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What external HD are nMP owners using...

FireWire2 said:
How about
http://www.amazon.com/Thunderbolt-trayless-driverless-enclosure-technology/dp/B00AJWJMRG/

I'm waiting for T12 with TB2 interface, it supposes to release in April
http://www.datoptic.com/ec/thunderbolt-trayless-twelve-sata-6gb-s-hardware-raid5-6-quiet-tower.html
Click to expand...

For a 5-bay solution, I would consider the Drobo5.

The 12-bay Datoptic box looks promising. Too bad its not Tbolt2--- fully loaded, it will be link-limited to ~900MB/s instead of saturating the PCIe bus at 1300-1400MB/s with a Tbolt2 link.

Nice price for a TON of expansion potential, OTOH.
 
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FireWire2 said:
I'm waiting for T12 with TB2 interface, it supposes to release in April
http://www.datoptic.com/ec/thunderbolt-trayless-twelve-sata-6gb-s-hardware-raid5-6-quiet-tower.html
Click to expand...

It is absolutely ridiculous the premium you pay for thunderbolt. Hopefully there will be a bare-bones Thunderbolt SATA controller someday.

It's funny, I actually have that exact same backplane (the 4 in 3 x 5.25") and they cost about $80 each. Hopefully there will be affordably priced SATAIII thunderbolt controllers someday. Just for comparison, here's a setup with a bigger PSU, a better backplane (single large fan instead of 40mm fans), and the same HD capacity.

RvhquXz.png
- backplane x 3 = $345
ZIhN7L1.png
- 9 bay case = $65
6swx10Y.png
- 450W PSU = $100

Total $510. You're paying $1,500 for a Thunderbolt 1 controller. For that price you might be better off buying a Thunderbolt -> PCIe Chassis and throwing in a PCIe SATA controller. Heck, you could buy Two!

For $600 you can get a card that has 4 times the throughput.

Alternatively, you could buy three SATA II port multipliers at $65 each and a $100 eSATA card and go to town.
 
The thing to watch out for with all these solutions is how well they play with OS X. I've been burned too many times with crappy Apple drivers. You usually see it with system sleep. Oftentimes OS X won't sleep external drives properly, so you get a hard disconnect of the drive when the computer wakes up. Or you get kernel panics or other problems.

I pay a premium and go Apple for various reasons, but I'm also clear on the fact that Apple sucks at writing drivers, so I'm very cautious on what I plug into my Macs. At this writing I have a Promise Pegasus2 4 bay diskless which is working very well. However - of course - it's not perfect. If you let the computer frequently sleep itself, either through power management, or with PowerNap, then after a week or two the Promise will hang and will hang the OS along with it, requiring a hard reboot. Not good. Theoretically it could be Apple, or Promise, I don't know, but my workaround is to turn off all automatic sleep and PowerNap. Now I tell the computer when to sleep. So far at least I haven't had a hang issue - yet. Otherwise the Promise works wonderfully, obviously they worked closely with Apple on this one, other than the hang glitch.

The Pegasus has four SSD's in it, I need another batch of caddies for some spinners so am weighing my options. I'm considering the Helios 2 along with a eSATA card I had with my old computer, and a cheap eSATA 8 bay tower I have. Or, maybe another Pegasus2 enclosure. More expensive, but I get RAID if I so choose, and I know it works (for the most part).
 
violst said:
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?
Click to expand...

I have one 6TB 2big and one 2TB Little Big Disk (LBD) attached to my MBP8,3 (17-inch late 2011) running 10.9.2.

As long as the 2big is active the blue light remains lit. It does not flicker as an activity indicator like it does for the LaCie Little Big Disk that has a much smaller blue light.

Yes, the big blue light turns off when Mac placed into sleep state. The disks in the enclosure will also spin down.
 
Last edited:
bxs said:
Yes, the big blue light turns off when Mac placed into sleep state.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info bxs, I was going to get the caldigit t3 but I was having a problem finding the size I wanted in stock with some of the vendors that I use. So I pulled the trigger on the Lacie 2 big thunderbolt drive, its nice to know that the blue light goes off when you put your mac to sleep.
 
Currently I'm using a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter, it allows me to use all my other GoFlex drives with Thunderbolt speed.

Probably by end of year I'll be investing in a DAS, I'm thinking Thunderbolt enclosure for my main working drive (photo, video, music) and USB3 enclosure for backups.

I'm thinking of getting these

Main working drive - OWC ThunderBay IV

Working drive backup = OWC MercuryPro Qx2

What do you guys think?
 
bxs said:
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.
Click to expand...

Note... You must download and install the Sonnet driver software for the Tempo SATA Pro ExpressCard/34 for using my setup described above.

Here's the d/l ref... http://www.sonnettech.com/support/downloads/software/DSKCD-TSATA-2.2.9.dmg.iso
 
http://www.datoptic.com/ec/thunderbolt2-20gb-twelve-6gb-bay-hardware-raid5-6-quiet-tower.html

----------
chrisn123 said:
For a 5-bay solution, I would consider the Drobo5.

The 12-bay Datoptic box looks promising. Too bad its not Tbolt2--- fully loaded, it will be link-limited to ~900MB/s instead of saturating the PCIe bus at 1300-1400MB/s with a Tbolt2 link.

Nice price for a TON of expansion potential, OTOH.
Click to expand...

