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Thunderbolt SSD - best option?

Poki

Poki

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2012
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So now I need a SSD, as I didn't want to purchase the 256GB one from Apple. What is the best option?

Problem is, the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt is too loud, and the Seagate TB Adapter looks terrible and is not the best setup for a desktop. I'd like a daisy-chainable drive with at least 120 GB of storage, speeds of at least 450 MB/s read and absolutely silent (should be doable with a SSD ...). Is there something like this?
 
Poki

Poki

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Mar 21, 2012
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netvis said:
Lacie also released Rugged 256GB SSD Thunderbolt+USB3 drive:
http://www.lacie.com/intl/products/product.htm?id=10599

which should be fanless (noiseless).
Click to expand...

Yep, I saw this. It has a great price, great speed and is noiseless. Now the only problem is it's not possible to daisy-chain it, and as the Mini only got one TB port, I would no longer be able to use one of these as portable TB SSD for the respective current project I'm working on different places.

So, what I need is exactly this - only designed for desktops. No option there?

OCZ talked about there "Lightfoot" TB SSD back in march, but never heard something about this again, and not sure if it has a spare TB port either.
 
V

virtu

macrumors newbie
Apr 16, 2011
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0
Brazil
And for just a SSD drive? Which is the best option for an 128gb?
And need an adaptor to install it on the new MAC MINI 2012 entry level model?

Or just unplug the HDD and plug the SSD?

Thanks.
 
Poki

Poki

macrumors 65816
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Mar 21, 2012
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virtu said:
And for just a SSD drive? Which is the best option for an 128gb?
And need an adaptor to install it on the new MAC MINI 2012 entry level model?

Or just unplug the HDD and plug the SSD?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

You mean to build it into your Mac Mini? I'd recommend the OCZ Agility 4 as it's cheap and reliable. If you need even more speed, of course there are faster drives. Don't forget to buy a external 2.5" HDD enclosure to stick the 500GB drive in that came with your Mini.
 
V

virtu

macrumors newbie
Apr 16, 2011
14
0
Brazil
Poki said:
You mean to build it into your Mac Mini? I'd recommend the OCZ Agility 4 as it's cheap and reliable. If you need even more speed, of course there are faster drives. Don't forget to buy a external 2.5" HDD enclosure to stick the 500GB drive in that came with your Mini.
Click to expand...

Thanks Poki =)

And dont need any adapter to install the SSD into MAC MINI replacing the HDD to SSD?
 
Poki

Poki

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2012
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virtu said:
Thanks Poki =)

And dont need any adapter to install the SSD into MAC MINI replacing the HDD to SSD?
Click to expand...

No, but I don't know which screws are in the Mini. You may want to check at iFixIt.com before beginning to disassemble it. Be careful not to rip some of the small plastic cables in there.
 
fig

fig

macrumors 6502a
Jun 13, 2012
916
84
Austin, TX
virtu said:
And for just a SSD drive? Which is the best option for an 128gb?
And need an adaptor to install it on the new MAC MINI 2012 entry level model?

Or just unplug the HDD and plug the SSD?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Amazon has had some really good deals on the Crucial m4 and Samsung 830 SSDs recently, keep an eye out and pick one up on sale. I've got an m4 in my iMac and it's been great.
 
Poki

Poki

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Mar 21, 2012
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Back to external TB SSDs - is there any drive like the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt out there that is silent (and possibly cheaper as the LaCie uses 2x120 GB Intel SSDs which makes it much more expensive than single SSD drives)?
 
P

propower

macrumors 6502a
Jul 23, 2010
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As of today the External TB drive cases seem almost nonexistent.

For me, similar situation, I am considering USB3. USB3 is a 5Gb/s protocol and TB is 10Gb/s. I found a link that showed sustained reads and writes to an external USB3 SSD that were > 200MB/s. That is good enough for me/ What about you?
 
Poki

Poki

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2012
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propower said:
As of today the External TB drive cases seem almost nonexistent.

For me, similar situation, I am considering USB3. USB3 is a 5Gb/s protocol and TB is 10Gb/s. I found a link that showed sustained reads and writes to an external USB3 SSD that were > 200MB/s. That is good enough for me/ What about you?
Click to expand...

I want Thunderbolt for several reasons. It's obviously faster with - very important - less latency, you don't ran out of ports (I'll need the 4 USB 3.0 ports for 3,5" drives and a DAC) and you can chain multple drives and put them in RAID to get even more performance.

However, I may have to go with USB in the beginning as there's no TB drive that suites my needs and USB enclosures are very cheap anyways.
 
philipma1957

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
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Howell, New Jersey
Poki said:
Back to external TB SSDs - is there any drive like the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt out there that is silent (and possibly cheaper as the LaCie uses 2x120 GB Intel SSDs which makes it much more expensive than single SSD drives)?
Click to expand...

yes


http://www.macmall.com/p/LaCie-Hard-Drives/product~dpno~9105214~pdp.hcjeaji

pull the 2 hdds detach the fan and put in two of these


http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...=8-1&keywords=samsung+256gb+ssd&condition=new


I have run 2 lacie little big disks daisy chained in raid0 for almost 9 months as my boot drive. flawless.


read thread


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1280118/
 
philipma1957

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
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Howell, New Jersey
Poki said:
The first link doesn't work.

And I assume this costs me far more than 500€? I'm sure it is possible to get a 120/256 GB SSD in a Thunderbolt enclosure for less.
Click to expand...

the t-bolt is 209 usd a huge discount from 449 list. drop in any 2 128ssds you would be well under 350 Euro.


here is a screen shot
 

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Poki

Poki

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2012
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philipma1957 said:
the t-bolt is 209 usd a huge discount from 449 list. drop in any 2 128ssds you would be well under 350 Euro.


here is a screen shot
Click to expand...

Can't order there from Austria, but I could order the version with the SSDs inside for about 450€. Are you sure I can pull out the fan without getting any heat problems?
 
philipma1957

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
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Howell, New Jersey
Poki said:
Can't order there from Austria, but I could order the version with the SSDs inside for about 450€. Are you sure I can pull out the fan without getting any heat problems?
Click to expand...

i have been running mine without fans for more then 8 months. this applies to ssds only as they run much cooler then hdds. i give my lacies some breathing room and they are fine.
 
Poki

Poki

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Original poster
Mar 21, 2012
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philipma1957 said:
i have been running mine without fans for more then 8 months. this applies to ssds only as they run much cooler then hdds. i give my lacies some breathing room and they are fine.
Click to expand...

Okay, I might try this when I scratched the money together.
 
Poki

Poki

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Mar 21, 2012
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OldSchoolMacGuy said:
Lacie has the highest failure rate of any drives in the industry. I'd stay away from them unless you're looking to keep data recovery companies in business (which you're pretty much screwed when it comes to SSDs).
Click to expand...

Yesterday, I heard OCZ has the industries highest failure rate, today it' LaCie ... Any study which shows the real numbers?
 
OldSchoolMacGuy

OldSchoolMacGuy

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Jul 10, 2008
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Poki said:
Yesterday, I heard OCZ has the industries highest failure rate, today it' LaCie ... Any study which shows the real numbers?
Click to expand...

I'm just going by what I've seen working in the data recovery industry with companies like Drive Savers and Kroll for years. LaCie messes everything up with their own proprietary firmware that's junk. But hey, it keeps us in business.

I can see OCZ being bad when it comes to SSD drives. They're generally bargain basement priced with slow speeds that come with going cheap.
 
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