Thunderbolt Storage Solutions
ARC-8050T3 is the most complete 12Gb/s SAS 4/6 (M)/6/8/12-bay Thunderbolt™ 3 desktop SAS/SATA RAID storage with RAID control capabilities solution for both PC and Mac. ARC-8050T3 incorporated on-board RAID-On-Chip and ECC SDRAM memory to deliver true high performance hardware RAID protection against drive failure. Next-generation Thunderbolt™ technology Increase your speed potential. Thunderbolt™ technology provides PCI Express with blazing-fast 10Gb/s transfer speeds. Thunderbolt™ 2 doubles the bandwidth to deliver bi-directional 20Gb/s speed, which provides the bandwidth needed for simultaneous 4K.
External SSD Thunderbolt Backup Drives
Shopping for a ultra-fast PC or Mac compatible Thunderbolt SSD storage solution? Never before has a personal computer interface offered the insanely fast data transfer speeds of the original 10Gbps Thunderbolt, 2nd-generation 20Gbps Thunderbolt 2 drives, and 3rd-generation 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 storage.Minimally TWENTY times faster than the popular USB 2.0 spec, and double that of the competing 5Gbps USB 3.0 SuperSpeed standard, Thunderbolt outstrips the bandwidth requirements of nearly any single personal computer peripheral available today. Conventional hard drives can't fill a fraction of Thunderbolt's data pipeline. So, solid-state flash memory disk drives are the most logical pairing of the two technologies. A PC or Mac compatible Thunderbolt SSD external backup drive can really leverage the potential bandwidth available for the fastest data backups and file transfers you'll ever experience.
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| Akitio Thunderbolt Drive | Monster Thunderbolt Drive |
|---|---|
| Akitio SSD Neutrino Drive 120GB Thunderbolt SSD | Monster Digital SSD 256GB-512GB-1TB |
| G-Technology Thunderbolt Drive | Oyen Digital Thunderbolt Drive |
|---|---|
| GTech TBolt SSD 1TB SSD Combo Interface | Oyen SSD Mini Pro 256GB Solid-State Portable |
| Transcend Solid-State Drive | Silicon Solid-State Drive |
|---|---|
| Transcend Combo SSD Thunderbolt + USB 3.0 | Smallest Thunderbolt SSD Ever Silicon Power Mini Drive |
Shopping For TunderBolt External SSD Drives
In the 2020's we now have 3 generations of Thunderbolt: The original 10Gbps TBolt and 2nd generation 20Gbps Thunderbolt 2 using the mini DisplayPort interface. The new 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 spec has adopted the smaller and more widely used Type-C USB 3.1 connector. In fact, Thunderbolt 3 incorporates SuperSpeed+ USB 3.1 10Gbps protocols so that either Thunderbolt or USB-C peripherals can be used on a modern Windows or Mac computer's Thunderbolt 3 port.Who Manufactures Thunderbolt Backup Peripherals?
Major brands include Akitio, G-Technology, SiliconPower, Monster Digital, OWC and LaCie external Thunderbolt SSD backup drive offerings shown above. These laptop-size affordable consumer drives have a single Thunderbolt port for use directly connected to your computer - or at the END of the device chain. To get dual, pass-through ports, you generally have to move up to the multi-drive RAID array type of Thunderbolt data storage products.One of the notably rising entrants into the external SSD drive market is Akitio who was recently acquired by OWC. They've long been a maker of USB, eSata, and FireWire drive enclosures for assembling DIY backup drives. Introducing a single-port Thunderbolt portable SSD drive like the Neutrino shown here (using an Intel OEM SSD) is the first step in recouping their investment, a 256Gb is available as well (using a SanDisk OEM SSD). Akitio has delivered a nice range of standalone Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 and 3 drive enclosures for homebuilt storage solutions using the SSD or HDD drives of your choice.
