StarTech USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Duplicator/Dock on cMP

[macuser453787]

Hi all!

I just recently updated my 4,1 (5,1) cMP to Sierra 10.12.6 and then updated my CalDigit card to their 10Gbps firmware. System Info confirms 10Gbps is enabled after the firmware update.

I've been wanting to try out the USB-C port at 10Gbps speeds.

So yesterday I bought this StarTech HDD/SSD Duplicator/Dock from Amazon and am awaiting delivery. The manufacturer page with full specs can be found here.

I'm curious to see how two SSDs bench in RAID 0.

I know this has been touched on in at least one other thread concerning the possibility of USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps / USB-C on cMP, but thought I'd post about this specific combination of devices in case anyone wants to find this info a little bit quicker than digging through the other thread(s).

I almost got this StarTech HDD Dock but then discovered that even though this unit is 10Gbps capable, it's speed is not fully actualized because the cable that comes with it is only rated at 5Gbps via the included USB 3.0 Type B to Type A cable. According to StarTech, this is to allow backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 and 1.x devices via the USB Type A connector. The problem is that they don't include the necessary cable with this model for those who actually want 10Gbps speeds via USB-C. It has to be purchased separately.

Seeking to correct this issue, I found this cable available on StarTech's site, which it seems is pretty much only available through them at their full retail price plus shipping.

So I almost bought that dock with the intention of also getting the separate USB-C to USB Type B cable, which when added to the cost of the dock would have come out to about $114 with the slowest shipping method.

But then I found the duplicator/dock model, and guess what? It already comes with that extra USB-C to USB Type B cable!!! And the price works out the same! And for that same price I get the added functionality of an offline duplicator! And it's free shipping! Woohoo!

I'll have the duplicator/dock in hand by early next week and will post again once I can confirm bench speeds of the aforementioned RAID 0.

 

[macuser453787]

Unit came on Friday, tested it with individual SSD and with two SSDs in software RAID 0, got about the same RW results both times: ~ 470 MB/s / 512 MB/s.

Got in touch with StarTech this morning, and their helpful and understanding tech support rep told me that even though the unit is rated 10 Gbps, the speed is bottle-necked by the SATA controller at 6 Gbps. But there was no mention of this on the product page.

Does anyone know of a USB 10Gbps dock that can actually run at that speed?

 

[ActionableMango]

Does anyone know of a USB 10Gbps dock that can actually run at that speed?

I haven't seen anyone run a dock at that speed in this forum. Even without a dock involved, just getting the Caldigit card to run at that speed in a cMP is a challenge (or impossible). The best information I've seen about it is in the following post, and you can read backwards a bit to learn more as well. Slash-2CPU did a bunch of testing and discovered various problems.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...info-repository.1866301/page-11#post-24498213

 

[macuser453787]

Okay thanks, and yes, I had already read some of that thread -- zoomfinder's results in particular (albeit with an external RAID drive).

Didn't think about an on-board SATA controller bottle-necking the speed, just went by their advertised speed and assumed the same results were possible doing a soft RAID 0 with a 2-bay dock.