# What to choose? Thunderbolt 3 or USB-c enclosure



## Igorianych (Jan 1, 2020)

Hello!

I would to solve the topic of of samples storage for a while.
Now Im using Samsung T5 2TB via usb-c and there are no questions at all, but storage space is getting smaller and smaller.

In general, I would like to increase capacity samples hd. I work on MacBook 2019 so the solution should be external.
Im considering two options:

1 https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicmultidock
2 https://www.owcdigital.com/products/express-4m2

Any one had the same problem? Or working with this (or same) tools now?
I will be apperciate for your advice.

Igor


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## charlieclouser (Jan 1, 2020)

I have two of the MultiDocks, and many others on here have them as well. They are freaking awesome - rack-mountable, no moving parts, not even a power switch. They just work - ALWAYS.

But they are based on SATA technology, which is getting old, and they will offer similar speeds to the T5 drive you already have (which is also SATA inside). The 2.5" SATA SSDs that you'd need to stick into the MultiDock are cheap and plentiful - but they are nowhere near the speed of m2 drives that go in the OWC 4m2. Those "stick" or "blade" style drives can get 5x - 6x the speed of the SATA drives, and although they are much more expensive than SATA drives at the moment, the price is falling fast.

- m2 drives top out at 2tb per stick at the moment, while 2.5" SATA drives go to 4tb right now. We may see 4tb m2 drives soon, but sizes above 4tb seem unlikely to appear in either format any time soon. Larger sizes are available in other formats but typically aimed at enterprise customers and priced at a premium.

- m2 drives are at least 5x the speed of SATA drives - but at least 2x the price. The crazy speed of m2 is nice but won't directly translate into 5x the number of Kontakt instances you can run at once or whatever. It's rare to max out even normal SATA SSDs for sample library use except in super-intense orchestral template use, so the glorious speed of m2 may be slight overkill.... for now anyway. But speed is always nice. Loading will definitely be faster with the m2 drives though.

- MultiDock is awesome and its rack mount enclosure is a little more "pro" than the shoebox 4m2 box which uses an AC Adaptor power supply instead of an internal power supply with IEC connector, but this may or may not matter to you. Not a huge deal. The 4m2 box may actually be more convenient for tossing into a bag if you travel, etc. Also it has a monitor connector which can prove convenient for laptop users as it will save you a port - MultiDock does not have this.

- OWC can be trusted. They are completely Mac-focused, and their customer service, warranty, and support are top-notch. Their prices are very competitive as well.

I know a couple of guys with the 4m2 and it works great for them, no issues. I have mostly stopped buying 2.5" SATA SSDs for the MultiDocks (mostly because I have so many) in hopes that I'll be moving to a new Mac Pro soon and will use m2 drives on internal PCIe cards. 

So... m2 is the future, but you pay a premium price for the privilege of state-of-the-art speed.


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## khollister (Jan 2, 2020)

3 things to bear in mind about the OWC 4m2:

1) it has a fan which, by some reports, is pretty noticeable.

2) There are no heatsinks for the blades, so thermal throttling is possible in spite of the fan

3) The controller in it only uses 4 PCIe lanes with no multiplexer, so unless you RAID the blades, you will only get slightly better than SATA speeds per blade in a JBOD setup.

Pretty underwhelming IMHO. TechRadar had a pretty good review (don't have the link handy).


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## khollister (Jan 2, 2020)

Also, be aware the latest Multidock has 2 USB-c ports. To get full speed on all 4 SATA slots, you need to connect both (obviously to 2 different TB/USB-C ports on your computer). Otherwise, the 4 drives will share a single 1 GB/s USB3.1 channel. In truth that may or may not be as big a deal as it sounds. For sample playback, it is the random read/seek times that make SSD's so powerful, not the sustained transfer speeds that matter so much in video.

I did a few experiments when I got my iMac Pro on putting larger sample libraries on the internal NVME SSD vs my external TB3 SATA SSD's. With the exception of load times on the Garritan CFX piano (big difference), I really couldn't tell the difference. The big Omnisphere/Keyscape patches loaded just about as slow on the 3 GB/s+ internal SSD as the 500 MB/s external SATA SSD's.

I think we are consumed with SSD speed in the assumption it makes a difference for sample playback, but I'm not convinced it actually does. Parallelizing random reads is likely far more important.

Assuming you have a port available, just adding a second 2TB T5 is the simplest & cheapest solution. Remember that you can put a USB3.1 device at the end of a TB3 daisy chain (as long as all your TB devices have pass through connectors).


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## Igorianych (Jan 2, 2020)

Thank you for the prompt and detailed replay!
Im thinking of OWC with Samsung ssd m2


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## jbuhler (Jan 3, 2020)

As @khollister notes, the new Black Magic Multidocks are USB-C not Thunderbolt3, and they can no longer be daisy chained. So basically you would need a TB3 hub that supports at least one USB-C port and TB3-through in order to get the same potential to connect the Multidock with daisy chaining. This sucks for those of us still using TB2 and with a limited number of TB2 ports that also need to carry video for external monitors. I ended up sending the one I ordered back because it did not meet my needs. I'm looking for another 4 bay unit that that can hook up to TB2 or TB3 and where it is easy to swap the SSDs.


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## Technostica (Jan 3, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> As @khollister notes, the new Black Magic Multidocks are USB-C not Thunderbolt3, and they can no longer be daisy chained.


They need to sort out their product description as it uses USB 3.1 Gen 2 with a Type-C connector which is the same connector that TB3 uses. So calling it USB-C is ambiguous and it seems as if even the manufacturers are confused by the USB naming conventions.


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## jbuhler (Jan 3, 2020)

Technostica said:


> They need to sort out their product description as it uses USB 3.1 Gen 2 with a Type-C connector which is the same connector that TB3 uses. So calling it USB-C is ambiguous and it seems as if even the manufacturers are confused by the USB naming conventions.


The manual for the Multidock on the Black Magic website also combines the new one and the old one so the actual capabilities are not well distinguished. Once someone explains the differences it’s easy enough to understand but the product description isn’t great at doing that, since it (understandably) focuses on the new product. It just turns out that the old product had a number of features abandoned on the new product.


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## gsilbers (Jan 3, 2020)

i was thinking on this set 



+


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## Igorianych (Jan 4, 2020)

and I found this guy






OWC ThunderBlade


Provides ultra fast, reliable RAID storage and functionality, and brings speeds that outperform other 2-Blade and 4-Blade RAID enclosures.




www.owcdigital.com





this coast a fortune!!!


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