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philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,362
248
Howell, New Jersey
Okay I just ordered one directly from seagate.


go to the accessory page and it is there.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/accessories

STAE121


99 no shipping or tax.

when it arrives i will test it with a samsung 512gb series 830 ssd sata III

an intel 600gb ssd and sata II type

a series 470 samsung 128gb ssd sata II type




Pretty costly 99 plus 50 is 149 .

usb3 cases are as low as 15.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817388031



ON THE PLUS SIDE this will run with just the t-bolt cable. I should post results in a few days.
 

paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
If only monoprice.com would release a thunderbolt cable....

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Also, this seems like the perfect device for adding an external SSD to a base 2011 iMac. Rather than tearing apart the iMac to add an SSD, you could just hang this off the outside. Just a thought.
 

Adamantoise

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2011
991
388
If only monoprice.com would release a thunderbolt cable....

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Also, this seems like the perfect device for adding an external SSD to a base 2011 iMac. Rather than tearing apart the iMac to add an SSD, you could just hang this off the outside. Just a thought.

Lol, I seriously doubt Monoprice can produce a Thunderbolt cable cheaper ... Apple breaks even on their cables.

Thunderbolt is an expensive protocol to adopt, do you think that 10gbps bandwidth doesn't come with a price? I suggest you take a look at the teardown of the cable to understand the sort of hardware required to make such a protocol feasible.

In good time, the prices will come down, but as of now, those ICs are expensive for a reason.
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,362
248
Howell, New Jersey
I think the t-bolt cable could drop in price. New mobo for ivy bridge will have t-bolt connections. This means the world of pc will get t-bolt. I have used both t-bolt and usb3 and t-bolt is far better with one exception PRICE
 

Adamantoise

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2011
991
388
I think the t-bolt cable could drop in price. New mobo for ivy bridge will have t-bolt connections. This means the world of pc will get t-bolt. I have used both t-bolt and usb3 and t-bolt is far better with one exception PRICE

I think you're overstating the effect Windows adoption of Thunderbolt might have on its retail price.

Apple's Thunderbolt cables have their transceivers 'baked' into them. What this does is ensure that the Thunderbolt ports on this generation of Mac computers are compatible with future revisions of the protocol.

Unless computer companies start to bake the transceivers into the ports themselves (as opposed to the cables), the price of the cables isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
 

belvdr

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2005
5,945
1,372
I think you're overstating the effect Windows adoption of Thunderbolt might have on its retail price.

Apple's Thunderbolt cables have their transceivers 'baked' into them. What this does is ensure that the Thunderbolt ports on this generation of Mac computers are compatible with future revisions of the protocol.

Unless computer companies start to bake the transceivers into the ports themselves (as opposed to the cables), the price of the cables isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I think he meant that increased demand will reduce the cost over time, as it will become more of a generic cable, just like SCSI, Firewire, HDMI, and many other cables did.
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,362
248
Howell, New Jersey
I think he meant that increased demand will reduce the cost over time, as it will become more of a generic cable, just like SCSI, Firewire, HDMI, and many other cables did.

This is what I meant and thank you for saying it better then I was able to do.

Basically t-bolt is faster more stable then usb3.

Also the connector makes a deep sturdy connection not prone to come loose. I have purchased and tested most of the storage options out there.

Pegasus

lacie

sonnet express card adapter

now seagate.

all have been stable fast gear.

The pegasus and the lacie are really good for booting and working without

screwups.

If it works well this seagate adapter will completely end the iMac trapped internal drive issue. Also the 27 inch iMac has 2 t-bolt adapters which will solve the lack of a daisy chain issue.

the seagate adapter will also make server mac minis have a killer ssd with no effort at all.
 

paulrbeers

macrumors 68040
Dec 17, 2009
3,963
123
Lol, I seriously doubt Monoprice can produce a Thunderbolt cable cheaper ... Apple breaks even on their cables.

Thunderbolt is an expensive protocol to adopt, do you think that 10gbps bandwidth doesn't come with a price? I suggest you take a look at the teardown of the cable to understand the sort of hardware required to make such a protocol feasible.

In good time, the prices will come down, but as of now, those ICs are expensive for a reason.

I don't deny that there is more to it than a straight cable (i.e. the active circuitry necessary to make it all work). Just saying, at some point cheaper cables woudl be nice.

