LaCie 1big dock Thunderbolt 8Tb desktop storage?

mujana wrote:

thank you again Peter.

Peter in Milton wrote:

mujana wrote:

Peter in Milton wrote:

mujana wrote:

As probably many of you, I own and use multiple external hard disks. At the moment the LaCie d2 Thunderbolt (6Tb), which probably is not produced anymore. I love that Thunderbolt speed , because I also work directly on files that are stored on that external. I had a Synology NAS in the past, but I prefer separate desktop hard drives (more for backups).

I' m on a 27" iMac 2019

It' s time for a new desktop harddrive and I' m thinking about the LaCie 1big Thunderbolt 8Tb. I know the Seagate IronWolf Pro disks are inside and that they' re meant to be used in NAS systems. I presume they will do as well as an individual desktop storage device?

Does anyone use one of this series (4Tb/8Tb or 16Tb)?

If so, what are your experiences? All advice is welcome ofcourse.

Thank you!

I'm wondering why you are planning such a minor upgrade: same interface, only slightly more capacity. Also, this is a single (non-RAID) drive, and not SSD, so it doesn't really exploit the thunderbolt technology. It would be interesting to know what transfer speed you are finding at present.

Incidentally, I own a number of LaCie d2 drives (old and new) with different interface technologies and find that reliability has not been an issue.

Thank you Peter.

I' m not that technical , but why doesn't it exploit thunderbolt technology? Not any faster than usb-3 or even (regular) usb-c?

You are mixing up hardware with transmission protocols. USB-C is a universal cable/connector and as such can support the use of USB-3.x, Thunderbolt 3, etc. (It is certainly confusing!) So your device may be able to accept a USB-C cable/connector but not support high speed data transfers.

The reason the LaCie d2 and 1Big do not support theoretical thunderbolt speeds is that they are each simply a single platter disc. A double platter in RAID config. can run the data off in parallel, so much faster, and an SSD will be faster still. All having the same USB-C connector, but different interface electronics.

All that said, most photographers find the speed of single platter drives (like the d2) to be fine for LightRoom etc. The only benefit I can think of for having thunderbolt capability would be if you need to daisy chain drives or displays. People who really need the speed of thunderbolt 3 (e.g. for video editing) are likely to opt for an SSD drive and a computer that supports thunderbolt 3 (on the USB-C port). The 1Big SSD can transfer at 10 times the best rate of the 1Big you are contemplating, but at a huge cost of course, in $$ and reduced capacity, and almost certainly not needed by the likes of us humble still photogs.

So, if I understand well, the only reason to buy a single platter Thunderbolt external (non ssd) drive is if you want to daisy chain? As a single drive hooked up on the Thunderbolt 3 / usb-c port of an iMac by itself, doesn’t give any speed advantages over usb(?)

Indeed, not a very impressive upgrade. My 6Tb LaCie D2 Thunderbolt 3 still functions ok. Not a problem (although at one time this drive didn' t show on my iMac anymore. Suddenly solved...by itself). I use several externals. From 2Tb to 4Tb and 6Tb. Except for the 6Tb LaCie (still 3Tb left), all others are "full". So, I need an extra external anyway. Maybe not a massive upgrade.

At the moment it' s easy and fast to surf through my external files, but also working on these files is fast. I can easily switch between (working on) photographs on my LaCie Thunderbolt 3 and images that are on my iMac' s internal 2Tb SSD. Hard to notice any differences here, and I would like to be able to continue working like that (no waiting on loading external files, let alone working on these).

As I said above, you are not experiencing top speed thunderbolt 3 speed capability, and clearly finding it fine, like most of us.

I DO wonder however, how the LaCie d2 Professional would do ("only" usb-c, not Thunderbolt), in this respect. Especially since you mention that I don’t really exploit that Thunderbolt technology. If that doesn’t make any difference in speed, then I might as well buy myself one if these (maybe 10 or 14 Tb).

Exactly!

that’ s great!