CES 2012: LaCie Hub Connects eSATA Drives to Thunderbolt Macs

[MacRumors]

CNet reports on a new eSATA Hub from LaCie which allows you to connect external eSATA drives to your Thunderbolt equipped Mac.

The hub comes with two Thunderbolt ports and two eSATA ports. Users can connect up to two eSATA drives to the hub for use on their Thunderbolt equipped Macs. The additional Thunderbolt ports can also be used to daisy chain additional Thunderbolt peripherals off the device.

eSATA is a high performance drive connector used to connect external hard drives to your computer. eSATA has never been a standard option on Macs, but is a faster alternative to USB 2.0 and Firewire and is commonly found on high performance external drives and storage arrays. As noted by CNet, eSATA devices are also presently cheaper than their Thunderbolt counterparts. While Thunderbolt has a higher maximum speed than eSATA, if you are just connecting a single external drive (and not a drive array), it's not likely to exceed the upper limit of eSATA.

So, for those who are have existing eSATA drives or are waiting for Thunderbolt drives to drop in price, this could be a good interim solution. Unfortunately, LaCie hasn't released a price yet, but this eSATA hub is expected to be available during the first quarter of 2012.

Article Link: CES 2012: LaCie Hub Connects eSATA Drives to Thunderbolt Macs

 

[CallsignBaron]

Oh, that is handy!

 

[Ahheck01]

That's great, but what about a hub to connect USB 3.0 devices to Thunderbolt?

 

[balamw]

That's great, but what about USB3.0 to Thunderbolt?

I suspect you mean Thunderbolt to USB 3.0? (Connect USB 3.0 devices to TB Macs?)

B

 

[ninjadex]

This sounds great. Sticker price will likely be a shock to those without a clue.

 

[dougpark]

More coming for Thunderbolt

My Apple rumors for 2012: Thunderbolt was not developed for just a faster hard drive connection and not just so Apple could create a new display with network connectivity built in. It is much bigger than that. I think they are making an add on device that will connect to any Thunderbolt enabled computer to make it Mac Pro capable. It will have awesome graphics capabilities, much more disk expansion, and additional processors, say up to 12 more. This will provide pro level options for all of their computers. They will not have to sell a pro model anymore.

 

[MacOG728893]

I wonder what the pricing will be? Excited regardless!

Hmm.. does the computer need to be restarted with the drive on like always with eSATA or does this Hub change that?

 

[paulrbeers]

Based on the image, I assume this is on the back of an external drive enclosure as well as an ESATA "hub"?

 

[ghettochris]

Hmm.. does the computer need to be restarted with the drive on like always with eSATA or does this Hub change that?

I don't know what you mean by that, I have an esata express card for my macbook pro, when I want to use it I slide it in, fire up the drive, and when i'm done with it I eject, turn off the drive and pop out the card. no restarts required.

 

[jeffh]

The eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series is about the size of a portable drive

ugg - that sucks.

 

[Chundles]

I like the look of the Belkin Thunderbolt dock.

US$299 for three USB, HDMI, Firewire, Audio in-out (I think) Ethernet and another TB port is pretty good.

 

[Nielsenius]

Don't worry, all of these accessories will be competitively priced. Of course, there is no competition at the moment, so...

 

[Richdmoore]

I was hoping for a combined USB3/eSATA device, but this sounds good (at least until we hear the price.)

Big questions still...... Can I book from eSATA, and will a SSD drive be just as fast as one installed directly into my iMac?

 

[toke lahti]

Users can connect up to two eSATA drives to the hub for use on their Thunderbolt equipped Macs.

W00t,
no port multiplier?
I guess this will be nice $199 dongle, which you wouldn't need if macs had already usb3 and maybe next year we get updated version with port multiplier with $399!
So much more fun than usb3!

 

[cuestakid]

I like the look of the Belkin Thunderbolt dock.

US$299 for three USB, HDMI, Firewire, Audio in-out (I think) Ethernet and another TB port is pretty good.

except for the September release........

 

[iztech]

esata mac os x

eSata has been available on Quo Computer system since late 2009 and also Sata III

Quo - maxQ runs Mac OS X, linux, Windows

 

[InuNacho]

I think they are making an add on device that will connect to any Thunderbolt enabled computer to make it Mac Pro capable.

Wouldn't it be far more efficient and less of a fire hazard to just buy a Pro instead of plugging in 8 or more powered "bricks" together?

 

[appleguru1]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Thunderbolt has been the most botched tech launch I can think of in recent memory. A year out and we still dont have basic products like this on the market... And devices are way overpriced.

My esata hdd drives have been sitting unused since launch day of this thunderbolt mbp... Here's to hoping that finally changes soon..

 

[Geekbabe]

I like the look of the Belkin Thunderbolt dock.

US$299 for three USB, HDMI, Firewire, Audio in-out (I think) Ethernet and another TB port is pretty good.

I do too but having to wait till Sept to get it is a bummer!

 

[twoodcc]

well i guess this is a start, but where's a thunderbolt hard drive enclosure?

 

[Skika]

Make this a 99$ product and we are talking.

 

[Rustus Maximus]

Wouldn't it be far more efficient and less of a fire hazard to just buy a Pro instead of plugging in 8 or more powered "bricks" together?

No room for your fancy schmancy logic here. We're marching boldly into a brave new future of "portability" and "cleaner design". Thunderbolt...HOOOOOO!!

 

[Yamcha]

Just so everyone knows eSATA is actually faster then USB 3.0.. Me personally I don't really care for the speed of my external hard drive.. I only use it as a Time Machine back up, and USB 2.0 is sufficient at the moment.. Would've been great if Apple did adopt USB 3.0 though as its backwards compatible.. But I guess Apple wants to push thunderbolt..

I said it before but what I'd love to see is external graphic cards, especially if they are priced competitively.. That way down the line you can upgrade your GPU without having to buy a new Mac..

 

[thenerdal]

I said it before but what I'd love to see is external graphic cards, especially if they are price competitively.. That way down the line you can upgrade your GPU without having to buy a new Mac..

I highly doubt that will happen. Since Apple doesn't want you to upgrade any hardware except the ram.

 

[GoreVidal]

I've already got a device like this. The Sonnet Echo. Been using it for a few days now and is fast and works like a champ. Welcome to the party Lacie...whose drives I'll never use again after having 5 out of 7 die on me in as many months.