Picked up a Buffalo Thunderbolt 500GB

Um, I'm going to call you crazy. And, I do have a rMBP myself. Here's why you're crazy:

1. The traditional rotating hard drive does not come close to fully utilizing thunderbolt bandwidth.

2. The traditional rotating hard drive does no come close to fully utilizing USB 3.0 bandwidth.

3. You paid upwards of $200 for the drive.

4. You plan to spend even more to replace the hard drive with another traditional rotating hard drive.

5. You could have spent $25 on a very good USB 3.0 enclosure. I have an ANKER one that I paid $20 for and it is amazing. I am able to get the same performance via USB 3.0 as I would if the drive were connected to a SATA port.

But, whatever. My words will surely fall on deaf ears. On the other hand, if you have money to burn, then all the more power to you.
 
metril said:
Um, I'm going to call you crazy. And, I do have a rMBP myself. Here's why you're crazy:

1. The traditional rotating hard drive does not come close to fully utilizing thunderbolt bandwidth.

2. The traditional rotating hard drive does no come close to fully utilizing USB 3.0 bandwidth.

3. You paid upwards of $200 for the drive.

4. You plan to spend even more to replace the hard drive with another traditional rotating hard drive.

5. You could have spent $25 on a very good USB 3.0 enclosure. I have an ANKER one that I paid $20 for and it is amazing. I am able to get the same performance via USB 3.0 as I would if the drive were connected to a SATA port.

But, whatever. My words will surely fall on deaf ears. On the other hand, if you have money to burn, then all the more power to you.
Click to expand...


Well, I have an interest on what he's going to put into his bay that would be larger, but yes, of course he will end up paying even more for that in the end. However, it may be to his advantage if he only needs to carry one drive.

1.) This is true, but what he chooses to upgrade it with may be the point.

2.) During a large copy it might, but otherwise, probably true.

3.) Okay, this isn't really a point, it's just a statement.

4.) It's true that he may spend more to replace the drive, but he could want the Thunderbolt enclosure (of which no manufactures sell empty) in order to put an SSD into. I personally don't think it's cost efficient, however if you have a bunch of cash, and you only want to carry one drive, and it MUST be fast, then it has its uses. So, it's a matter of whether or not he's going to put in a 500GB or 1TB SSD into the enclosure... my guess is that is his intention.

5.) That option works if you have a Mac with USB 3.0. Sure that's an option for anyone that has purchased a 2012 machine, but anything previous it doesn't help. Also USB 3 is 5GBS, and SATA 3 is 6GBS. Whether or not that matters (as you may not saturate the bus) is a separate issue.

Whether it falls on deaf ears or not isn't the point. I think you've missed the entire point of what Doward is doing. I think he just wants a single, external, large, SSD for doing whatever work he needs to get done. There isn't a lot of industries with a need for that kind of speed on an external, so I'm guessing he's either doing it for fun or he's involved in video editing or some other high HD intensity task.

That said, I'm curious as to what SSD he'll place in the enclosure. If he's not going to bother with an SSD then I suppose your points come into play. Personally I think the best option for this sort of "fun" is the new Drobo Mini Thunderbolt, but I digress.
 
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In the video, I don't think the OP even mentioned SSD. That's why I was flabbergasted that the OP spent so much on the drive.

Regardless of usage scenario, a traditional rotating drive will not max USB 3.0, SATA 2/3, or even Thunderbolt. If the OP has the old MBP that has thunderbolt, but no USB 3.0, then perhaps the Buffalo drive was the only option.
 
I spent $170 on the drive, not upwards of $200? Where did you get that?

And yes, Late 2011 17" MBP - the fastest spec'd 17", but Thunderbolt is the only high speed (no, I don't considering FW800 'hi-speed') option I have.

I have USB 3.0 on my main desktop at home, and I have Thunderbolt on my portable system. Exactly why WOULDN'T I want this Buffalo setup?

I'm going to install a 750GB 7200rpm drive into the Buffalo enclosure on my next day off. I have AppleCare until February 2015, so I expect sometime between now and then I'll be swapping in a large capacity SSD.

For a little point by point:

1 & 2) No, but a traditional rotating hard drive will certainly saturate USB 2.0 AND FireWire 800 - which are my other 2 options on my Late 2011 17" MBP. With this Thunderbolt drive, I now have the option of utilizing an SSD in the future - and everything I've seen shows SSD over USB 3.0 maxing ~250 MB/s, whereas I've seen 360 MB/s over Thunderbolt.

3) I paid $170 from macsales.com - I even stated this in the video. The 750GB HDD that I'm going to install in the enclosure came with my MBP. I installed a 250GB Samsung 840 SSD as my primary in the MBP, so the 750GB is going into the enclosure (since it's bigger and faster than the 500GB 5400rpm currently in the enclosure)

4) No, I'm not spending more - see #3

5) I could have, and I have multiple USB 3.0 enclosures already. A couple problems though:

a) I don't have USB 3.0 on my MBP.

b) I don't have USB 3.0 on my MBP.

c) The only way for me to get USB 3.0 on my 17" MBP is via ExpressCard/34, limiting me to about 120MB/s sustained transfer rates. About enough for a 5400rpm drive, not quite enough for a 7200rpm drive, and nowhere near enough for a fast SSD.

Another point of comparision:

Stock 5400rpm Buffalo Thunderbolt sustained speeds: 104 MB/s
Fastest USB 2.0 sustained speeds I've seen: 35 MB/s
Fastest FW800 sustained speeds I've seen: 80 MB/s

The *only* feasable option that doesn't have me buying a bunch of adapter cards and whatnot, is a thunderbolt enclosure. If you know of a better priced one than the Buffalo 500GB, let me know :)
 
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From a budget minded perspective, you could just keep the 750GB drive in the MBP and transfer files between your desktop directly using their gigabit ethernet ports. Surely you have a spare cable somewhere.
 
OP's issue is the OS speed, they wanted it on a SSD, which means no 750gb hdd within the system...
 
Depending on what OP is doing with the drive Thunderbolt makes sense. Thunderbolt like firewire is DMA and makes latency all but the same as internal drives.

There is an inherent latency involved with USB though USB 3 is better than 2 its not Firewire or Thunderbolt.
 
Problem with the hard drive caddy is I actually use the SuperDrive.

I wanted the highest speed external drive I could manage in a budget friendly manner, and the Buffalo was the best I could find.

I really wish someone would come out with a thunderbolt / usb 3.0 dual 2.5" bus powered enclosure (no drives).
 
Yeah, I know :( Just finished swapping the 7200 rpm 750GB drive into the Buffalo Tbolt enclosure. Video is uploading now.
 
Video uploaded - how to disassemble the drive and install whatever 2.5" you wish :)
 
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