You're right about the interesting pricing on the low end. Amazon has the 1TB AV Pro (USB3 only) for $139 shipped, so in that case it is almost cheaper to buy this, change out to your own drive, and sell the 1TB drive somewhere; and they have the 3TB USB+FW version for $239, not too bad of a price at all (OWC wants $215 for their closed Mercury Elite Pro, plus shipping). And the 3TB T3 (3x1TB) is only $449, but all of the others are MUCH higher, way more than just the difference in the cost of the drives themselves. I don't get their pricing structure at all.3 devices and a hub is the first thought (Old School here)
firmtek miniswap/u3 is an interesting solution for 2.5 SSD - fast & many people on this board know about this reviewhttp://barefeats.com/hard168.html
The 3.5s can be anything. Obviously, the Cal AV Pro is a great choice, but there are cheaper solutions that have an AS Media chip on board for speed.
Example - an HGST 4TB Deskstar is around 200 - a medium quality case can be under 100. The Cal AV in 4TB is 388 (Best price I know about for USB3 only) so it depends on what you need quality wise. Will you ever swap drives, etc? Oh, BTW a 1TB version of the AV Pro is 189 shipped, so it get's interesting on the low cap side of things.
Most pre-assembled externals don't have the best performing HDs, but they are cheap, so...?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
CalDigit Quality/Warranty?
- Thread starter danny_w
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Interesting - I had no idea the prices moved down - the 2TB looks about the same as before, and the 4TB (best of the bunch for speed) is down 50 plus. Keep in mind - License Fees on TB is sky High right now.
Safeharbor is the only other auth retailer, and their prices have not changed.
http://www.sharbor.com/vendors/CLD.html
The speeds are great and the price also. The only thing that makes me hesitate is the fact that usb3 doesn't support trim (read about this in a discussion about the miniswap on the MR forums). Is there any other ssd thunderbolt enclosure in which I can put my own ssd?
I read on this forum that Trim is indeed not supported, but for Thundebolt I find both people saying it can and can't be enabled. Don't know who to believe.
Does the fan run all of the time? CalDigit describes it as a "smart fan", so I assume that it must vary it's speed based upon temperature. Have you noticed any variation in noise?
To be honest I haven't noticed but I have physical HDDs installed. SSDs may make a bigger difference.
3rd party solutions
http://www.mactrast.com/2013/11/enable-trim-ssds-os-x-mavericks/
It appears that the Trim issue is not internal or external, but rather whether OS X supports the drive, and it is only Apple brand SSD that the OS supports trim on - it looks like 3rd party providers (i.e. TrimEnabler) do have success with other drives, though.
http://www.groths.org/software/trimenabler/
http://www.mactrast.com/2013/11/enable-trim-ssds-os-x-mavericks/
It appears that the Trim issue is not internal or external, but rather whether OS X supports the drive, and it is only Apple brand SSD that the OS supports trim on - it looks like 3rd party providers (i.e. TrimEnabler) do have success with other drives, though.
http://www.groths.org/software/trimenabler/
Kinda Sorta - OSX looks at the external as an external device, not SSD or HD.
Trim Enabler would work on external IF the system would see it as an SSD and not the Media Chip it's on. Note - system profile will see the company name or the media chip name and not the drive device. Old news here.
This is not a problem on internal 3rd party SSD connected directly to the SATA bus. The software was developed with internal System SSD in mind.
Groths did not consider external USB, TB when they developed the software.
The larger Q is what does it matter on an external WITHOUT system/OSX, I.E. as a Storage/Scratch project device, deleted many times over?
No answer from this quarter, but how long before a fraction of performance effects the SSD against the time you'll use the device. Does it matter?
Should one expect any issues (beyond voiding the warranty) when replacing one or multiple drives from the Caldigit T3 with drives from other manufacturers?
e.g., firmware not supporting drives from manufacturers other than the ones supplied by CalDigit, overheating/smart fan not working properly, etc.?
Has anyone actually replaced one or multiple drives in the T3? Did you encounter any issues?
-Gerhard
e.g., firmware not supporting drives from manufacturers other than the ones supplied by CalDigit, overheating/smart fan not working properly, etc.?
Has anyone actually replaced one or multiple drives in the T3? Did you encounter any issues?
-Gerhard
I'll be be interested to know the answer too. I have the 3TB version and would like to replace the drives eventually but don't want to pay the prices that CalDigit wants. The 3TB version is a really good buy right now at $449 (CalDigit says that is a special "below cost" price that won't last long) and all of the others are MUCH higher (much more than the disk prices warrant). All of the others are priced out exactly according to the difference in the disk prices (CalDigit's prices that is).
