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External Thunderbolt enclosure

oldmacs

oldmacs

macrumors 603
Original poster
Sep 14, 2010
5,010
7,438
Australia
Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could help me out here. Anyone know where I can buy an inexpensive external thunderbolt HD enclosure...

I'm looking to upgrade a family member's 2011 iMac and a family friend's 2011 Mac Mini to an SSD, but I don't want to open either up at the risk of breaking someone else's computer (If it was my own I'd probably do it :p). So I want to buy a 128GB (inexpensive) SSD and put it into an also cheap external enclosure to use as the boot drive. However I can't seem to find an empty external thunderbolt enclosure, other than hugely expensive multi disk ones. Do these things exist at all?
 
I use a seagate thunderbolt adapter on my 2013 iMac with a 512 crucial m100 ssd as a boot drive. Works great, average around 400 mb

When I bought it from bhphoto it was like 80 bucks. For whatever reason it's like 180 now. U can get it cheaper on eBay.

One thing I'm interested in is the western digital raid thunderbolt 4 Tb drive. Integrated Tb cable and u can run it either in raid 0 or 1. Doing it in 1 means 2 tb drive with the other 2tb as a backup. Nice idea for a boot drive. I think the speeds are only around 250 mb but it's still way faster than a mechanical drive.

ed8a343844eec6d0daa9f801a75464d0.jpg
 
So hang on... How does the seagate thunderbolt adapter work??? What is it? an enclosure? What have you got the crucial SSD in?
 
I put my ssd in this

65ac696b8289879a5b02962c097bdbc1.jpg



It locks into the Tb adapter. I have it on a twelvesouth shelf behind my iMac out of sight. Been working flawlessly about 2 years straight now. I'm actually thinking of swapping out the 512 gb for a 1 Tb.
 
oldmacs said:
Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could help me out here. Anyone know where I can buy an inexpensive external thunderbolt HD enclosure...

I'm looking to upgrade a family member's 2011 iMac and a family friend's 2011 Mac Mini to an SSD, but I don't want to open either up at the risk of breaking someone else's computer (If it was my own I'd probably do it :p). So I want to buy a 128GB (inexpensive) SSD and put it into an also cheap external enclosure to use as the boot drive. However I can't seem to find an empty external thunderbolt enclosure, other than hugely expensive multi disk ones. Do these things exist at all?
Click to expand...

You're not going to find an inexpensive external thunderbolt hd enclosure, simply because Intel are the ones that make the chipsets, and they set the prices.

SO you have the option of buying something like this, and pulling the HDD out and replacing it with an SSD (which I have done twice for 2 different macs):

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MOTGTBH5T1.0/

or

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Lacie/9000490/
 
matreya said:
You're not going to find an inexpensive external thunderbolt hd enclosure, simply because Intel are the ones that make the chipsets, and they set the prices.

SO you have the option of buying something like this, and pulling the HDD out and replacing it with an SSD (which I have done twice for 2 different macs):

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MOTGTBH5T1.0/

or

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Lacie/9000490/
Click to expand...

I've considered that but I got a bit nervous :/ How come OWC don't make that one without the internal drive.. surely it would cost less without the drive???
 
oldmacs said:
I've considered that but I got a bit nervous :/ How come OWC don't make that one without the internal drive.. surely it would cost less without the drive???
Click to expand...

It's a shame that OWC doesn't sell it without the hdd - it's easy to remove the hdd and install an ssd. 6 simple philips head screws.
 
oldmacs asked the question:
"I was wondering if anyone could help me out here. Anyone know where I can buy an inexpensive external thunderbolt HD enclosure... "

Answer:
There AREN'T any "inexpensive" external thunderbolt enclosures.

Suggestion:
Unless you have a mission-critical reason why you absolutely need thunderbolt, go for USB3 instead. MUCH cheaper, and nearly just as fast...
 
Fishrrman said:
Suggestion:
Unless you have a mission-critical reason why you absolutely need thunderbolt, go for USB3 instead. MUCH cheaper, and nearly just as fast...
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think a 2011 mac mini and imac have USB3...

