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LaCie Thunderbolt Little BigDisk Disassembled - Pics SSD XFer Rates Added

ender21

ender21

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 15, 2010
308
63
Southern Cal
Update #2: Transfer using SSD. I used two Crucial M4 64GB SSDs (FW0009). Using the same 6.22GB file.

1) Block Size 64K
TO Drive - 207MB/s - Peak 216MB/s
FR Drive - 183MB/s - Peak 204MB/s

2) Block Size 128K
TO Drive - 214MB/s - Peak 220MB/s
FR Drive - 188MB/s - Peak 192MB/s

3) Block Size 256K
TO Drive - 214MB/s - Peak 220MB/s
FR Drive - 188MB/s - Peak 222MB/s


UPDATE #1: With Transfer rates. I only did one transfer per configuration, using a 6.22GB Quicktime file, reading from a 6Gbps SSD to the TB Drive, and back again.

1) 1 7200RPM 500GB Drive
6.22GB File
TO Drive - 67 secs = 93MB/s - Peak 106MB/s
FR Drive - 60 secs = 103MB/s - Peak 119.5MB/s

2) 2 7200RPM 500GB Drives - Raid 0
6.22GB File -
Block Size 256K
TO Drive - 41 secs = 152MB/s - Forgot to note Peak
FR Drive - 32 secs = 194MB/s - Peak 197.5MB/s
Block Size 128K
TO Drive - 41 secs = 152MB/s - Peak 175.5MB/s
FR Drive - 32 secs = 194MB/s - Peak 202MB/s
Block Size 64K
TO Drive - 38 secs = 163.6MB/s - Peak 193MB/s
FR Drive - 32 secs = 194 MB/s - Peak 197MB/s
Block Size 32K
TO Drive - 39 secs = 159MB/s - Peak 185MB/s
FR Drive - 31 secs = 200MB/s - Peak 199.9MB/s

3) 1 5400RPM Seagate 1TB Drive
TO Drive - 72 secs = 86MB/s - Peak 96MB/s
FR Drive - 72 secs = 86MB/s - Peak 96MB/s

Original Post:
A few of you asked if I could post pictures of the Little BigDisk's innards, so here ya go. 1TB Model:

IMG0204-M.jpg


IMG0208-M.jpg

Only 1 of these screws was actually covered by a gray decal.

IMG0212-M.jpg

Remove 4 long screws and both caps fall off the case. The two screws on the side release the interior assembly.

IMG0215-M.jpg

The top drive is fastened by *only* the two top screws. The bottom drive is fastened with the two bottom screws, and an additional four screws on the bottom, seen below.

IMG0216-M.jpg


IMG0218-M.jpg

Almost complete disassembly. The remaining interior caps are both removable, and the metal bracket lifts right off its posts. Hitachi 3Gbps drives. P/N: H2T5001672S

IMG0220-M.jpg

It was way too easy to remove this sata connector from the board.

IMG0222-M.jpg

I have no idea what is what, but there it is.
 
Last edited:
A rather large circuit board.

Thanks

Do you think you voided your warranty? or do you think you can replace the sticker without anyone knowing?

No way i'm voiding my warranty on something like this. Too new tech, and too mechanical.
 
Does it still work after you put it back together?

Does this mean the hard drives are user-swappable?
 
macbook123 said:
Does it still work after you put it back together?

Does this mean the hard drives are user-swappable?
Click to expand...

Geesh, your kidding right?

I would hope it still works. :D Of course then again, if it was me doing it it would be iffy ;) .

But I can say without knowing anything, that the hard drives are NOT user swappable, in regards to an intact warranty. But as far as it working, I imagine you can throw in just about anything as apparently you can change the raid mode (which is great).

Again, my only concern would be the warranty. I almost always, am not overly concerned about this, but this thing makes me nervous. Talk about bleeding edge. This is the first device made of it's kind, using a completely new technology, that's exclusive to a single company; pretty much that is (albeit, a rather large company).

So what are the odds these are going to crap out.
 
Well, in theory the drives are probably the most fragile part, which of course doesn't matter. I have also heard of people having power supply issues with other LaCie drives, but I'm not sure if that is the case any more.

Personally I would be most concerned with heat if I was going to swap the drives with other traditional drives. SSDs should be pretty safe.
 
admanimal said:
Well, in theory the drives are probably the most fragile part, which of course doesn't matter. I have also heard of people having power supply issues with other LaCie drives, but I'm not sure if that is the case any more.

Personally I would be most concerned with heat if I was going to swap the drives with other traditional drives. SSDs should be pretty safe.
Click to expand...

I'm sure the warranty is void. But it didn't appear to be a "warranty void if removed" sticker. It was just one of those gray circles that was used to cosmetically cover the screws. It wasn't even hard to remove, though I'm sure i've misplaced it at this point.

But I planned on opening this thing up and potentially swapping out the drives the minute I bought it, so I'm not overly concerned.

I'll be finding out whether or not it still works just as soon as UPS arrives with a thunderbolt cable today.

I did have grand designs on making a franken-thunderbolt, getting sata extenders and throwing in some 3.5" drives, but I'm quite certain the power supply won't be adequate for that. But I do have two 5400rpm 1TB 2.5" disks here, so I might try to hook them up to see what performance between 7200 & 5400 real world is.
 
OP, can you give some more background information?

You had the 2 TB Lacie and want to swap the two 1 TB drives for what?

I'm thinking of getting the 1 TB Lacie with the two 500 GB drives, and am hoping in a year or so they'll make 1 TB drives with 7200 rpm that i can use to replace the two 500 GB drives. Is this hope at all realistic?
 
