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Blackmagic Multidock or a Thunderbolt 3 docking station?

PkCrumbs

PkCrumbs

New Member
Hi all!

I'm getting ready to buy an iMac Pro, and I have 4 Samsung Evo's to go along with it. I was planning on getting a Blackmagic Multidock and using the TB2 -> TB3 adapter, but should I be considering a docking station that utilizes TB3 instead?

Also, I'm stuck in deciding whether to stick with 10 cores for the iMac or if I should spring for the 18. Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Parker
Click to read more...
 
I passed on the Multidock and got a Akitio Thunder 3 Mini - TB 3 and has a switch so you can turn the fans off. I also have 4 1TB Evo's in mine and while the drives do get a bit hotter with the fan off, it is not enough to hurt anything. The performance is excellent - no real reduction in speed compared to the same drives in a PC on the Intel SATA6G ports.

The tests I have seen on the Multidock weren't very impressive - the SATA to thunderbolt bridge is slow.

I got the 10 core because of price and concerns about single core speed for CPU intensive instruments.
 
khollister said:
I passed on the Multidock and got a Akitio Thunder 3 Mini - TB 3 and has a switch so you can turn the fans off. I also have 4 1TB Evo's in mine and while the drives do get a bit hotter with the fan off, it is not enough to hurt anything. The performance is excellent - no real reduction in speed compared to the same drives in a PC on the Intel SATA6G ports.

The tests I have seen on the Multidock weren't very impressive - the SATA to thunderbolt bridge is slow.

I got the 10 core because of price and concerns about single core speed for CPU intensive instruments.
Click to expand...

Okay, thanks! I've read some complaints about the Akitio self-ejecting the disks randomly. Have you had any issues with that?
 
only on waking from sleep - my solution is not to sleep the computer but have the display shut off. Flawless otherwise.
 
It really is ridiculous that you have to buy expensive disposable crap to house your computer's drives.

Sorry for grousing rather than being helpful, but really, this is a case (sic) of overdesign being underdesign.
 
Nick Batzdorf said:
It really is ridiculous that you have to buy expensive disposable crap to house your computer's drives.

Sorry for grousing rather than being helpful, but really, this is a case (sic) of overdesign being underdesign.
Click to expand...
Ugh, agreed. Also, it's hard to find anything that consistently has above a 3-star rating.
 
khollister said:
only on waking from sleep - my solution is not to sleep the computer but have the display shut off. Flawless otherwise.
Click to expand...
Okay, cool. Weirdly, I'm looking for it online and nowhere is really selling it right now. Akitio's website directs you to their Amazon page, where they have all their products for sale except this one. It's labeled as "unavailable." A lot of other websites don't have it in stock (but have other Akitio product in stock) or are just sketchy-seeming websites I don't want to buy things from. Maybe they're pulling it in anticipation of an updated version being released?
 
PkCrumbs said:
Okay, cool. Weirdly, I'm looking for it online and nowhere is really selling it right now. Akitio's website directs you to their Amazon page, where they have all their products for sale except this one. It's labeled as "unavailable." A lot of other websites don't have it in stock (but have other Akitio product in stock) or are just sketchy-seeming websites I don't want to buy things from. Maybe they're pulling it in anticipation of an updated version being released?
Click to expand...
I think I got mine from B&H

UPDATE. And I see that B&H and Adorama are both out of stock. Must be a another container load coming from China :)
 
I see from one of the reviews on Amazon that a user solved the disconnect issue by turning off hard drive sleep. Since my machine is all SSD, I had that switched off anyway.
 
The Akitio Thunder is virtually identical to the OWC Thunderbay Mini. I have one of those since years and never had a problem where the drive unmounts while sleep. And in case you want a fan (although not needed in many environments), i finally found a replacement which is really silent @8.2dB(A): Noctua NF A6x25 FLX
 
I would advise against the multidock, it actually has much slower read/write speeds than the Akitio or OWC enclosures.
 
babylonwaves said:
The Akitio Thunder is virtually identical to the OWC Thunderbay Mini. I have one of those since years and never had a problem where the drive unmounts while sleep. And in case you want a fan (although not needed in many environments), i finally found a replacement which is really silent @8.2dB(A): Noctua NF A6x25 FLX
Click to expand...

I think the Thunderbay Mini has been discontinued - the only thing showing on the OWC retail website (macsales.com) is the 3.5" version. The OWC Mini was not a rebadged Akitio either - not sure how the performance compared to the Akitio.

Amazon US does list 2 available from a 3rd party seller but fulfilled by Amazon. B&H says 2-4 weeks and Adorama says backordered. Since there is nothing to the contrary on Akitio's website, I guess it is just a supply-side miscalculation and stock will be forthcoming.

I have had one on 24x7 for several weeks and have had zero disconnect (or any other) issues with the caveat that I have sleep disabled for the iMP and the drives
 
For me, it's the Multidock. The speed issue vs. its competitors is not really an issue for me. It's more than sufficient for what I do.
No fan, no heat. Reliable.
Just sits there minding its own business.
A very happy user here.
 
Also keep in mind there are Akito models that load the drives horizontally:
Amazon product ASIN B00VJ4IWVU
And vertically (this even has a handle):
Amazon product ASIN B00LMON6Z4
But I have not seen one yet that has a switch to turn off the fan. Hmmm.

If you have TB3 on the new machine I would probably go with something that has TB3 or USB C, which can work with a simple cable adapter at practically the same speeds. :)
 
X-Bassist said:
Also keep in mind there are Akito models that load the drives horizontally:
Amazon product ASIN B00VJ4IWVU
And vertically (this even has a handle):
Amazon product ASIN B00LMON6Z4
But I have not seen one yet that has a switch to turn off the fan. Hmmm.

If you have TB3 on the new machine I would probably go with something that has TB3 or USB C, which can work with a simple cable adapter at practically the same speeds. :)
Click to expand...

The TB3 version has a fan switch. Even comes with a short TB3 cable
 
I've been able to torture test my Multidock with a full orchestral palette running at 24/96 and no real issues with disk access. I love it. I'm planning to get a second one in the near future.

Plus, you know, pretty flashing lights...
 
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