12.0TB OWC Gemini - Thunderbolt 3 Dock and Dual-drive RAID Solution

After derping out and realizing that I took the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter but didn't have an actual thunderbolt 2 cable, I quickly moved from setting up my new Gemini with my M1 Macbook Air instead. The Gemini is meant to be a dock as well as an external storage drive and sports a variety of ports on the back so this may be a more natural fit. I was mainly looking for a two drive array that I could link to my aging Mac mini but that would be primed for my desktop getting an upgrade. Even though I don't need the dock features, the Gemini fits the bill. Accessing the inner chassis as as easy as removing two baby screws on the back and sliding the casing apart. I found two 4 TB Toshiba drives shipped in my 8 TB kit. Long term I'll probably replace these ... MoreAfter derping out and realizing that I took the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter but didn't have an actual thunderbolt 2 cable, I quickly moved from setting up my new Gemini with my M1 Macbook Air instead. The Gemini is meant to be a dock as well as an external storage drive and sports a variety of ports on the back so this may be a more natural fit. I was mainly looking for a two drive array that I could link to my aging Mac mini but that would be primed for my desktop getting an upgrade. Even though I don't need the dock features, the Gemini fits the bill. Accessing the inner chassis as as easy as removing two baby screws on the back and sliding the casing apart. I found two 4 TB Toshiba drives shipped in my 8 TB kit. Long term I'll probably replace these drives with something with redundancy. The RAID slider on the back is a snap and I quickly dialed to RAID 1. This lost me 4 TB of space but with the mirrored drives, I don't have to worry about a failure in one drive eating my data. The Gemini is surprisingly quiet, even when the old spinning hard drives are at work and it brings a tinge of nostalgia to hear the disc spinning in an age when everything is NVMe. The shell is surprisingly heavy but looks nice on a desk. I do wish that OWC would attempt to paint the shells to match Apple color schemes as its the one rogue black unit in my sea of silver aluminum but it is by no means an unattractive device. Overall, this is a great way for the casual home user to get a modest array that is not overly expensive, can be configured for data redundancy, and gives you the option of future expansion via replacing the existing drives with larger ones in the future. The device only has TB3 which puts it a bit out of date now that TB4 exists but the transfer speeds should still be fast enough for any home user. Enterprise users would no doubt want to look for a more proper dedicated TB4 array. If you need that thunderbolt 2 support, make sure you get the cables you need.

The important part right here at the beginning: It was as loud as our white noise machine in our bedroom, which we like, but has its place and purposethat is not on the computer desk. Such a good idea and could nearly be perfect but for the fan noise, which is both constantand very much unacceptable. I was curious after reading some reviews how bad it could be, and thought, I'm sure it's fine... Nope, not a chance. The included cable would keep this bay on the desk and within ~2 feet away. I spent over $100 for a 2 meter (~6 foot) Apple brand Thunderbolt 3 cable, and still it was too close, too loud. With an open and wishful mindset, this was a total bust for me. I read some reviews that said "not good for audio work", but honestly, who could this be ok for? I'm ... MoreThe important part right here at the beginning: It was as loud as our white noise machine in our bedroom, which we like, but has its place and purposethat is not on the computer desk. Such a good idea and could nearly be perfect but for the fan noise, which is both constantand very much unacceptable. I was curious after reading some reviews how bad it could be, and thought, I'm sure it's fine... Nope, not a chance. The included cable would keep this bay on the desk and within ~2 feet away. I spent over $100 for a 2 meter (~6 foot) Apple brand Thunderbolt 3 cable, and still it was too close, too loud. With an open and wishful mindset, this was a total bust for me. I read some reviews that said "not good for audio work", but honestly, who could this be ok for? I'm almost certain that OWC knows this is a serious issue with an otherwise great concept, because they intentionally don't include the dB level of the fan in the product description, like they do for their other docks/bays. And to be sure, I'm a big supporter of OWC's. I'm only leaving this critical review to help others avoid the order/return process like I went through and to put some pressure on OWC to step up their game and release an improved version of this with a near-silent fan. I ended up returning this for the ThunderBay 4 Mini (they have two versions, the newer version is also Thunderbolt 3!) for the exact same price as this empty dock. I'll keep my eye on this, and if they re-release it, I'll likely take another swing on an improved one. But for now, this was a real misfire from a usually reliable company. This dock is so promising, with all its ports and slots, but that fan is a non-starter.

Overall Im really happy with the Gemini. One note, as others have mentioned: it has no sound dampening at all. My Seagate Pro HD is unbearably loud to the point where I cant use it. Because of that, Im switching it out with an OWC SSD via the ShuttleOne. So if you are doing sound work / video, I would recommend *not* using a spinning disc drive.