What external HD are nMP owners using...

[bxs]

Will receive my 12core/D700/1TBFlash/OWC's 64GB RAM next Monday. I will be connecting the following storage devices to it

1) Using Thunderbolt port 1, 4TB RAID-0 LaCie 2big Thunderbolt (Apple 2m Thunderbolt cable)

2) Using Thunderbolt port 2, 4TB RAID-0 LaCie 2big Thunderbolt (Apple 2m Thunderbolt cable)

3) Using Thunderbolt port 6, MacGurus Burly 5-bay (20TB) Port Multiplier eSATA enclosure via an OWC's 3m Thunderbolt cable to a Sonnet Tempo 2 Port eSATA Express34 Pro SATA Host Card (TSATAII-PRO-E34) and a Sonnet Echo ExpressCard Pro (ECHOPRO-E34).

Some words about the Sonnet products to be used with eSATA Port Multiplier enclosures.

OWC sells the Sonnet Technologies Tempo SATA Pro 6Gb 2 Port 6Gb/s eSATA ExpressCard/34 Host Adapter -
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%20Technologies/SATA6PRO2E34/

MacGurus sells the Sonnet Tempo E34 PRO SATA Host Card http://www.macgurus.com/store/Item/Tempo-E34Pro

On the face of it one might think these two products are the same. However, they are NOT, even though they look identical

The one that OWC sells does not support eSATA Port Multiplier disk enclosures, nor hot-swapping the disks either. It does support SATAIII 6G data rates (375 MB/s).

The one that MacGurus sells does support eSATA Port Multiplier disk enclosures and also supports hot-swapping the disks. It does support SATAII 3G data rates (200 MB/s).

MacGurus card cost some $34 less than OWC's.

So, if you employ eSATA Port Multiplier disk enclosures and wish to use the Sonnet Thunderbolt/eSATA adapter with the Sonnet TEMP E34 Pro SATA host card beware of the differences I've posted above.

Good luck....

Also note... that the LaCie Thunderbolt/eSATA Hub does not support eSATA Port Multiplier disk enclosures. This was confirm from three sources... OWC, LaCie Sales USA and MacGurus. One user using this product indicated it worked prior to Mavericks, but with Mavericks it has stopped working. So be aware of this also.

BTW/FYI --- the Sonnet card that MacGurus sells is no longer made by Sonnet. Sonnet's web site does not list the card that MacGurus sells. MacGurus has to order their cards from a distributor source who stocks them .... so be careful what you think of ordering from Sonnet directly.

 

[puckhead193]

Just ordered a G-Technology 8TB G-RAID with Thunderbolt. I love G-tech drives. I'm looking at 5 of them now. This drive will be used for general purpose stuff. (music, photos, documents etc.)

and then 4TB G-Drive with Thunderbolt as a scratch disk for FCP/photoshop (for now)

 

[thomasfalke]

Lacie 5big 10TB, great speed for the price

http://youtu.be/a3CQjrYLNjk

 

[armalite]

Would this be good to use? 1 for Mac & 1 for Windows

LaCie 3TB d2 USB 3.0 Thunderbolt Series Hard Drive

Can someone please give me advice on what to use on my nMP? I do not understand a lot of this and thought these drives would be fast enough to work on my photography for the Mac side and gaming for the Win side. Should I be looking at something else and just use these for storage??????? I only understand "bays" LOL

 

[HD303]

I'm considering ordering the Blackmagic Design MultiDock.

I'm interested in going SSD with my nMP. New territory for me. RAID or JBOD?

 

[snouter]

I'm considering ordering the Blackmagic Design MultiDock.

Looks pretty cool, just note...SATAII, one TB1 port, no TB cable, software RAID, 2.5" only, which is ok for SSD.

Still a decent price for an interesting solution, although I think for close/similar money, this looks pretty good:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/H...s2-r4-diskless-4bay-thunderbolt-2-raid-system

SATAII ?
TB2 and two ports
included TB cable
hardware RAID
3.5" drives and I assume 2.5" inch drives (SSD) as well?

 

[BlueWaterVA]

Unfragile,

I am going to try the fan disconnect.

Thanks for the info.

 

[unfragile]

Unfragile,

I am going to try the fan disconnect.

Thanks for the info.

BlueWaterVA

But remember the Fans are needed to cool down the HDD's and the enclosure.

I've done more tests with huge transfers, like 500gb/1tB at once from one HDD to another the case is still warm but the HDD temp were very high.

It's good to have the fan enable.

I'll try to find if is possible to change the Fan to a better one.

Cheers.

 

[violst]

Can the big blue light on the front of some of the LaCie drives be turned off when the drive is on.

Does it go off when you put your computer to sleep?

 

[BlueWaterVA]

BlueWaterVA

But remember the Fans are needed to cool down the HDD's and the enclosure.

I've done more tests with huge transfers, like 500gb/1tB at once from one HDD to another the case is still warm but the HDD temp were very high.

It's good to have the fan enable.

I'll try to find if is possible to change the Fan to a better one.

Cheers.

Thanks Unfragile,

I will look for a quieter fan as well. CoolerMaster has a good selection of fans.