That said, people have been reporting problems with USB connected drives on various Macs since 10.9.5 (there's a large number of threads on apple's discussion fora about this issue)

For a system drive, I would stick with Thunderbolt.
 
Fishrrman said:
oldmacs asked the question:
"I was wondering if anyone could help me out here. Anyone know where I can buy an inexpensive external thunderbolt HD enclosure... "

Answer:
There AREN'T any "inexpensive" external thunderbolt enclosures.

Suggestion:
Unless you have a mission-critical reason why you absolutely need thunderbolt, go for USB3 instead. MUCH cheaper, and nearly just as fast...
Click to expand...

Unfortunately neither the 2011 iMac or 2011 Mac Mini feature USB 3.0 ports :/
 
oldmacs wrote above:
"Unfortunately neither the 2011 iMac or 2011 Mac Mini feature USB 3.0 ports :/"

Oops, oversight on my part.

You might consider something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/MiniPro-FireW...&sr=8-2&keywords=oyen+usb3+firewire+enclosure

Has -both- USB3 -and- firewire800.

Do you have a firewire port on the iMac?

This will not be "as fast" as USB3, but it will give you a decent connection for now, and will have USB3 available for the next computer you get...
 
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Fishrrman said:
oldmacs wrote above:
"Unfortunately neither the 2011 iMac or 2011 Mac Mini feature USB 3.0 ports :/"

Oops, oversight on my part.

You might consider something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/MiniPro-FireW...&sr=8-2&keywords=oyen+usb3+firewire+enclosure

Has -both- USB3 -and- firewire800.

Do you have a firewire port on the iMac?

This will not be "as fast" as USB3, but it will give you a decent connection for now, and will have USB3 available for the next computer you get...
Click to expand...

I've thought about adaptors but so many have poor reviews and are expensive. Also the iMac and Mac Mini are both going to be in use for a while yet as neither are my own Mac....

Firewire is a good suggestion, but will there actually be any speed improvement?
 
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This is what I have and it's the best you'll get.
http://www.amazon.com/Akitio-Neutri...1438922082&sr=8-8&keywords=akitio+thunderbolt

Key Features
1. Cheaper than most single thunderbolt enclosures
2. Bus power
3. Can power 512GB drives (seagate adapter is known to kill drives due to not providing enough power)
4. Includes thunderbolt cable
5. Isn't driveless, but at least it includes an SSD
6. Fastest write speeds you'll get in a bus powered thunderbolt enclosure
 
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MrX8503 said:
This is what I have and it's the best you'll get.
http://www.amazon.com/Akitio-Neutri...1438922082&sr=8-8&keywords=akitio+thunderbolt

Key Features
1. Cheaper than most single thunderbolt enclosures
2. Bus power
3. Can power 512GB drives (seagate adapter is known to kill drives due to not providing enough power)
4. Includes thunderbolt cable
5. Isn't driveless, but at least it includes an SSD
6. Fastest write speeds you'll get in a bus powered thunderbolt enclosure
Click to expand...

Not bad for a thunderbold enclosure. The original retail is funny - over 500!
 
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MrX8503 said:
This is what I have and it's the best you'll get.
http://www.amazon.com/Akitio-Neutri...1438922082&sr=8-8&keywords=akitio+thunderbolt

Key Features
1. Cheaper than most single thunderbolt enclosures
2. Bus power
3. Can power 512GB drives (seagate adapter is known to kill drives due to not providing enough power)
4. Includes thunderbolt cable
5. Isn't driveless, but at least it includes an SSD
6. Fastest write speeds you'll get in a bus powered thunderbolt enclosure
Click to expand...

Interesting. My seagate adapter has been fine but I'd like to upgrade to 1 tb. This may be an option.
 
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Is the 2011 mini so much more difficult than a 2010? I've done several hdd/ssd swaps in 2010's and it's quite simple. Lot's to remove but none of its difficult. All you need is an AdaptaDrive.
 
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