DIY Thunderbolt SSD Storage
Alot of folks want to cobble their own Thunderbolt data backup drive together with the HDD or SSD drive of their choosing. Unfortunately, at least for single drives, there aren't many choices of standlalone Thunderbolt drive enclosures available. For multi-drive RAID arrays using 2 or more drives, the selection of Thunderbolt enclosures is better, but costlier.| G-Technology Thunderbolt Enclosure | Seagate Thunderbolt Drive Sled |
|---|---|
| 2.5' Thunderbolt SATA Case Ruggedized Thunderbolt Enclosure | Backup Plus Thunderbolt Drive Adapter For Laptop Size SSD or HDD |
Seagate's Thunderbolt drive sled has sadly been discontinued. It let anyone cobble thier own affordable Thunderbolt SSD solution by simply plugging a bare 2.5' laptop SATA SSD drive directly into the portable adapter's SATA connector. It should be noted the Thunderbolt drive converter only has a SINGLE Thunderbolt port like many of the more affordable Thunderbolt storage products for home consumers. It's not capable of daisy-chained with other Thunderbolt devices.
Best SSD For Thunderbolt?
Several factors determine which SSD is the best match for Thunderbolt drives. A Solid-State drive in general relies on several components that determine a SSD's performance: Whether it's a SATA I/II or III 6G drive interface chipset, and which controller chip: Marvell, Indilinx, SandForce, etc. are the brains of the operation. Other factors in the solid-state drive market involve how fast the onboard NAND Flash Memory is, and the clock speed controlling it. Look to Samsung, WD, Crucial and Sandisk for the fastest off-the shelf SSD's shipping this year.It's important to note that LARGER capacity SSD's 480GB and up offer BETTER performance than the smaller models: More banks of chips inside a higher-capacity SSD drive allow more simultaneous reads and writes across the banks of flash memory. As such you'll often see spec sheets quoting different maximum data transfer rates depending on the size of the drive. With solid-state storage, bigger is better - and faster.
Thunderbolt RAID SSD - Power Pair
Want to fill as much of Thunderbolt's pipeline as possible? Think Striped RAID 0 SSD drive setups for peak performance. By striping Reads and Writes across multiple solid-state drives or modules, the highest level of drive transfer speeds become possible. Some may opt for premium top-performance PCIe NVMe SSD's, others may wish to leverage more economical drives paired to get the Thunderbolt drive capacity they need and still fit their budget.The direct 10Gbps pipeline that Thunderbolt taps into via the PCI-Express system bus offers mind blowing backup and data copy speeds compared to USB 3.0 or FireWire provided it's matched with equally fast solid-state SSD storage technologies. A growing range of enterprise, professional and consumer PC and Mac SSD Thunderbolt backup solutions are now shipping.
A Thunderbolt SSD flash memory drive is the best technological match for the insanely high bandwidth that a Thunderbolt inferface provides. With no moving parts, high reliability, zero latency and near-zero access times, they're a perfect match for this cutting-edge computer peripheral interface from Apple and Intel.
Currently, a few of the best choices in solid-state backup are LaCie 512GB Thunderbolt SSD dual-drive array which also now offers a 1 Terabyte version for demanding, Pro users. These LaCie high-end models combine dual 256GB/512GB SATA III Solid-State drives for mirrored or striped RAID 0 performance that delivers mind-blowing transfer speeds - at a price. Their Little Big Disk SSD drives also have TWO TBolt ports on the back for daisy-chaining with other devices.
For more affordable consumer options, the single-drive LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt SSD has high-speed combo interfaces for both USB 3.0/2.0 or Thunderbolt connectivity. The Thunderbolt Rugged series uses a single SSD drive for respectable performance - and the added value of flexibility to use it with older and non-TBolt equipped USB port Macs or PCs. The latest revision of the solid-state Rugged portable drive now includes a short, integrated Thunderbolt cable for quick connectivity, and still allows optional connection to a USB port if needed.
The Elgato Thunderbolt SSD Drive has been shipping for quite some time. ElGato also uses a single SSD drive module for more modest but still very snappy performance in either 120GB or 240GB capacities - but it's pricing hasn't dropped to be truly competitive with LaCie or other new arrivals in the marketplace. A new 512GB and 1TB SSD drive with combo Thunderbolt + USB 3.0 interface recently shipped, but the price is high.
