeper into tech, he started reviewing.

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