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Affordable Thunderbolt dock/storage/case for rMBP

brdeveloper

brdeveloper

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Apr 21, 2010
2,642
319
Brasil
Hello,

I'm looking for a fast, external hard disk unit for using with my rMBP. There are tons of USB 3 external drives here in Brazil, but I wouldn't like to keep a precious USB port busy. I'd like to use a thunderbolt port. I'm currently using only one of them with a gigabit Ethernet adapter.

Lacie units are too expensive here -- a 1TB Lacie Rugged USB3/TBolt costs around USD 700,00, so I'm looking for the cheapest way to get a thunderbolt external drive working with my machine. Any ideas with links? Thank you!
 
brdeveloper said:
Hello,

I'm looking for a fast, external hard disk unit for using with my rMBP. There are tons of USB 3 external drives here in Brazil, but I wouldn't like to keep a precious USB port busy. I'd like to use a thunderbolt port. I'm currently using only one of them with a gigabit Ethernet adapter.

Lacie units are too expensive here -- a 1TB Lacie Rugged USB3/TBolt costs around USD 700,00, so I'm looking for the cheapest way to get a thunderbolt external drive working with my machine. Any ideas with links? Thank you!
Click to expand...

Have you looked at the Buffalo HD-PATU3? I have one and it works like a charm. It cost MYR700 (USD 212) in Malaysia (I bought it there).

Besides, if you're up to it, you can use a knife and a heat gun to take it apart and put your own SSD in it if you need the speed in the future.
 
yjchua95 said:
Have you looked at the Buffalo HD-PATU3? I have one and it works like a charm. It cost MYR700 (USD 212) in Malaysia (I bought it there).

Besides, if you're up to it, you can use a knife and a heat gun to take it apart and put your own SSD in it if you need the speed in the future.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I just did a research and it would cost around USD 179,00 at Amazon. With shipping and taxes, it would have an estimated cost of USD 400,00. For this price, I could build a 480-500GB USB3 SSD unit here...
 
yjchua95 said:
Wow, taxes are really high in Brazil, aren't they?
Click to expand...

Yes. If something costs USD 180,00 overseas, added with USD 20,00 of shipping costs, the final price will be around USD 400,00 (shipping is usually taxed too).

However, local retailers sometimes get better deals from their suppliers, so if I'm lucky I can get that same 180,00 gadget for around USD 300,00 here. That's why I can build a 500GB external SSD USB3 drive for around USD 500,00 -- A way better deal than a 1TB Thunderbolt external hard disk for USD 400,00...
 
brdeveloper said:
Yes. If something costs USD 180,00 overseas, added with USD 20,00 of shipping costs, the final price will be around USD 400,00 (shipping is usually taxed too).

However, local retailers sometimes get better deals from their suppliers, so if I'm lucky I can get that same 180,00 gadget for around USD 300,00 here. That's why I can build a 500GB external SSD USB3 drive for around USD 500,00 -- A way better deal than a 1TB Thunderbolt external hard disk for USD 400,00...
Click to expand...

But over USB, you can't enable TRIM, which is quite crucial for garbage management in SSDs. You can enable TRIM over Thunderbolt though.
 
yjchua95 said:
But over USB, you can't enable TRIM, which is quite crucial for garbage management in SSDs. You can enable TRIM over Thunderbolt though.
Click to expand...

Yes, but there are several posts saying that modern SSDs don't need TRIM anymore as they have hardware-implemented garbage collection so I don't know if this is really a issue.
 
Last edited:
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