BTW they are having a sale on the AV-Pro right now so that it is very little ($10-$20) more than just the drive+tray to go into it.
I would be interested in this too
I have the 3TB Version and would like to upgrade it to 9TB on my own. According to this thread the right drive should be this:
9TB - Toshiba DT01ACA300
Has anyone already done a replacement with drives other than the ones CalDigit sells? Is it working without problems?
Thanks!
I have the 3TB Version and would like to upgrade it to 9TB on my own. According to this thread the right drive should be this:
9TB - Toshiba DT01ACA300
Has anyone already done a replacement with drives other than the ones CalDigit sells? Is it working without problems?
Thanks!
That's what I want to know too before I void my warrany and find out that they don't work. Anybody want to be the guinea pig?I would be interested in this too
I have the 3TB Version and would like to upgrade it to 9TB on my own. According to this thread the right drive should be this:
9TB - Toshiba DT01ACA300
Has anyone already done a replacement with drives other than the ones CalDigit sells? Is it working without problems?
Thanks!
I'm certain one or more of you will have success with certain models, and another will fail with a different model. Same result with most enclosures out there.
The spirit of DIY lives to fight the evil empire of warranty!
Or! They'd like to be compensated for vetting the drive, and
providing you with a very nice case and tray and promising
to give you another if it goes down - for 12 months.
No, it must work with what I have, because... internet! VIVA DIY!
Last edited:
Don't know yet, but definitely some higher-capacity drives, bringing the entire enclosure eventually, step by step, to 9-12 TB.
Hmmm... pardon my ignorance, I don't have much experience with this...
What could go wrong theoretically? Aren't these all more or less standard SATA drives?
If a drive doesn't work, can't I just swap it with another one which does, or could the enclosure also get damaged by inserting a "non-supported" drive?
-Gerhard
The enclosure won't be damaged, but the term "standard SATA drive" doesn't mean much. Different firmware exists to take care of certain functionality, and each drive type is different.
Chance are you won't have any issues, but if you do, not likely that CalDigit or any other manufacturer is going to be able to support you, unless they claim to work with any "standard SATA drive".
There are plenty of examples where people have replaced a drive in a chassis, and all is well. There are also many examples of replacing drives where the outcome ranges from sleep issues, power issues, not yielding the right capacity, to sudden disconnects and more.
In other words, not way to know for sure until someone tries it.
For some real-life examples, peruse the list of drives that Promise supports in its Pegasus2 R4 which is sold empty, to various people's experiences with using "any standard SATA drive" in their Drobo.
Bottom line, if there are issues, unlikely the vendor is going to be able to help you if you deviate from recommended drives.
g4 said it well above. Confirm, after years of playing with docks and enclosures, I've yet to experience one that just works with everything.
Caldigit's enclosure is high quality, but they did what most companies do and developed around a set of drives they buy in bulk. I have a dock that loves everything BUT 1 WD Black 3.5 I have. Would a newer one work? Perhaps, but I'll buy an HGST next. Life is short
And what about custom drive firmware? It is possible that some manufacturers have drives customized with their own firmware/data and will not work with other drives that don't have this custom firmware/data. I sincerely hope that CalDigit does not fall into this category (probably not since they are a small manufacturer).g4 said it well above. Confirm, after years of playing with docks and enclosures, I've yet to experience one that just works with everything.
Caldigit's enclosure is high quality, but they did what most companies do and developed around a set of drives they buy in bulk. I have a dock that loves everything BUT 1 WD Black 3.5 I have. Would a newer one work? Perhaps, but I'll buy an HGST next. Life is short
Quite possible for a large OEM like Apple or Dell, but probably not realistic for a small vendor like CalDigit.
Bad issues!
I don't know if this has anything to do with the CalDigit T3 but I did not have these issues before. I have my user folder and iTunes library stored on the T3 (RAID 0) and use SuperDuper! to keep 2 backups. Unfortunately SuperDuper! has trashed the CalDigit twice now so that I have to copy back from my backups; the user folder is corrupted and I get all sorts of errors saying that something "can't be made into a link" and other errors about the iTunes library can't be saved. The only thing that has changed that I know of is that I am now using the T3 (software RAID). I'm getting super scared here.
I don't know if this has anything to do with the CalDigit T3 but I did not have these issues before. I have my user folder and iTunes library stored on the T3 (RAID 0) and use SuperDuper! to keep 2 backups. Unfortunately SuperDuper! has trashed the CalDigit twice now so that I have to copy back from my backups; the user folder is corrupted and I get all sorts of errors saying that something "can't be made into a link" and other errors about the iTunes library can't be saved. The only thing that has changed that I know of is that I am now using the T3 (software RAID). I'm getting super scared here.