As for stating Apple breaks even on their cables, now this I call bull on. If that were truly the case, then everyone would charge $30+ dollars for a mini-displayport to HDMI adapter and there really wouldn't be any 3rd parties selling these cables. Look at iPod cables. I can buy those from tons of websites for $2, and yet Apple charges a lot more than that.

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If it works well this seagate adapter will completely end the iMac trapped internal drive issue. Also the 27 inch iMac has 2 t-bolt adapters which will solve the lack of a daisy chain issue.

the seagate adapter will also make server mac minis have a killer ssd with no effort at all.

Exactly!! Why tear apart an iMac, when a simple SSD hooked to one of these would give you the same bandwidth. It would be nice to not have to tear out one of your 500GB drives in the Mac Mini Server in order to replace with an SSD. I'd pay $150 not to have to risk losing my warranty by ripping apart my iMac and/or Mac Mini and still have the SSD goodness!
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,362
248
Howell, New Jersey
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Exactly!! Why tear apart an iMac, when a simple SSD hooked to one of these would give you the same bandwidth. It would be nice to not have to tear out one of your 500GB drives in the Mac Mini Server in order to replace with an SSD. I'd pay $150 not to have to risk losing my warranty by ripping apart my iMac and/or Mac Mini and still have the SSD goodness!

I am looking forward to this piece of gear.

I will say this much these items may kill off the mac pro not for a while but down the road a bit.


An ivy bridge hex core in an imac that has 4 t-bolt connectors would be a monster machine.
 

RaymondBlink

macrumors newbie
Feb 7, 2012
1
0
Cityville Hack
Btw, Philip, when you boot from the Pegasus what sort of speeds (Read & Write, Random and Sequential) are you seeing, roughly?
Microsoft Points Codes

Amen, I'd be really interested if you wouldn't mind a quick update with the Read/Write (Random/Sequential) speeds you're seeing with the Thunderbolt cable!

Been debating getting one of these just to have a look, but not sure I could justify spending in excess of £100 on a cable to the girlfriend...:rolleyes::p
 
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philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,362
248
Howell, New Jersey
Btw, Philip, when you boot from the Pegasus what sort of speeds (Read & Write, Random and Sequential) are you seeing, roughly?

It is kind of funny about the pegasus.

testing it is not that easy.

here is two samsung 256gb ssds sata III series 470/810 in a 512gb raid0 about 155gb full


Amen, I'd be really interested if you wouldn't mind a quick update with the Read/Write (Random/Sequential) speeds you're seeing with the Thunderbolt cable!

Been debating getting one of these just to have a look, but not sure I could justify spending in excess of £100 on a cable to the girlfriend...:rolleyes::p

I am waiting on the seagate t-bolt adapter.

i run xbench for the drives only with a 2.3 mac mini 2011.

give me till tonight i will put this lacie on the server and run the same xbench then I will do some pegasus test for you.
 

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imahawki

macrumors 6502a
Apr 26, 2011
612
8
No GoFlex DESK adapter? Seagate better come through, I bought the damn thing for the future compatibility they promised.
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,362
248
Howell, New Jersey
No GoFlex DESK adapter? Seagate better come through, I bought the damn thing for the future compatibility they promised.

It is supposed to come out in a month or so.

remember the real use for 1 drive t-bolt is ssd. (500 read 400 write)

not a stand alone 2 or 3 tb drive hdd. (160 read 140 write)

of course a 2 drive unit would be nice.
 

Riverrun

macrumors regular
Jul 11, 2007
145
1
~
It is supposed to come out in a month or so.

remember the real use for 1 drive t-bolt is ssd. (500 read 400 write)

not a stand alone 2 or 3 tb drive hdd. (160 read 140 write)

of course a 2 drive unit would be nice.

A two drive unit would be great. Maybe OWC will come up with something. I know they're selling Pegasus and a few other TB odds and ends but they haven't produced anything of their own yet. Let's hope they come up with a dual.

500 read 400 write, tasty, I'll be buying a Seagate myself if they're capable of those speeds. I have a TB cable and I'm just waiting for the right piece of 'gear' to appear, maybe this is it.
 

nydennis

macrumors regular
Dec 21, 2011
130
7
Long Island, NY
Hopefully Thermaltake comes out with a Thunderbolt version of the blackx. I have had the USB /esata versions for years and loved them on my pc. I have both the single drive and dual drive units.
 
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