Please visit the other pages of this site to explore the diverse market of PC and Mac compatible external SSD Thunderbolt drive options for budgets large and small.
AKiTiO Thunder3 Quad
External Thunderbolt™ 3 Storage Solution
This 4-bay storage enclosure is designed to house up to four 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives. With Software RAID, four striped SSD's can reach data transfer speeds of up to 1375 MB per second while the Thunderbolt 3 interface provides sufficient bandwidth for additional 4K video signal streams and data transfers at the same time. An ultra durable aluminum casing provides efficient heat dissipation, plus an extra large rear fan keeps your drives cool during long hours of operation.
Features
- Thunderbolt 3 interface for lightning fast transfer speeds up to 40 Gbps
- Second Thunderbolt 3 port supports Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 (10 Gbps), and DisplayPort devices
- Dedicated DisplayPort for additional monitor to expand the workspace
- Large and quiet low speed fan (1900 RPM) for active cooling
- Large handle provides comfortable grip when carrying the device
- Removable trays for easy SSD and HDD installation
- Kensington security slot
Thunderbolt Connectivity
Thunderbolt™ 3
Thunderbolt 3 brings Thunderbolt to USB-C at speeds up to 40 Gbps, creating one compact port that does it all – delivering the fastest, most versatile connection to any dock, display, or data device. For the first time, one computer port connects to Thunderbolt devices, every display, and billions of USB devices. A single cable now provides four times the data and twice the video bandwidth of any other cable, while also supplying power to bus-powered devices.
The AKiTiO Thunder3 Quad has two Thunderbolt 3 ports. The second port operates the same as a Thunderbolt 3 computer port by supporting Thunderbolt 3 (up to 5 daisy chained), USB 3.1 (10 Gbps), and DisplayPort devices.
DisplayPort
The dedicated DisplayPort connector makes it easy to connect an additional monitor to extend your workspace and it will free up the second Thunderbolt 3 port for other Thunderbolt 3 (up to 5 daisy chained), USB 3.1 (10 Gbps), and DisplayPort devices.
4-Bay Storage Solution
Removeable trays
Thunderbolt Storage Solutions Charlotte Nc
Designed to house up to four 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives, the tray based system allows for easy installation and replacement of either the large desktop hard disk drives or the portable laptop drives and SSD's.
Detailed View
Secure Connection
With the 6-pin Mini-Fit Jr.™ power connector, the power cable is held in place securely to avoid accidental disconnection of the device and to prevent subsequent data loss.
Benchmark
With Software RAID, the AKiTiO Thunder3 Quad provides users the ability to edit and playback multiple streams of HD and/or 4K content with enough headroom to simultaneously daisy-chain additional monitors and storage devices.
The transfer speeds for this benchmark were obtained using the AJA System Test tool with 1GB test files at 5K resolution. These results closely reflect the real-world performance but the actual transfer rates can vary depending on the test environment
For traditional spinning hard disk drives, the maximum transfer rate for a single drive (Non-RAID) is around 200 MB/s. Only when used in a striped RAID set can the transfer rates exceed 200 MB/s.
For solid state drives, the maximum transfer speed is limited by the PCIe to SATA controller to around 370 MB/s per drive. Because of this limitation, the maximum transfer rate for a striped RAID with four drives is about 1375 MB/s, even though the Thunderbolt 3 interface is capable of speeds faster than that.
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IMPORTANT
Your PC may need updates for the Thunderbolt 3 ports to function properly.
For more information go to https://thunderbolttechnology.net/updates
Thunderbolt Storage Drive
Compatibility
- This product is not supported on Mac OS X
- This product is not supported on Boot Camp
Related products
- AKiTiO Thunder2 Quad HDD Tray
Removable drive trays
Supports 2.5' and 3.5' drives - AKiTiO Thunder3 Quad Mini
Thunderbolt 3
For 4x 2.5' SATA drives - Thunder3 Quad X
Thunderbolt 3
For 4x 2.5' or 3.5' SATA drives
- AKiTiO Thunder2 Quad HDD Tray