External Thunderbolt HDDs for Macbook Pro

Q1:
What are some of the external small-built HDDs that
support both Thunderbolt plus USB 3 ? I know Lacie is
one of them, then there's buffalo. Wanted to compare
pricings at Amazon

Q2:
With thunderbolt connection, can I say the IO bottleneck
will lie with the disk drive's speed then? With USB 3,
bottleneck is still at USB 3 port?

sunhuxAsked: 2012-12-21

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LVL 25

kode99Commented: 2012-12-21

Seagate Goflex can do both using different modules that the drive plugs into. The only other unit I've seen with both is the Drobo mini but price wise it does not compare, it is a dual drive unit so may not be as small as you are looking for either.

http://www.drobo.com/products/professionals/drobo-mini/index.php

With either USB3 or Thunderbolt the drive is the limit with normal mechanical based hard drives, but with a SSD drive or a drive array you can push the limits of the interface. At this point you will see better performance with Thunderbolt over USB 3.

sunhuxAuthor Commented: 2012-12-23

Are there external USB 3 or THunderbolt SSD drives out there?
Can provide a few examples / models ?

LVL 25

kode99Commented: 2012-12-23

Both the Lacie and Buffalo portables have the option to come configured with SSD's,

http://www.lacie.com/ca/products/product.htm?id=10599

http://www.buffalo-technology.com/en/hd-patu3s-ministation-thunderbolt-portable-ssd.html

I thought these were the units you had seen that have both USB3 and Thunderbolt.

If you went with just USB 3 you would have more options. There are a number of empty USB 3 drive enclosures on the market. So you can just buy whatever capacity SSD you want and put it in the enclosure.

Here's an example,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392043

I think some of the lacie enclosures can be bought without drives as well so you could put SSD in them.

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