Guess what! Huge RAID TB2 is here... very tempting

12x bay Thunderbolt2 from DATOptic is shipping.
It is several weeks early

http://www.datoptic.com/ec/thunderbolt2-20gb-twelve-6gb-bay-hardware-raid5-6-quiet-tower.html
 
12TB Pegasus R6 here. Been using it with the iMac for a couple years and it's been flawless. I also use a few of the Seagate EZFlex drives and swapped them between USB3 and TB quite a bit when I need to move data to my iMac (No USB3).
 
48TB Tbolt2 RAID

chrisn123 said:
Interesting. I would be curious to read reviews/benchmarks on it. It should be limited by the TB2 port, but still might do ~1300MB/s in RAID5 if the controller is fast enough.
Click to expand...

I would think so... DATOptic states they use ARECA RAID engine.
With 12x 4TB @ 44TB RAID5, it gotta run at least 1300MB/s
That is only 70% of the Tbolt2
 
FireWire2 said:
I would think so... DATOptic states they use ARECA RAID engine.
With 12x 4TB @ 44TB RAID5, it gotta run at least 1300MB/s
That is only 70% of the Tbolt2
Click to expand...



I'm only seeing ~1350MB/s for burst writes (presumably into the write cache), so I think that is near the max.

It's not just the defined line speed, but the end-to-end real world that starts to kick in.

Anadtech says limit is about 1380MB/s:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013/13

In any case, I'd love to see testing. I just did some more testing and am seeing between 950-1100MB/S on my 50% full 28TB array in RAID5.
 
chrisn123 said:
I'm only seeing ~1350MB/s for burst writes (presumably into the write cache), so I think that is near the max.

It's not just the defined line speed, but the end-to-end real world that starts to kick in.

Anadtech says limit is about 1380MB/s:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013/13

In any case, I'd love to see testing. I just did some more testing and am seeing between 950-1100MB/S on my 50% full 28TB array in RAID5.
Click to expand...

I think you are right for 8x drives RAID5, which is roughly 8*125MB = 1000MB/s, you are max out of the HDD speed

Where twelve drives should be 12x 125MB=1500MB/s.

That would be my guess
 
Purchased a Pegasus2 R4 8TB. Running it as RAID5.

I'm impressed with it, but it's a somewhat pricey solution.

You could get the diskless from Apple for $700. Then source those Toshiba drives and save a fair amount of money. It's a little fussy about drives from what I have read.
 
snouter said:
Purchased a Pegasus2 R4 8TB. Running it as RAID5.

I'm impressed with it, but it's a somewhat pricey solution.

You could get the diskless from Apple for $700. Then source those Toshiba drives and save a fair amount of money. It's a little fussy about drives from what I have read.
Click to expand...
You could get the diskless version except that the Apple store says 1-2 months to ship. I was going to give it a try but not now.
 
danny_w said:
You could get the diskless version except that the Apple store says 1-2 months to ship. I was going to give it a try but not now.
Click to expand...

I have heard/read around the 'net that they ship much faster than 1-2 months.
 
wheelhot said:
I'm thinking of getting these

Main working drive - OWC ThunderBay IV

Working drive backup = OWC MercuryPro Qx2

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I have both of these units and they work very well together (thus far, the Thunderbay arrived today :)) The only difference is that I use the Qx2 via eSATA using a Lacie Thunderbolt-eSATA hub.

I tested the Thunderbay, setup as a RAID0 of 4 x 2TB Toshiba DT01ACA200s, and benchmarked it with the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test and it achieved 724MB/sec reads and 693MB/sec writes.
 
rasputin666 said:
same as my setup. steady, reliable, i just bought the IV, so it has the quieter fans. i was holding off with all the write-ups about that.
Click to expand...
So the fans on the ThunderBay are quiet? I had a Qx2 and the fans wet LOUD. Also multiple ThunderBay reviews bemoan the loud fan noise, so I was scared to buy one. I wonder if they vary a lot?
 
danny_w said:
So the fans on the ThunderBay are quiet? I had a Qx2 and the fans wet LOUD. Also multiple ThunderBay reviews bemoan the loud fan noise, so I was scared to buy one. I wonder if they vary a lot?
Click to expand...

The fans on the Thunderbay are quieter than the Qx2, but by how much I couldn't say - I have it sitting on a filing cabinet with the Qx2 & Mercury Rack Pro.. :)
 
Regarding Noise-Levels.... how would you rate that fan noise of the Areca 8050T2? Can it compete with fans of QNAP or Synology devices?

Or is it louder than the nMP itself? I'm wondering, if the 8050T2 can be placed in the livingroom next to the nMP / TV screen, without getting disturbed by the fan noise?
 
vanZonker said:
Regarding Noise-Levels.... how would you rate that fan noise of the Areca 8050T2?
Click to expand...

Well, the nMP is exceptionally quiet. The story I tell is that I thought I was hearing it make a ticking sound, and then realized that I was noticing--for the first time--the ticking sound from the small wall clock in my home office.

I don't have a ton of data points, but I find the Areca to be very quiet. Louder than the nMP for sure. But MUCH quieter than the small fans in my external Blu Ray enclosure. I have a bare drive in a USB dock (no fan) sitting on top of the Areca (with 8 drives) and I notice the single drive spinning up and head-seeking more than the Areca-- Its just an inoffensive white noise.

I can't imagine anyone finding it objectionable in LR environment.

Caveat: I use "NAS" drives. If you filled with 7200RPM Black drives (or the like), I suspect the fans would need to run faster PLUS you would likely hear the clicking/buzzing of the staccato head seeks (much more pronounced with some performance oriented drive)
 
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