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Archive 2017 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

pattywatty
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

Just upgraded to the new iMac and trying to figure out best external drive solution using thunderbolt drives. I'm looking at the g-technology raid enclosures but wanted to get input from this board with recommendations for a solution to allow me to take advantage of the thunderbolt speed vs my old fw800 drives...

Thanks in advance..

patrick

Jan 18, 2017 at 02:03 PM

mikekeating
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

I have the G-Raid Studio 8TB Thunderbolt 2 drive, hooked into my iMac.

I have it as my Time Machine backup and also as another backup to my lightroom cat.

I have had it running about 18 months? give or take. So far it works like a champ, file transfers are quick, TM backups are very quick (even the initial backup).

It also has another Thunderbolt port in the back so you can daisy chain something else.

I recommend them.

Jan 18, 2017 at 09:48 PM

arbitrage
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

How many drives and what size are you trying to run via the TB enclosure? Are you planning to run in RAID? Are you looking for a NAS or just DAS?

I have a ThunderBay 4 enclosure with four 5TB drives running in 2 RAID 1 mirrors. I have that cloning over to a ThunderBay Mini with 4 2TB (2.5"drives) running in RAID 5.

The ThunderBay's are sold by OWC. https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Thunderbolt/?_ga=1.24787386.1439690292.1484009644

I'm not sure how they compare to the G-Tech products.

Jan 18, 2017 at 10:06 PM

DanBrown
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

I have a Pegasus 2 which has been running almost constantly for just over a year with zero problems. It fully supports Time Machine.

Jan 18, 2017 at 10:20 PM

rscheffler
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

Just wondering if you'll gain any meaningful performance benefits from TB over USB3 when using spinning HDDs, particularly if not in a fast RAID 0 arrangement.

You can get decent 4 or 5 bay RAID capable USB 3 enclosures for ~$250-300. One drawback, however, is the need to eject all disks from the enclosure, even if you only want to swap out one. I believe with TB you can do true hot swapping. If you're looking to use external SSDs, then I believe you'll benefit from a TB solution.

Jan 19, 2017 at 12:19 AM

Jeff
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

rscheffler wrote:
Just wondering if you'll gain any meaningful performance benefits from TB over USB3 when using spinning HDDs, particularly if not in a fast RAID 0 arrangement.

You can get decent 4 or 5 bay RAID capable USB 3 enclosures for ~$250-300. One drawback, however, is the need to eject all disks from the enclosure, even if you only want to swap out one. I believe with TB you can do true hot swapping. If you're looking to use external SSDs, then I believe you'll benefit from a TB solution.

I think the benefit of TB comes when you access multiple disks at the same time; if only accessing data from a single disk, in my experience USB3 is similar.

I went with the OWC Thunderbay 4, and am happy with it. Note that if you want a 2-bay TB enclosure, OWC's option does not have an on/off switch, which in my opinion is asinine.

Jan 20, 2017 at 01:19 AM

sperraglia
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

Another satisfied OWC Thunderbay 4 user - have had it over a year and it has worked great.

Feb 05, 2017 at 01:52 PM

JBPhotog
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

^+1^

I have had my Thunderbay 4 for 2 years, loaded with 4 drives. No faults at all.

I choose not to use a RAID configuration and go with JBOD all individually controlled for backing up with Carbon Copy Cloner. Too many scabs from RAID fights,

Feb 06, 2017 at 04:51 PM

arbitrage
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

Jeff wrote:
I think the benefit of TB comes when you access multiple disks at the same time; if only accessing data from a single disk, in my experience USB3 is similar.

I went with the OWC Thunderbay 4, and am happy with it. Note that if you want a 2-bay TB enclosure, OWC's option does not have an on/off switch, which in my opinion is asinine.

The OWC ThunderBay Mini also doesn't have an On/Off switch which I also found to be ridiculous.....

Feb 07, 2017 at 11:09 PM

tntcorp
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

arbitrage wrote:
The OWC ThunderBay Mini also doesn't have an On/Off switch which I also found to be ridiculous.....

the next gen of tbay 4 will includes on/off switches. owc got to give a reason to upgrade... :-)

not to stray from the original question, but for those advisers of owc tbay 4, which raid sw you folks are using? thank you!

Feb 07, 2017 at 11:34 PM

Jeff
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

rscheffler wrote:
Just wondering if you'll gain any meaningful performance benefits from TB over USB3 when using spinning HDDs, particularly if not in a fast RAID 0 arrangement.

You can get decent 4 or 5 bay RAID capable USB 3 enclosures for ~$250-300. One drawback, however, is the need to eject all disks from the enclosure, even if you only want to swap out one. I believe with TB you can do true hot swapping. If you're looking to use external SSDs, then I believe you'll benefit from a TB solution.

Jeff wrote:
I think the benefit of TB comes when you access multiple disks at the same time; if only accessing data from a single disk, in my experience USB3 is similar.

I went with the OWC Thunderbay 4, and am happy with it. Note that if you want a 2-bay TB enclosure, OWC's option does not have an on/off switch, which in my opinion is asinine.

arbitrage wrote:
The OWC ThunderBay Mini also doesn't have an On/Off switch which I also found to be ridiculous.....

tntcorp wrote:
the next gen of tbay 4 will includes on/off switches. owc got to give a reason to upgrade... :-)

not to stray from the original question, but for those advisers of owc tbay 4, which raid sw you folks are using? thank you!

My TB4 has an on-off switch, it was the two-drive version that didn't. I don't use mine in RAID, it's all dedicated storage.

Feb 08, 2017 at 01:34 AM

JBPhotog
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

My Thunderbay 4 four drive has a switch, which I don't use BTW,

. When I power down my Mac, it also shuts down to a sleep mode and all drives stop spinning. All i need to do is boot my Mac and it wakes everything up and mounts all four drives.

No RAID for me either, just storage and back set as individual HD's.

Feb 08, 2017 at 01:10 PM

ELinder
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · External Thunderbolt Drive Configuration for 5k iMac

I'm using a Drobo 5D set to 2 drive failure redundancy connected to my iMac with Thunderbolt. I use it as my working/storage/raid drive and it's plenty fast enough even with my largest Lightroom catalogs.

Erich

Feb 08, 2017 at 02:19 PM


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