Lacie Thunderbolt eSATA Hub mini review

[Mr. Retrofire]

Originally Posted by theSeb

...the G-tech drive I tested has an Oxford chipset (936)...

Interesting! Here is a list of controllers:
http://www.plxtech.com/products/consumer/das

Which version is in your G-tech drive? Btw, barefeats tested the NewerTech Guardian MAXimus mini, which contains a "Oxford 936DS chipset with eSATA, FW800(1394B), and USB 2.0". :-)

And, btw, thanks for test! Very helpful!:-)

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Edit: Some sites say that quad-interface enclosures with Oxford (PLX) chipsets do not work with the LaCie Thunderbolt eSATA adapter. However, MR users report that the following quad-interface enclosures or Oxford chipsets work with the LaCie Thunderbolt eSATA adapter.

Format of the following lines:
(Oxford chipset) / (enclosure (if known)) / (tested by (MR user))


Oxford 936DS / NewerTech Guardian MAXimus mini / barefeats.com
Oxford 936QSE / OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 / eemzah
Oxford 946DSE / OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini / eemzah

Oxford (PLX) chipsets: http://www.plxtech.com/products/consumer/das
Data sources: OWC & MacRumors

[ChipWarren]

My set up:

Macbook Pro Retina
Lacie Thunderbolt Hub to:
CalDigit VR Mini 2TB (RAID 1)
G-Speed Q 10 TB (RAID 5)

I didn't research drive mounting issues prior to my purchase, but either way I was already equipped with the two drives listed above. The first time I plugged everything up, it was like magic: both drives popped onto my desktop and I was off to the races. This was three days ago.

Through yesterday, I had no mounting issues and I worked off of the G-Speed all day yesterday. Then at one point, I had an issue with the drives mounting, in the following scenario:

The hub was plugged in, Macbook on, and then I turned on the drives. No love. I read in the manual that I should turn on the drives, THEN plug in the Thunderbolt cable. I did so, and everything mounted just fine.

Today, however, I can't get the drives to mount at all. The G-Speed shows up in Disk Utility, but it won't mount on the desktop. I've tried every order of powering up, restarting, etc. I'm flummoxed as to why everything would work like a dream, then nada...

Any ideas?

Thank,

Chip

[g4cube]

Are the volumes grayed out in Disk Utility?

If grayed out, try First Aid.

Did you at any time "sleep" the Mac with drives connected? Not recommended.

Most likely the volumes are corrupted.

Confirm that drives can be seen in the SATA section of Apple System Profiler, and that Thunderbolt section does show the LaCie connection.

Yes, it is better that drives be powered on and ready when first connected, as there is no real support in the SATA spec for hot-plugging. Avoid sleeping OS X when external drives are connected, especially if it takes awhile for the drives to spin up. They may not spin up and be ready within the timeframe Apple's AHCI driver is willing to wait.

Sometimes Finder will detect a drive issue when waking from sleep or first connect, and then perform a First Aid check in the background before mounting the drive. This can take a long time.

[Toraen]

Does this supported bus powering of 2.5" drives in an eSATA enclosure? I don't know if that's a deal breaker for me but I wanted to minimize cables.

[g4cube]

Originally Posted by Toraen

Does this supported bus powering of 2.5" drives in an eSATA enclosure? I don't know if that's a deal breaker for me but I wanted to minimize cables.

The LaCie eSATA Hub does not provide any power to the eSATA connections.

[Jareku]

Sorry to say, but the hub does not work with 3 of my 3 eSata devices.
Lacie answered to my claim that it works only with:

Optimized products*
d2 Quadra USB 2.0
d2 Quadra USB 3.0
2big Quadra
4big Quadra
Big disk Quadra
Little Big Disk Quadra
Rugged XL
Hard Disk MAX by Neil Poulton Quadra

Compatible with limitations**
d2 Quadra Entreprise Class
2big Quadra Entreprise Class
4big Quadra Entreprise Class

So even Lacie products are not fully supported?
Disappointing. And I heard from their support that they are not going to accept my claim.
Nice paperweight, Lacie!

Jareku

[g4cube]

Originally Posted by Jareku

Sorry to say, but the hub does not work with 3 of my 3 eSata devices.

So what you are saying is that LaCie is responsible for the hub not working with your unknown devices? Perhaps your device manufacturers may have some insight as to why they aren't?

I see that the specs for the LaCie Hub is pretty clear with what devices it is compatible with. At least for what you were told, and what is listed on the website.

Have you contacted the manufacturer of your eSATA devices to ask them how they might be made more compatible?

I understand that the LaCie Hub is not compatible with any port multiplier products; this means for RAID devices, the drives must have a hardware RAID controller, and the eSATA interface must present the multiple drives inside an eSATA RAID device as one logical volume.

What does Apple System Profiler report when you connect your device?

And finally, as to not honoring your claim, what do you mean? Can't you simply return the Hub to your reseller for a refund? Did your reseller promise that it was compatible? What are the devices you are having issues with?

[Magrathea]

Getting rid of my one for $150. PM me. Don't really use it so may as well sell it'