Hi ender21,
thanks for your post.
Would you please post an high resolution image of the main board to see what SATA controller is used?
It could probably be the chip near SATA connectors... can you find the chip model?
If the controller is SATA3 (6Gbit/s) it would be possible to replace the hard disks with newer very fast SSDs at an affordable price... ;)
thanks again
 
Based on the specs on LaCie's web site, it appears that the SSD version will have 6Gbps SATA. In fact they specifically say the SSDs are "professional grade 6Gb/s." I'm guessing this HDD version is only SATA II.
 
admanimal said:
Based on the specs on LaCie's web site, it appears that the SSD version will have 6Gbps SATA. In fact they specifically say the SSDs are "professional grade 6Gb/s." I'm guessing this HDD version is only SATA II.
Click to expand...

You think they made two different cases and motherboards? I wouldn't think the controllers would cost much more for the SATA3. They probably cost about the same. I don't know.
 
mac jones said:
You think they made two different cases and motherboards? I wouldn't think the controllers would cost much more for the SATA3. They probably cost about the same. I don't know.
Click to expand...

You could be right, and I would be more inclined to think that if they released both HDD and SSD models at the same time. But I am less optimistic given that they didn't, and the drives used in this model are only SATA II,
 
Could folks please comment on whether it is a realistic hope to be able to replace the two 500 GB drives by larger HDD's in the future, or even better by one SSD and one larger HDD in the future?

Or are we completely in the dark about all this?
 
Added Transfer Rates

Folks I edited my OP and added all the transfer rates I got in various configurations.
 
With 2 Corsair Force GT SSDs (555 MBytes/s each one...) we can saturate the Thunderbolt bandwidth (1 GBytes/s) and maximize throughput :D but the interface is obviously SATA3...
The simple question is: what is this chip? ;)

IMG0222.jpg
 
macbook123 said:
Could folks please comment on whether it is a realistic hope to be able to replace the two 500 GB drives by larger HDD's in the future, or even better by one SSD and one larger HDD in the future?

Or are we completely in the dark about all this?
Click to expand...

You could certainly do an SSD HDD combo, provided the HDD you use isn't too large physically.

As far as adding larger capacity drives in the future: I would think so, provided the drives are available in thinner physical sizes. I could only attach 1 of my 1TB drives. I would have jury-rigged the second if I had the proper cables and adapters, but installing two 12mm drives into this assembly just isn't going to happen.

Besides, LaCie does offer a 2TB version if you wanted that capacity now.
 
ender21 said:
You could certainly do an SSD HDD combo, provided the HDD you use isn't too large physically.

As far as adding larger capacity drives in the future: I would think so, provided the drives are available in thinner physical sizes. I could only attach 1 of my 1TB drives. I would have jury-rigged the second if I had the proper cables and adapters, but installing two 12mm drives into this assembly just isn't going to happen.

Besides, LaCie does offer a 2TB version if you wanted that capacity now.
Click to expand...


Yes it's a nice arrangement. Room for two drives is a big plus, and it still is small.

I'm not a huge fan of RAID. My RAID drives are a bit odd. They are okay, but power down a lot. It takes them a while to get back online. But I don't have that much experience with them. I only have 2 G-tech FW800 RAID drives.
 
luke99 said:
With 2 Corsair Force GT SSDs (555 MBytes/s each one...) we can saturate the Thunderbolt bandwidth (1 GBytes/s) and maximize throughput :D but the interface is obviously SATA3...
The simple question is: what is this chip? ;)

View attachment 303463
Click to expand...

Those traces run to Rx+/- and Tx+/- so a SATA controller? Gonna guess it's an 88se9130 by the looks of the chip package.
 
kbfr08 said:
Those traces run to Rx+/- and Tx+/- so a SATA controller? Gonna guess it's an 88se9130 by the looks of the chip package.
Click to expand...

No, the 88se9130 has a 76 pin QFN package. Our chip has only 56 pins...
Please ender21, let us know the answer...
 
Every LaCie drive, cd, DVD, burners and hard drives that i have purchased have always had failed power supplies. I can't believe apple is working with them !! Please apple work with someone that is reliable.

All my LaCie stuff failed shortly after the warranty is up, so I had to pull drives and put them in cheap compusa enclosures which are still working.
 
spacepower7 said:
Every LaCie drive, cd, DVD, burners and hard drives that i have purchased have always had failed power supplies. I can't believe apple is working with them !! Please apple work with someone that is reliable.

All my LaCie stuff failed shortly after the warranty is up, so I had to pull drives and put them in cheap compusa enclosures which are still working.
Click to expand...

Compusa?

That must have been quite a while ago. Maybe they have gotten better?

We shall see.
 
luke99 said:
No, the 88se9130 has a 76 pin QFN package. Our chip has only 56 pins...
Please ender21, let us know the answer...
Click to expand...

Uggh.. I tried best I could to see the writing on that chip but, while I was a champ at burning leaves and ants with magnifying glasses when I was a kid, I don't even own one now! I would have used my macro lens on my SLR if I had it, but that's in the shop. Sorry!
 
ender21 said:
Uggh.. I tried best I could to see the writing on that chip but, while I was a champ at burning leaves and ants with magnifying glasses when I was a kid, I don't even own one now! I would have used my macro lens on my SLR if I had it, but that's in the shop. Sorry!
Click to expand...

Many thanks for your attempts and patience... time passes for all :)
The last attempt, if possible, could be to take a closer photo shoot of the area with your iPhone4 hoping for better details...
Thank you again
 
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