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Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter SSD Tests (Crucial & OCZ)

M

mackry

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 3, 2007
55
1
Hi there,

I wanted to quickly share my results with the Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter paired with a Crucial m4 128GB SDD, OCZ Vertex 4 128GB, and an older OCZ Vertex 2 128GB SSD.


photo%201.JPG



The drives are simply connected to the Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter via Apple's expensive 2m Thunderbolt cord during these tests. The tests are done with the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test app.




First Test: Crucial m4 128GB SSD (000F firmware)

Write: 195.0 MB/s
Read: 386.0 MB/s

photo%202.JPG

Crucial-m4.png





Second Test: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD (v1.5 firmware)



Write: 352.8 MB/s
Read: 368.7 MB/s

Vertex-4-Photo.jpg

Vertex-4.png





Third Test: OCZ Vertex 2 128GB SSD (v1.37 firmware)

Write: 105.6 MB/s
Read: 207.8 MB/s

Vertex-2.png




I'm installing the Crucial m4 as my boot drive and I will be doing a clean install of Mountain Lion, so I will re-run the test and post those results as well.

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
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might be a retarded question, but wouldn't a seagate USB 3.0 have the same speed?
 
I would imagine it wouldn't be as fast, but it would be a nice test to see.
 
mackry said:
I would imagine it wouldn't be as fast, but it would be a nice test to see.
Click to expand...


Well supposedly transfer speeds of USB 3.0 are 625mb/s. but we all know real life results always differ. Whenever i get my samsung 830 i'll test it with my seagate 3.0 and post it.
 
Updated with results from the OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD. Surprisingly, near double write speed.
 
Hey man great post!

I was hoping you could answer a question or two

Is it reliable? Does it randomly disconnect? Ive seen a few people complain that it works very... finicky.

I also was wondering if it was pretty much plug and play? Was there anything you had to do to get the SSD running on it?
 
antman2x2 said:
Hey man great post!

I was hoping you could answer a question or two

Is it reliable? Does it randomly disconnect? Ive seen a few people complain that it works very... finicky.

I also was wondering if it was pretty much plug and play? Was there anything you had to do to get the SSD running on it?
Click to expand...

So far yep. No hiccups or disconnects. And yes, completely plug and play!
 
Hi. I also tested some SSD's on the seagate thunderbolt adapter as well as a buffalo ministation thunderbolt enclosure. My end use was to use as an external thunderbolt drive for my MBA. The only reason why I went through so many drives was because of the instability issues I had with a number of drives as mentioned below.

Intel 330 240gb - I ended up using the buffalo enclosure with this drive. Seems very stable with transfer speeds of 240MB/s write and 365 MB/s read. (This is the drive that I kept.)

OCZ Vertex 3 (120GB) - Used on Seagate Adapters. Drive appeared to work in all configurations, however, the drive was slow (~195 MB/s read and write.) I say it was slow only because I'm seeing over 200MB/s from my Seagate Goflex desktop drive. I did not have the drive available when I purchased the buffalo enclosure.

Crucial M4 (256GB) - Nothing but problems. The drive kept disconnecting in most configurations and a call to Crucial did not help. When I was able to get a reading the speed was approximately 230 write, 350 read, however it was too unreliable to use.

OCZ Vertex 4 (256) - This drive is fasted 360MB/s in read and write, however, it appears very unstable and I constantly get disconnect messages when its connected directly to my MBA. When I connect through a daisy chain then it seems to work. It seems like a nice drive but not stable enough to rely on. Also, when using the Buffalo, the Vertex 4 did not get recognized when using the USB port.

Intel 520 (180GB) - This has been the most stable drive has not disconnected in any configuration. Speeds are 235 MB/s write and 360 MB/S read. The drive also works when using the Buffalo enclosure in USB mode.
 
I have the Vertex 4 512GB, latest firmware on the Seagate TB adapter. I'm not getting any stability issues.

Wonder why the M4 is faster than it at read since it should be faster :confused:
 
tninety said:
I have the Vertex 4 512GB, latest firmware on the Seagate TB adapter. I'm not getting any stability issues.

Wonder why the M4 is faster than it at read since it should be faster :confused:
Click to expand...

Still no issues? How are you mounting the drive, I mean did you put something under it to keep it level so does not strain the connector?
 
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