# Thunderbolt drive/dock for streaming samples?



## gsilbers (Apr 20, 2018)

Im looking to buy a second mac (imac) and ivebeen using macpro withinternal drives. 

seems thunderbold drives will be the fastest. FF800 is only 100mbs and i dont have usb3. only usb2. 

is anyone using thunderbolt with external dock/enclosure w sucess? 
Also, how about thunderbold enclosure with HDD drive or SSHD drive ? 

Or usb2 external ssd drive? 

thx


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## gsilbers (Apr 20, 2018)

im guessing thunderbolt for external drives is not a big thing


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## Leon Portelance (Apr 20, 2018)

I have a Thunderbolt G-Drive 4 TB which has worked flawlessly for 2 years.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1024614-REG/g_technology_0g03050_g_drive_4tb_7200_thunderbolt_usb3_sata3.html?ap=y&c3api=1876%2C92051678882%2C%2C&gclid=Cj0KCQjwn-bWBRDGARIsAPS1svvdAhKiG4YMLJ1P_VvlEs_tpMte6k1d6_tpiga49_oNPHvl24YYB1oaAhDhEALw_wcB


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## samphony (Apr 20, 2018)

I use 2 black magic MultiDocks. They have Thunderbolt 2 but with the Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 Converter you can use them with the new Thunderbolt 3 USB C type ports.


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## SDCP (Apr 21, 2018)

Blackmagic Multidock


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## gsilbers (Apr 21, 2018)

Leon Portelance said:


> I have a Thunderbolt G-Drive 4 TB which has worked flawlessly for 2 years.
> 
> https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1024614-REG/g_technology_0g03050_g_drive_4tb_7200_thunderbolt_usb3_sata3.html?ap=y&c3api=1876%2C92051678882%2C%2C&gclid=Cj0KCQjwn-bWBRDGARIsAPS1svvdAhKiG4YMLJ1P_VvlEs_tpMte6k1d6_tpiga49_oNPHvl24YYB1oaAhDhEALw_wcB (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1024614-REG/g_technology_0g03050_g_drive_4tb_7200_thunderbolt_usb3_sata3.html?ap=y&amp;c3api=1876,92051678882,,&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwn-bWBRDGARIsAPS1svvdAhKiG4YMLJ1P_VvlEs_tpMte6k1d6_tpiga49_oNPHvl24YYB1oaAhDhEALw_wcB)




interesting. but I see its a normal HDD drive 7200rpm instead of ssd. can you stream orchestral libraries with that?


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## gsilbers (Apr 21, 2018)

samphony said:


> I use 2 black magic MultiDocks. They have Thunderbolt 2 but with the Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 Converter you can use them with the new Thunderbolt 3 USB C type ports.



wholly molly , 600 bucks for a dock and no drives. man.. times have changed. I'm in the past still looking at internal drives on my Mac Pro cheese grater. no wonder so much negativity towards the new trashcan Mac pro w/o real expansion slots. 

so thats $1800 to get 4tb of space. (dock+ 1tb ssd drives)


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## gsilbers (Apr 21, 2018)

samphony said:


> I use 2 black magic MultiDocks. They have Thunderbolt 2 but with the Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 Converter you can use them with the new Thunderbolt 3 USB C type ports.



also... so many options. thunderbolt 2,3 usb3, c, and I've heard that some will connect to external monitors, other don't. I. have to catch up to all this stuff... or just skip until the dust settles.


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## samphony (Apr 21, 2018)

Don’t change a


gsilbers said:


> also... so many options. thunderbolt 2,3 usb3, c, and I've heard that some will connect to external monitors, other don't. I. have to catch up to all this stuff... or just skip until the dust settles.


don’t change if you don’t have too. I started with one MultiDock.


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## gsilbers (Apr 21, 2018)

samphony said:


> Don’t change a
> 
> don’t change if you don’t have too. I started with one MultiDock.



its for a second iMac, which I already have ... :( 

I see some alternatives


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## Leon Portelance (Apr 21, 2018)

gsilbers said:


> interesting. but I see its a normal HDD drive 7200rpm instead of ssd. can you stream orchestral libraries with that?



Yes. I have many orchestral libraries:

LASS 2.5 & LASS Legato Sordino

Cinematic Studio Strings

Cinematic Studio Solo Strings 

Berlin Woodwinds Revive, Legacy, Exp A, Exp B, Exp C

OT Orchestral String Runs

Berlin Orchestra Inspire

Omnisphere 2

Syntronik 

Auddict Master Brass

Sample Modeling Brass 3

Embertone: Joshua Bell Violin, Friedlander Violin, Fisher Viola, Blakus Cello, Leonid Bass, Crystal Flute, Jubal Flute, Recorders, Sensual Sax, Herring Clarinet, Chapman Trumpet, Mountain Dulcimer, Shire Whistle, Whistler Ensemble, Ancient Voices

Kirk Hunter Concert Strings: Legacy, 2 & 3

Kirk Hunter Spotlight Solo Strings

Kirk Hunter Concert Brass: Legacy, 2

Sketching Strings 

Cinesamples Drums of War 1 & 2

USE Strings

MSS Viola

Misfit Fiddle

microharp

Orange Samples: Evolution Rock Standard, Evolution Stratosphere, Evolution Strawberry, Evolution Steel Strings, Evolution Rick, Cherry Electric Bass, Iconic Bass Jaco, CoreBass Pear