I am definitely going to do something even if I have to buy a longer TB cable so that I can put the case in a closet.

 

[violst]

I Just read that both the CalDigit T3 and The LaCie 2 big drives don't have a dedicated raid controller they use OSX software raid but the OWC Elite Pro Dual Thunderbolt drive has a dedicated raid controller. What is the downside to not having a dedicated raid controller will there be a speed hit if you use the OSX software raid.

I'm not a big fan of the OWC enclosed because the fan noise is kind of loud. But if the benefit of the dedicated raid controller outweighs the fan noise that might be a good option.

Are there other 2/3 bay cases that have a dedicated raid controller that people would recommend?

 

[unfragile]

I Just read that both the CalDigit T3 and The LaCie 2 big drives don't have a dedicated raid controller they use OSX software raid but the OWC Elite Pro Dual Thunderbolt drive has a dedicated raid controller. What is the downside to not having a dedicated raid controller will there be a speed hit if you use the OSX software raid.

I'm not a big fan of the OWC enclosed because the fan noise is kind of loud. But if the benefit of the dedicated raid controller outweighs the fan noise that might be a good option.

Are there other 2/3 bay cases that have a dedicated raid controller that people would recommend?

I'm not a expert, but what I can say about the speed is that the 3Tb version of Caldigit T3 in RAID 0 (software) i have almost 500 MB/s read/write. Pretty fast for plate drives.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jmgc6xm0j4s3qn4/DiskSpeedTest%20CaldigitT3%20Raid0%203TB.png

 

[violst]

I'm not a expert, but what I can say about the speed is that the 3Tb version of Caldigit T3 in RAID 0 (software) i have almost 500 MB/s read/write. Pretty fast for plate drives.[/URL]

Thanks unfragile, those speeds look great. I just find it odd that it doesn't have its own raid controller?

 

[klukkluk]

I'm not a expert, but what I can say about the speed is that the 3Tb version of Caldigit T3 in RAID 0 (software) i have almost 500 MB/s read/write. Pretty fast for plate drives.

That is fast!
Did you use Apple Disk Utility to build the RAID 0?

 

[unfragile]

That is fast!
Did you use Apple Disk Utility to build the RAID 0?

The Caldigit comes standard already in Raid 0 mode, but yes I think they used Disk Utility, they explain how to do Raid with disk utility in there site (videos).

I already swap the Hitachi 1TB HDD's, instead of 3 TB Raid 0, I choose to do Raid0 with 2x Seagates 3TB, and the third slot I'm using a SSD Samsung 840 pro 512GB (I'm not liking how the SSD is behaving, I can't have 500MB/s read/write, I need to dig more about this "problem")

 

[violst]

The Caldigit comes standard already in Raid 0 mode, but yes I think they used Disk Utility, they explain how to do Raid with disk utility in there site (videos).

Does the Caldigit go to sleep when you put your Mac to sleep. From what I researched the G-raid thunderbolt drive does not. I think the drive going to sleep with the Mac is a nice feature.

 

[unfragile]

Does the Caldigit go to sleep when you put your Mac to sleep. From what I researched the G-raid thunderbolt drive does not. I think the drive going to sleep with the Mac is a nice feature.

I never put any peripheral to sleep, that's a golden rule to Pro tools user's

I only put the display to sleep.

But I will test it when I get home.

When the computer shut's down, the CT3 shut down too. When I power on the CT3 will power on too (this is the last state was on)

 

[violst]

I never put any peripheral to sleep, that's a golden rule to Pro tools user's

I only put the display to sleep.

But I will test it when I get home.

When the computer shut's down, the CT3 shut down too. When I power on the CT3 will power on too (this is the last state was on)

Thanks for the quick response. I never shut my system down I just put it to sleep. So my question is if my Mac is asleep I don't want the drive still powered up, so I was wondering what your drive does when you put your Mac to sleep?

Thanks again, you have been very helpful.

 

[unfragile]

Thanks for the quick response. I never shut my system down I just put it to sleep. So my question is if my Mac is asleep I don't want the drive still powered up, so I was wondering what your drive does when you put your Mac to sleep?

Thanks again, you have been very helpful.

I just test it with my Macbook Air, the macbook air did go to sleep, but the Caldigit didn't.

I didn't wait to much, just a couple of minutes with the macbook air in sleep mode.

You can send a message to Caldigit Support asking it, they will be more accurate with it. Nice guys by the way.

 

[violst]

I just test it with my Macbook Air, the macbook air did go to sleep, but the Caldigit didn't.

I didn't wait to much, just a couple of minutes with the macbook air in sleep mode.

You can send a message to Caldigit Support asking it, they will be more accurate with it. Nice guys by the way.

Thanks unfragile your input is greatly appreciated.

 

[3282868]

Hopefully getting my 8-Core D700 nMP this week. I have a 12-Core5,1 model with 4x4TB internal SATAII HDD's and a 256GB SATAIII OWN Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G and an internal LG Blu-Ray burner.

