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New Thunderbolt dock from Monoprice

M

Makaveli6103

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 31, 2009
385
0
Kansas City, MO
Monoprice just released a great thunderbolt dock. It is a little steep at $250 but looks better than others I have seen.

Two Thunderbolt ports for lightning fast speeds up to 10Gb/s
Daisy chain up to 6 Thunderbolt devices
Two eSATA host ports (up to 6Gb/s)
One 7 watt bus-powered FireWire 800 host port
Two bus-powered USB 3.0 host ports (supports UASP)
Durable and rugged aluminum casing

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=113&cp_id=11307&cs_id=1130705&p_id=10946&seq=1&format=2
 
matreya

matreya

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2009
1,286
127
Weaselboy said:
Looks like they are just selling this one from Akitio. Better price on MonoPrice though!
Click to expand...

It does say in the description "Monoprice Thunder Dock powered by AKiTiO" - but the case looks different... not a big saving over the Amazon one though, but Amazon won't ship it to me (Australia).
 
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Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,137
15,602
California
matreya said:
It does say in the description "Monoprice Thunder Dock powered by AKiTiO" - but the case looks different... not a big saving over the Amazon one though, but Amazon won't ship it to me (Australia).
Click to expand...

I think it is exactly the same case. They even both use the same graphic showing connections.

4hRcHr1.png
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,137
15,602
California
matreya said:
Check the picture gallery at the top part of the page, and it appears different to the Akitio one...

Image
Click to expand...

I think that is just a different angle and you can't see the lights because it is off. That image I posted is the exact same image from Monoprice and Amazon.
 
hfg

hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
matreya said:
Check the picture gallery at the top part of the page, and it appears different to the Akitio one...

Image
Click to expand...

It is identical to the Akitio, and they even say it is from Akitio. If you look closely at the image you posted you can even see the Akitio name at the back by the lights which they tried (poorly) to obscure.

BTW: I have one of the Akitio docks hooked to my Mac Mini Server (Thunderbolt but only USB 2) to get the USB 3.0 ports and eSATA for a NAS backup RAID array. It is working very well so far, although it does have a rather odd port arrangement (i.e. power input on opposite end from Thunderbolt port).
 
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M

MrX8503

macrumors 68020
Sep 19, 2010
2,292
1,614
I bought a thunderbolt enclosure from Monoprice and it IS Akitio. I would assume the same is for this dock.
 
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cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
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You can actually find the Akitio in USA a bit cheaper than at monoprice's website.

The inXtron/Macpower/Akitio is rebadged as RaidSonic and Thomann in Europe.
 
alphaod

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
So can this thing be bus powered (via Thunderbolt)?

I currently have the Belkin one. It's alright, but it needs to be plugged in, so it's not portable.
 
C

cube

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May 10, 2004
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MrX8503 said:
That's hard to say. Theoretically it should, since it's still SATA and you can pass TRIM commands through SATA or Thunderbolt.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is a driver question, not about what the hardware can do.
 
matreya

matreya

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2009
1,286
127
cube said:
Yes, it is a driver question, not about what the hardware can do.
Click to expand...

Well, I have a couple of Akitio Thunder Duo enclosures with Samsung 840 EVO SSDs in them, and the only way to get TRIM working with them was by having TRIM Enabler installed.

I'm using Yosemite DP5 atm, so no Trim Enabler... and I don't want to use the current hack the author has put up that disables kext security..
 
C

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,972
matreya said:
Well, I have a couple of Akitio Thunder Duo enclosures with Samsung 840 EVO SSDs in them, and the only way to get TRIM working with them was by having TRIM Enabler installed.

I'm using Yosemite DP5 atm, so no Trim Enabler... and I don't want to use the current hack the author has put up that disables kext security..
Click to expand...

Can't you just patch the driver the proper way? With a search and replace command, like it has been possible until Mavericks?
 
matreya

matreya

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2009
1,286
127
cube said:
Can't you just patch the driver the proper way? With a search and replace command, like it has been possible until Mavericks?
Click to expand...

I haven't done that for fear that the kext involved is rendered insecure by Yosemite... really don't want to brick my iMac :)
 
C

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
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There's a boot argument that can be added to the nvram to disable the check allowing the Mac to boot, if one is ok with that.

In any case, having an alternative boot volume, and a copy of the original kext should be enough safety against bricking.
 
C

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
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Apple should stop fooling around and implement a proper SSD model white list to weed out the crap, that a power user can extend at their own risk.
 
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