Realitone: Fingerpick, Acoustic Lite, RealiBanjo, RealiWhistle 

Ample Sound: AG12 Taylor 12 String Guitar, CloudDrum

Canterbury Suitcase

Waves Bass Slapper 

Mercury Piano

Haunted Spaces

Lunaris

Hexeract

8dio Shepard Tones

Auddict Drums of the Deep 1 & 2 Unleashed 

Alchemist Cinematic Textures, Cinematic Impacts

Dark Matter 1 & 2

Slate Drums - SDD4

Real Guitar 5

Altiverb 7

Waves H-Reverb, Waves IR1 Reverb, Abbey Road Plates

ARTzID V2


EWQL:

Hollywood Orchestra Diamond

Pianos

RA

Silk

Gypsy

Fab Four

Stormdrum 2 Pro

Voices of Passion

Goliath 

Ministry of Rock 1

Symphonic Choirs

Symphonic Orchestra Platinum

QL Spaces


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## Josh Richman (Apr 21, 2018)

Blackmagic Multidock. I have 3 of them daisy chained together with SSDs for the sole purpose of streaming samples.


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## tmhuud (Apr 21, 2018)

Same here. Have 3. They daisy chain very nicely and efficiently. If you don't have racks though it may not work for your 'form factor'.


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## Wunderhorn (Apr 24, 2018)

For Thunderbolt solutions you can save yourself a lot of money by getting a RocketStor docking station for roughly $140. It is not a something to make you desk pretty, but it has been working here like a charm for several years now. If you need daisy-chaining you can get the slightly more expensive solution by OWC. I use one of each BTW.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Apr 24, 2018)

Leon Portelance said:


> EWQL:
> 
> Hollywood Orchestra Diamond



You are among the lucky. I couldn't even run Hollywood Strings Gold from a 7200


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## gsilbers (Apr 24, 2018)

Wunderhorn said:


> For Thunderbolt solutions you can save yourself a lot of money by getting a RocketStor docking station for roughly $140. It is not a something to make you desk pretty, but it has been working here like a charm for several years now. If you need daisy-chaining you can get the slightly more expensive solution by OWC. I use one of each BTW.



thats the one i got. ill have to try it out. i got an ssd 1tb and an 6tb 7200 hdd for loops and libraries that are not streaming heavy. (effects, hybrud stuff.) ill have to stick to one set of orchestral library though which might be a good thing. 
i wish it was possible to cherry pick patches and only save those a separate drive. i def dont need feathered spicc anytime soon.


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## LinusW (Apr 24, 2018)

I'm happy with the 8TB G-RAID. 
https://www.g-technology.com/products/desktop/g-raid-with-removable-drives#0G03244

2x4TB HGST HDD (7k4000 or 7k6000, Enterprise class and fast) in RAID-0 reaches 500 MB/s, comparable to a single SSD but cheaper and bigger. The only drawback is that the drives might rattle from time to time so I keep them below my studio desk so I don't hear them as much. 
I have a 2x6 TB WD MyBook Pro in my second studio. Same thing, but WD Black drives and it includes two USB 3 ports in the front.


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## Nmargiotta (Apr 24, 2018)

I’ve got the OWC Thunder Bay, I’ve had it for 2 years. My iMac is thunderbolt 1 and it works ok, but does have issues when the computer sleeps ejecting the drives and not allowing me to remount them. Drives me nuts. I wouldn’t recommend it for that reason alone and there are better options available now— 

I’d highly suggest the Akitio enclosures instead. For one they are a little over $300, very competitively priced, they can fit 4 drives (way cheaper then the black magic dock, which BTW is NOT roadmapped for a thunderbolt 3 update for over a year from now) It’s Thunderbolt 3 instead of 2, has a fan that can be manually turned off (if you need silence in your studio) and the company is Orange County and the dudes are super cool! With the Apple adapter you can go from TB3 to 2 or 1 without issues. Load it with some crucial MX500’s or Evos and your dialed.


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## higgs (Apr 24, 2018)

I've had _almost_ no issues with the OWC Thunderbays I use. The only one I've had an issue with is one that was formatted RAID 3 with the included SoftRAID software. Ever since I bailed on that software it's been nothing but smooth sailing for the any of the larger and smaller form RAID drive bays they sell. I bought an OWC TB Mini enclosure on eBay a couple of years ago for a song - it's been a pedigreed workhorse.


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## Mike Marino (Apr 24, 2018)

@gsilbers : I have an iMac as well (late 2013). You might take a look at the Pegasus J4 from Promise Technologies. The enclosure fits four drives (HDD or SSD) and has two Thunderbolt ports. I currently use two of these units with four 500GB SSDs in each unit. One unit ports directly into the iMac's TB port, the other cascades/chains into the first unit via the second TB port.

They don't make these particular units anymore so you'll have to grab a used one. I originally bought the first unit in early 2014 for almost $400. I bought the second unit about 6 months ago on eBay for $99.

The SSDs housed in these two units are my sample drives and I've had zero trouble with either unit thus far.

Hope that gives you another option.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/897135-REG/Promise_Technology_j4hd0tb_Pegasus_J4_Thunderbolt_Enclosure_Empty.html


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## Saxer (Apr 25, 2018)

Blackmagic Multidock here too. Two of them.


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