Thunderbolt? Firewire 800? USB 3.0? Where is this going?

Hello to the trusty community!!!!

So, my issue here is not what is fast that is easy to answer with a bench mark... :woohoo:

My questions is where will my money be spent more effectively, efficiently and what will make me happier? ...or maybe what made you happier?

I currently run my newly implemented libraries from Firewire 800 drives.... I'd say its good....but not any more....as I have this crazy unused Thunderbolt port on the back of my iMac 27 inch (that is wanting to mutate in to a new 10K$ MacPro).

So, should I get a Caldigit T3 which is what I've been looking for?

Or should I just get something like the Belkin Express Dock? or the Caldigit Station ?

I'm thinking that as long as its faster than the internal HD (a "spinner" in my case) I should be fine. The question is should I just go with the versatility of using HDs USB 3.0 via the hubs? or should I go with the lighting fast t3 ( which would also give me a nice RAID setup).

..but again am I limited by the read/write speeds of the internal HD...or is it all up to the processor....

maybe you guys have an alternate solution????

one factor to remember is that I want the ability, as I'm sure most do to buy new drives, as they fill......

thanks for all the positive Karma in advance!!! :silly: :kiss: :oops: :oops:

Hey NYC,
So what type of editing do you do? What amount of data bandwidth do you need now and for the life of your current computer?
Of the 3 products you link to, 2 are hubs and one is drive bay. All are Tbolt 1 interfaces, not the new TB2.
The CalDigit Station has better specs than the Belkin including USB 3 UAS protocol which translates to faster USB3 performance. Both are missing eSATA connections, why??. Both require that you purchase external enclosures to plug in to the I/O ports. The CalDigit station is around $100 cheaper.
The T3 is interesting. It is a software RAID meaning you set it up via OSX Disk Utility. Unfortunately, no RAID5. If I was getting it I would likely set 2 drives to RAID0 and the 3rd drive as a JBOD back-up drive. One thing to be aware of is that CalDigit does not sell this product, nor the drive sleds empty. You have to purchase them populated with a drive supplied by them. Doesn't mean you couldn't replace a drive in the sled later, just the initial purchase, too bad.
I doubt their speed claims for spinning HDDs for only 3 drives. They don't list what SATA bus is used.
Since this is bootable, one possible configuration is to install SSD(s) and run your iMac boot from there and then use the other bay(s) for media. Would be interesting to see what kind of speed bump you might get. SSD helps in booting faster and loading apps/events faster. The actual processing is mostly Ram and VRam so a spinning HDD is not that big of an issue for actual editing providing you can feed the media fast enough.
There is a video interview with FCP.co Peter W on the CalDigit site and he says he may just have to get one. Maybe PW will weigh in here.
OWC also has many alternatives. Lots of devices coming available finally. Look for updates to TB2 for future proofing. This will only be an issue with daisy changing multiple SSDs in RAID 0 configurations.
I think the cheapest way to go is a dual dock USB3 with UASP capabilities. Macs have supported UASP since ML I believe. Plunk in a couple of HDDs or SSDs and go to town if you are only doing SD/HD vids. Proxy media if you need 4/5K edits.
There are other threads where I have discussed USB3 speeds. Even with the older USB3 protocols, USB3 is faster than FW800. Roughly faster than SATA 2(3Gb/s) but slightly slower than SATA3(6Gb/s). USB3.1 should appear later this year and will double the speed.
Hope this helps,
Greg

In the last 5 minutes, we have just had a delivery from Amazon of one of these.

G-Technology G-RAID 8TB Dual Thunderbolt

Fast and bulletproof - that's why we ordered another one.

Peter