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For those who own a GoFlex Drive that's larger than 2TB, the GoFlex Desk Thunderbolt adapter also comes with an USB thumbdrive that contains software drivers to enable the Mac to support high-capacity drives. The installation of this driver software also took just a few seconds in my trial.
Performance
I tested the Seagate GoFlex Desk Thunderbolt adapter with a 4TB GoFlex drive-- the two effectively form a GoFlex Desk Thunderbolt drive--and it performed really well.
Similar to other single-volume Thunderbolt drives, such as the Elgato Thunderbolt SSD, the GoFlex Desk Thunderbolt drive was put through two sets of tests. In the first set, I compared its performance with that of internal drives, including traditional hard drives and solid-state drives (SSDs). In the second set, the drive was stacked up against other popular external devices that use USB 3.0, USB 2.0, FireWire, and eSATA connections. All tests were done with a 2011 MacBook Pro running OS X Lion, on a SATA 3 (6Gbps) SSD.
For the first set of tests, I used the Pegasus R6 connected to the GoFlex Desk Thunderbolt drive and benchmarked how fast the portable drive transferred data to and from the Thunderbolt partner. In this test, the GoFlex Desk Thunderbolt drive registered 131MBps, faster than the Elgato, which is based on an SSD. When the R6 was removed from the chain and the Seagate Thunderbolt drive worked by itself, doing both reading and writing at the same time, it scored 69MBps, faster than the 60GB of the LaCie 2big Thunderbolt.
In the second set of tests, where I transferred data back and forth between the Seagate Thunderbolt drive and the test computer, it scored 130MBps and 147MBps for writing and reading, respectively; by far faster than any non-Thunderbolt storage device and on par with other single-volume Thunderbolt devices.
In my anecdotal tests with other internal drives, including hard drives and SSDs, the Seagate Thunderbolt adapter also offered excellent performance.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 |
Unit to Unit | |
Self Read and Write |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
|
Read | |
Write |
Conclusion
The Seagate Thunderbolt adapter is an excellent alternative to any single-volume Thunderbolt drive. The device offers great performance, the flexibility to use any GoFlex or internal drive as a Thunderbolt storage solution, and is relatively affordable.
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Quick Specifications
- Device Type Storage controller - External
CNET editor Dong Ngo has been involved with technology since 2000, starting with testing gadgets and writing code for CNET Labs' benchmarks. He now covers networking and storage, and also writes about other topics from online security to new gadgets and how technology impacts the life of people around the world. Full Bio
