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Does a Single 3.5" Hard Drive Thunderbolt Enclosure Exist?

AndrewMRiv

AndrewMRiv

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 29, 2013
151
0
Hi, my new iMac 27" is coming in the mail later this week.

I am moving off of a Hackintosh and all my files (not including Operating System and Apps installed on a SSD) were installed on a 3tb internal 3.5" HDD.

My new iMac 27" was BTO with a SSD which I plan to just keep Apps and the OS install on. I would like to get my files (iTunes Library, iPhoto Library, Downloads, etc.) onto the new iMac without buying too much more stuff.

I eventually plan to buy a different and larger capactiy External HDD but is there currently a single enclosure for my existing 3.5" HDD to go into a thunderbolt port?

Thank you.
 
Almost 1 month with no replys I'm surprised. I''d like to know this as well.
 
Akitio makes a Thunderbolt drive enclosure. I think I've seen another as well.

I suggest you consider a USB 3.0 Enclosure - it will save money and for a single disk you won't gain any speed by going Thunderbolt.
 
Akitio's thunderbolt enclosures are for 2.5" disks. I got two of them, one has two thunderbolt ports and the other have one thunderbolt port and one USB3.0 port.

The fans on them make quite a big noise!
 
The only thing I see is their hub. I don't see the enclosure.
 
ivnj said:
Almost 1 month with no replys I'm surprised. I''d like to know this as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was surprised that it took this long for any replies.

You are likely on the same boat that I was on. Maybe you wanted to make use of your thunderbolt ports and maybe you only have access to one HDD laying around. Maybe you're running out of USB ports and don't want to clutter your desk with a USB hub. Either way, a single thunderbolt enclosure would be a poor decision.

I should have posted that over the course of the month that I was ignored in this topic, my research led me to believe that a single HDD would not benefit from a thunderbolt cable. In order to feel a difference, it would be necessary to run at least a couple of them in a RAID configuration (RAID 0 for example.)

Since then, I got a USB 3.0 enclosure for very cheap from OWC (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/HGST/0STOUROEXT3/). It was a steal. I highly recommend that you get that instead of looking for a single thunderbolt enclosure.

I was a bit disappointed. Typically most threads don't go unanswered for long. This is a first! Helping someone else out in my own topic!

Hopefully others find this in the search bar and can benefit from this.
 
The Seagate STAE129 is along the lines of what you were looking for... although it's not quite an enclosure. You can always buy a casing for a goflex disk which gives you a more complete solution rather than have a bare drive sticking out of the thunderbolt adapter.

That said, as you've already discovered - unless you have a specific need for Thunderbolt, you're best off sticking with USB3. I personally only use Thunderbolt because you can use Bootcamp from it, unlike USB.
 
one HDD and thunderbolt makes no sense, since it's not RAID (fast) and it's by nature slow (about 100 mb/s in read/write) USB3 to be preferred USB2 could be cheaper and almost same speed.

the chain is not stronger than it's weakest link
 
dan1eln1el5en said:
one HDD and thunderbolt makes no sense, since it's not RAID (fast) and it's by nature slow (about 100 mb/s in read/write) USB3 to be preferred USB2 could be cheaper and almost same speed.

the chain is not stronger than it's weakest link
Click to expand...
Once prices come down it may make some sense by using daisy-chaining instead of using yet another USB3 port.
 
[[ Does a Single 3.5" Hard Drive Thunderbolt Enclosure Exist? ]]

Probably not.

I don't know of any 3.5" format SSD drives.
A 3.5" platter-based HDD doesn't -need- thunderbolt.
USB3 will do well enough.

It's not worth it to use one. Thus, not worth it to manufacture one because there won't be a market for the product.

I could see where some RAID-type multi-drive enclosures for platter-based HDDs could benefit from thunderbolt.

But single drive enclosures?
Nope...
 
dan1eln1el5en said:
one HDD and thunderbolt makes no sense,
Click to expand...

And what about if you have a 2011 Mac mini or IMac?
I'm looking for the same thing. Thunderbolt 3.5 hd enclosure. But I'll end up probably with a Nas. Even the thunderbolt docks are pretty expensive.
 
Last edited:
AndrewMRiv said:
Since then, I got a USB 3.0 enclosure for very cheap from OWC (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/HGST/0STOUROEXT3/). It was a steal. I highly recommend that you get that instead of looking for a single thunderbolt enclosure.
Click to expand...
I've been so frustrated waiting for a reasonable 2-bay thunderbolt bare enclosure. When I saw this, I was going to call you on it-- I didn't even realize my iMac has USB 3.0 :rolleyes: This must have been a real steal because it's sold out and I can't find another source.

Has anyone tried this? I'm a little concerned about it not having a fan. But for this price, I can point a desktop personal fan at it!

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Duplicator-Function-EC-HDD2/dp/B00IKC14OG
 
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Does a Single 3.5" Hard Drive Thunderbolt Enclosure Exist?

You could buy a Lacie Rugged 1TB Thunderbolt HD and take the casing of and replace the HD with your own.
Or the Seagate dock..
 
Last edited:
pnosko said:
Has anyone tried this? I'm a little concerned about it not having a fan. But for this price, I can point a desktop personal fan at it!

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Duplicator-Function-EC-HDD2/dp/B00IKC14OG
Click to expand...
Well, I bought it. I get about triple the speed (measured with Blackmagic app) vs. over WiFi when the same drive is mounted in a Mac Pro (2006). So far, my only complaint is that when one drive is ejected while the other is in use, it interrupts it. I had a full Time Machine backup running when I did an eject of the other drive (via Finder) and then physically removed it, forcing the backup to restart itself.
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Flood4 said:
And what about if you have a 2011 Mac mini or IMac?
I'm looking for the same thing. Thunderbolt 3.5 hd enclosure. But I'll end up probably with a Nas. Even the thunderbolt docks are pretty expensive.
Click to expand...

exactly, like me. i have a 2011 iMac and i want to speed up my external drives. so want the cheapest way, whether its a usb 3 adaptor or a direct thunderbolt enclosure.
 
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