I'm leaning towards a Pegasus2 TB2 chassis, will sell my 5,1 with the SSD and maybe 2x internal HDD's. Ideally, I'd love one enclosure for everything - HDD's, Blu-Ray, etc., just plug it into the back. However, I may be stuck with an external USB3 LG Blu-Ray burner and a 4xbay TB2 enclosure. Is there any such thing as an ODD/HDD/SSD TB2 chassis?

 

[danny_w]

Does the Caldigit go to sleep when you put your Mac to sleep. From what I researched the G-raid thunderbolt drive does not. I think the drive going to sleep with the Mac is a nice feature.

As long as nothing else is using the computer (VNC, AppleTV, etc) then yes it does go to sleep immediately. And it seems to wake very quickly when coming out of sleep. I also have a G-Drive (non-Thunderbolt) which, while not going to sleep completely, does put the disk to sleep (on it's own timer, not when the mini sleeps); however it seems to take forever to come out of sleep and get up to speed. I have my home directory on the T3 and everything is available immediately after I wake the computer.

 

[slughead]

I'm considering ordering the Blackmagic Design MultiDock.

I'm interested in going SSD with my nMP. New territory for me. RAID or JBOD?

Image

That appears to be only TB1 which is 10Gbps (1,250MBps). Though that's a theoretical max, the reality may be much less. If you RAID-0 your 4 SSD together, you should be able to get up to 16Gbps (2,000MBps)... though Apple appears to have crippled TB2 in the nMP according to Anandtech, and it tops out at around 10.4Gbps (1,300MBps), so maybe it doesn't matter.

As far as what setup to use, I would strongly recommend putting your SSD in a RAID-0 in conjunction with a Time Machine backup to a decent platter drive. The disadvantage of a RAID-0 is that it increased the likelihood of failure, however SSDs are highly reliable and the way SSDs fail means that catastrophic failure (whole drive died) is less of a concern and sector failure (one file gone) rate is not affected. Not to mention that SSDs like being 40% empty, and a RAID-0 as opposed to the JBOD "ice cube tray" approach will help you keep it that way.

 

[deconstruct60]

That appears to be only TB1 which is 10Gbps (1,250MBps). Though that's a theoretical max, the reality may be much less.

There is a huge difference between measuring TB speed/througput and measuring individual throughput between just two devices. A single HDD on a single SATA line isn't going to measure SATA's saturation points. Very similar issue with TB and single devices.

If you RAID-0 your 4 SSD together, you should be able to get up to 16Gbps (2,000MBps)... though.

Not necessarily. A major component being left out is a SATA controller than can handle that throughput. Pragmaticlaly SATA lanes are no additive. The vast majority of SATA controllers are time slicers; not solely additive mux points.

Apple appears to have crippled TB2 in the nMP according to Anandtech, and it tops out at around 10.4Gbps (1,300MBps), so maybe it doesn't matter.

Anandtech laid no blame at all on Apple's implementation.

"... So far I’ve been able to sustain 1.38GB/s of transfers (11Gbps) over Thunderbolt 2 on the Mac Pro. Due to overhead and PCIe 2.0 limits (16Gbps) you won’t be able to get much closer to the peak rates of Thunderbolt 2. ... "
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013/13

There is jack squat about Apple's specific implementation. Run some mainstream PC through 1-2 layers of external PCIe switching and see what you get. Then can start talking smack instead of made up FUD.

PCIe is one of the limitations of traffic once routed off of the TB network.

 

[chrisn123]

Areca 8-bay Tbolt 2 Array (ARC-8050T2)

Just got one of these yesterday. I Paid $1799 (bare) direct from Areca. Someone up-thread asked for info when I got it.

I populated with 8 X Seagate 4TB NAS drives. I also installed the optional battery backup (just for RAID controller, not drives).

Nice looking compact unit-- black finish matches nMP. Fans very quiet. Comes with Tbolt and Ethernet (for admin) cables. Has a passthrough Tbolt port for daisy chain.

Hooked to nMP 8C/700 and prepped at Raid0 for initial testing (to see max speeds). Got >1250MB/sec write and about 1150MB/Sec reads in Black Magic Disk Speed Tester. Did a QuickBench random read/write with small blocks and got 575MB/Sec-ish for both.

I was hoping to see a bit faster for large streaming (Black Magic) test, but was very impressed with the small random access tests.

For comparison, my 1TB PCIe SSD only did 250MB/S on reads and 460MB/s for writes (small/random).

I reformatted to RAID5 and re-did tests. Actually, the array was migrating in the background during the tests, so may have been hamstrung.

Nonetheless, even in RAID5, I got 1050-1150MB/sec in Black Magic and basically identical results (~575MB/S) for small random tests.

Summary: faster in almost every respect than my PCIe SSD, which is pretty damn fast. I am a happy camper.

Fun Fact: As I type, I have my late 2013 Mac Book Pro (also with 1TB PCIe) hooked to nMP via Tbolt IP Bridge (plain cable). I set a folder on the array for Time Machine and shared it (so nMP is presenting the array as a NAS to the Mac Book via Tbolt). Anyway, I am doing the initial Time Machine backup now and am watching it rip through the initial backup with throughput bursting up to 600MB/s (but very spotty as it typical for initial backups). Fun!