OWC 18TB miniStack STX & Thunderbolt Hub Xpansion (2TB SSD + 16TB HDD, Matte Silver)

OWC Ministack STX External HDD/SSD Overview

Expand the utility of your Thunderbolt 4 device and streamline your workflow with the matte silver 18TB miniStack STX & Thunderbolt Hub Xpansion from OWC / Other World Computing. This model combines a 2TB PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 2280 SSD, which is designed for low latency instant access operations that include gaming as well as photo, video, and audio editing, with a 16TB 7200 rpm SATA 3.5" hard drive, which is well suited for large data storage needs and everyday tasks, such as backups, photos, music, and documents. Both the NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 slot and 3.5/2.5" drive bay are user accessible. No matter what you re doing, the miniStack is there to help you store large files and connect high-powered devices so you can work efficiently.

The miniStack connects to your host system using a Thunderbolt 4 port that provides up to 96W of Power Delivery, while three additional Thunderbolt 4 ports provide 15W of power and may be used to connect additional peripherals, including keyboards, mice, and up to two displays. These three ports may also be used to create a daisy chain, with up to five Thunderbolt and three USB devices on each, for a total of eight device per chain. Designed to work in various environments, the miniStack STX supports multiple platforms including macOS 10.14 to 14, Windows 10 (32/64-bit), Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Linux, iPadOS 14 to 17, Android 11.x to 13.x, and Chrome.

Please note that this configuration requires a 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, or USB4 host connection with a compatible system running macOS 11.x or later. Connecting the miniStack STX to a USB-C or USB-A host requires macOS 10.14.6 or later, but will only allow for the use of its SATA drive bay and will only let the Thunderbolt ports be used as a USB hub for accessories.

Compatibility

• macOS 11.1 or later is required for Thunderbolt hosts, while macOS 10.14.6 is required for USB hosts
• Actual display support depends upon the host. Please review the display specifications for your specific host system to determine the maximum supported resolution, refresh rate, color depth, and number of external displays over Thunderbolt or USB
• NVMe SSD usage requires a Thunderbolt 4 host connection with a compatible system running macOS 11.x or later
• USB host connectivity provides SATA drive use only and limits additional miniStack STX ports to USB connectivity only
• Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 hosts are supported via a USB-A connection, which requires a USB-C to USB-A adapter (sold separately). Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 hosts are not otherwise supported and USB-A hosts do not support displays or power delivery

Mini Sized, Mammoth Possibilities

The miniStack and the Mac mini have been the perfect pair since 2005. Now featuring Storage and Thunderbolt Xpansion, the miniStack STX continues its legacy as a top sidekick that the Mac mini can have.

With a universal 3.5/2.5" SATA HDD/SSD bay and an NVMe M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD slot, you can expand your mini s storage capacity to gigantic proportions. Three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports enable you to connect to millions of Thunderbolt, USB, and future USB4 drives, displays, A/V mixers, cameras, tablets, and desktop accessories like a keyboard, card reader, or mouse. The possibilities of how you can use your Mac mini is now only limited to your imagination.

Xpands Notebooks, Tablets, and More

While sized identically to the Mac mini, the miniStack STX is also a sleek, complementary companion for MacBook and PC computers, iPads, and Chromebooks. While highly powerful, these machines are often limited in the number and variety of ports they offer. The miniStack STX solves that expansion limitation with a new world of increased connectivity and storage capacity.

The Dual Drive Dynamo

Just like superheroes have an alter ego, so too does the miniStack STX. The universal SATA drive bay holds a hard disk drive or SSD for upstanding data storage performance with big capacity. When you need to support bandwidth-intensive operations, the NVMe M.2 SSD slot reveals miniStack STX s ferocious power. NVMe was designed to deliver the speed potential of modern flash drive technology by using a direct path to a computer s processor over PCIe. As a result, you can enjoy near instant access performance with the miniStack STX.

Edit, Save, and Access Like a Pro

With multiple drive configurations available, you can experience data transfer speeds of up to 770 MB/s. Move 5GB of GoPro footage in about 6 seconds, transfer thousands of photos of that priceless event in mere seconds, and use the SATA drive for Time Machine or File History backups while working off the NVMe drive. With heavyweight performance like this, the miniStack STX is great for multi-stream compressed 4K video editing, photography, audio, virtual machines, and everyday data tasks.

Easily Monitor and Protect Your Data

For even more power and security, add OWC s SoftRAID software to your miniStack STX and create a RAID 1 to automatically maintain identical copies of all your data on each drive. For over 25 years, SoftRAID has been a fully featured and powerful software RAID solution available for Mac and Windows. It starts protecting your data even before you start saving by validating the STX drives are safe for data storage. In the improbable event that you experience a disk issue, your data is still complete and accessible on the miniStack STX s other drive. SoftRAID then constantly monitors your disks with a combination of S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) attributes along with its own I/O statistics. This deep dive disk health analysis identifies potential problems so you can take preventive action. SoftRAID is available for both Mac and PC making it possible to share the miniStack STX between computers.

Move Between Mac and Windows

Transferring data between Macs and Windows PCs has become easier, but can be extremely time consuming using cloud or email transfers. Now you can do it directly with external drives and take advantage of crazy fast speeds to transfer huge amounts of data in no time at all thanks to OWC s MacDrive. This seamless Windows software runs in the background, so there s nothing to launch or learn. Simply unplug your HFS+ formatted drive from your Mac or PC and move it to your other computer. Not only do you have instant read access, but full write access. MacDrive also includes powerful features that enable you to create and partition and repair basic drive issues.

• Compatible: Works with all types of media including hard drives, SSDs, CD/DVD, etc.
• Access: Read and write Mac disks direct from Windows Explorer
• Manage: Format, partition, and delete Mac disks on your PC
• Repair: Built-in tools can safely fix basic drive issues
• Backups: Browse through Time Machine backups as well as copy those files and folders to your PC

Everything is better when you share. MacDrive makes it incredibly easy to move data between Mac and Windows PCs. If you live in a cross-platform environment MacDrive is a must.

A Resolutionary Idea

Whether your computer or tablet is sporting the latest technology or is a few years loved, the OWC miniStack STX gives you multiple options to expand your visual horizons, with single and dual display support, including:

• One 8K display at 60 Hz
• One 5K display at 60 Hz
• One 4K Display at 120 Hz
• Two 4K displays at 60 Hz
• One 4K display at 60 Hz
• One 4K display at 30 Hz

Single and Dual Display Support

• Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or M2): 4K at 30 Hz, 4K at 60 Hz, 5K at 60 Hz (Apple Studio Display or LG Ultrafine 5K)
• Apple Silicon Mac (M1 Pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra, M2 Pro, or M2 Max): 4K at 30 Hz, 4K at 60 Hz, Dual 4K at 60 Hz, 5K at 60 Hz (Apple Studio Display or LG Ultrafine 5K), Dual 5K at 6