October 20th, 2016, Motion FX Systems introduced ThunderPack™ Mini during Broadcast India 2016 show. The all-new ThunderPack™ Mini inherits the power, durability, and flexibility of the original ThunderPack but in a scale down design much more affordable for the average DIT.
ThunderPack™ Mini is a 32TB external Hard Disk Array with Thunderbolt 2 connection that can run for more than 6 hours on Li-ion batteries. It is designed to fit in a waterproof Peli 1430 case, sizing just 16.40″ x 8.71″ x 13.15″ (41.7 x 22.1 x 33.4 cm) thus has the size of a typical laptop bag. It weights 25lb (11,4Kg) fully loaded with 32Tbytes and 3x 98Wh Li-ion batteries thus it can fly as a carry-on “laptop accessory bag” together with your backpack in almost all western airlines.
ThunderPack™ Mini has an 8 bay 2,5” 15mm 12G SAS/SATA disk array which can be populated with all available HDDs and SSDs in the market. It uses the new Highpoint RR3740 12G SAS hardware Raid controller which is installed in a Thunderbolt 2 to PCIe v.3 bridge and delivers speeds that exceed 1000MB/sec or more, up to 1300MB/sec depending on the drives being used.
Apart from the Raid controller, the system has an external quad 12G SAS Mini-HD port to connect an external optional LTO drive along with two 2,5” 12mm trayless drive slots. The optional LTO/SSD/HDD drive can be powered directly from ThunderPack’s battery powered system.
The system’s advanced power supply has an auxiliary 12v 60W power output to connect all your card reader and monitoring devices and as well as 19v 75W power output to charge your MacBook or even your camera batteries! All that while the system can take power from any utility power source (90VAC to 265VAC), any external DC source up to 22v and as well as any 12v solar panel. An integrated 250W MPP Solar charger allows operation of the whole setup in the most remote areas of the world. Basically, with a ThunderPack Mini, you can camp anywhere in the world and have all your power needs covered.
Additionally, an integrated BMD Ultrastudio Mini Monitor gives you the HD-SDI video output you need to color grade or playback in a broadcast monitor all shooting materials.
ThunderPack™ Mini MSRP will start at 2.390€ for the basic Raid only version with 2x Li-ion batteries, for MSRP 3.990€ you will get the SAS LTO port with power to connect our new single or double LTO housing, up to the fully loaded BMD system with the advanced power management system including 3x Li-ion batteries with MSRP at 6.990€, all prices are without hard disks, ex-works. Pre-orders will start mid-March 2017 with first units ready to be delivered mid/end of June 2017.