# Any alternatives to Blackmagic Multidock?



## SillyMidOn (Mar 23, 2016)

Hi

Looking to buy a thunderbolt enclosure for ssd drives. The Black Magic looks the best option, but was wondering if anyone knew of any alternatives?

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/products/blackmagicmultidock

Thanks in advance, Ladies and Gentlemen!


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## synthpunk (Mar 23, 2016)

There are other options out there, see OWC for ie, BUT the Blackmagic is really the best IMO. It is silent, no fans, 19" rack mount, and has great support, warranty, and reliability. I will be getting second later this year.


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## Brendon Williams (Mar 23, 2016)

I use a Thunderbay 4 Mini and I love it!


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## Saxer (Mar 23, 2016)

I have the Blackmagic as well. But there's also Pegasus for 4 SSDs http://amzn.to/1T6Mbg5


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## SillyMidOn (Mar 24, 2016)

Thank you for all your comments!


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## gpax (Mar 24, 2016)

Not a fan of fan noise, though (FWIW) I had to choose the larger Thunderbay 4 last year while transiting from HDDs to SSDs after getting a new Mac. As prices dropped, I actually went all SSD quicker than anticipated, but the Thunderbay fan noise remained (the SSDs are connected via bracket-adapters). The unit itself has been reliable and very fast.

Perhaps the 60mm fan on the OWC TB mini is much more quiet compared to the 92mm fan on my unit, though I have no way to quantify decibel and frequency differences based on specs. I actually ended up getting a 10 ft. optical cable and putting the unit inside an IKEA locker I padded with acoustic foam.

Hence, one alternative I have considered IS the Blackmagic multidock, though it's priced at $250 more than the OWC mini bay (which dropped $50 recently, causing me to wonder if OWC might be moving toward a new design).


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## babylonwaves (Mar 24, 2016)

Both the TB4 and Mini fans are fairly loud, to loud for the price of those enclosures. The rest is great and last time i've checked the maximal throughput outperforms the blackmagic enclosure easily. i've replaced the fans in my thunderbays, takes 20 minutes, costs €15.- and makes all the difference. Noctua for example builds great silence fans.


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## gpax (Mar 24, 2016)

babylonwaves said:


> Both the TB4 and Mini fans are fairly loud, to loud for the price of those enclosures. The rest is great and last time i've checked the maximal throughput outperforms the blackmagic enclosure easily. i've replaced the fans in my thunderbays, takes 20 minutes, costs €15.- and makes all the difference. Noctua for example builds great silence fans.


Great info on replacing the fans! Can you recommend a specific speed of fan?

As for blackmagic throughput, I've never fully understood why some report speed and/or bottleneck observations sub-par to other options, yet espouse these as the go to, nevertheless. Based on reading posts, I just figured that some of the speed issues were negligible to many in real-world use, or perhaps worth not having a fan?


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## storyteller (Mar 24, 2016)

I have an OWC mini with SSDs for sample libraries and the bigger Thunderday 4 (raid 5) for video and archival storage. I've been happy with both and would definitely recommend either as potential alternatives (depending on your needs) - especially the mini for sample drives. The mini is considerably quieter than its larger brother making it better for studio use. Another alternative would be the OWC Drive Dock. It is fan-less but only has 2 drive bays (versus 4 in the others) for $245.


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## gpax (Mar 24, 2016)

storyteller said:


> I have an OWC mini with SSDs for sample libraries and the bigger Thunderday 4 (raid 5) for video and archival storage. I've been happy with both and would definitely recommend either as potential alternatives (depending on your needs) - especially the mini for sample drives. The mini is considerably quieter than its larger brother making it better for studio use. Another alternative would be the OWC Drive Dock. It is fan-less but only has 2 drive bays (versus 4 in the others) for $245.


This isn't even my post and I've gotten two bits of very useful information. Thanks!


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## babylonwaves (Mar 29, 2016)

gpax said:


> Great info on replacing the fans! Can you recommend a specific speed of fan?


unfortunately no. here's what I did. the Noctua fans come with "low noise" resistors which you put in between the fan and the power supply. those throttle the speed. you can measure the temperature of the drives with a SMART utility and in my situation I found that the bigger resistor which throttles the most cools the drives enough. the important part when shopping for fans is not so much the speed but how loud those are under full load.


here's a TB mini compatible fan:


http://www.amazon.de/NOCTUA-NF-A6x25-FLX-Geh%C3%A4usel%C3%BCfter-NF-A6X25/dp/B009LEKGGE?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 (http://www.amazon.de/NOCTUA-NF-A6x25-FLX-Gehäuselüfter-NF-A6X25/dp/B009LEKGGE?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;redirect=true&amp;ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00)


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## babylonwaves (Mar 29, 2016)

here's the second link for the TB4 compatible fan: 

http://www.amazon.de/NOCTUA-NF-A6x25-FLX-Geh%C3%A4usel%C3%BCfter-NF-A6X25/dp/B009LEKGGE?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 (http://www.amazon.de/NOCTUA-NF-A6x25-FLX-Gehäuselüfter-NF-A6X25/dp/B009LEKGGE?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;redirect=true&amp;ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00)


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## gpax (Mar 29, 2016)

Should it be the 92mm size for the TB4? That's the one I already ordered : )


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## SillyMidOn (Mar 29, 2016)

gpax said:


> Not a fan of fan noise, though (FWIW) I had to choose the larger Thunderbay 4 last year while transiting from HDDs to SSDs after getting a new Mac. As prices dropped, I actually went all SSD quicker than anticipated, but the Thunderbay fan noise remained (the SSDs are connected via bracket-adapters). The unit itself has been reliable and very fast.
> 
> Perhaps the 60mm fan on the OWC TB mini is much more quiet compared to the 92mm fan on my unit, though I have no way to quantify decibel and frequency differences based on specs. I actually ended up getting a 10 ft. optical cable and putting the unit inside an IKEA locker I padded with acoustic foam.
> 
> Hence, one alternative I have considered IS the Blackmagic multidock, though it's priced at $250 more than the OWC mini bay (which dropped $50 recently, causing me to wonder if OWC might be moving toward a new design).



Yes, the fan makes it a no-no for me, but thank you for the info.


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## milesito (Mar 29, 2016)

Black magic works fine for me. I also had narrowed it down to the owc option but fabless won out. And it performs great with my 4 1 tb ssds raided together in two 2tb raid volumes.


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