I ordered a Seagate t-bolt connector.

[Chippy99]

Does anyone have any comparison of the Goflex Desk and the portable one?

I am considering this setup for an iMac and am wondering if the desk version is worth double the price.

Well, it has two tangible advantages. 1, you can use 3.5" drives with it, whereas the portable is limited to 2.5" drives. And 2, it has two TB connectors so you can daisy chain more TB devices, like maybe another Goflex adapter.

Is that worth double? Only you can decide.

 

[Riotofwords103]

Well, it has two tangible advantages. 1, you can use 3.5" drives with it, whereas the portable is limited to 2.5" drives. And 2, it has two TB connectors so you can daisy chain more TB devices, like maybe another Goflex adapter.

Is that worth double? Only you can decide.

Thanks, I am wondering more if there would be any stability/speed advantages in having a drive powered by an external power supply rather than just bus powered. Got a 27" iMac so I have 2 TB ports should I need one for anything else. I would be ideally using the SSD as my boot drive.

 

[jhonka]

Thanks, I am wondering more if there would be any stability/speed advantages in having a drive powered by an external power supply rather than just bus powered. Got a 27" iMac so I have 2 TB ports should I need one for anything else. I would be ideally using the SSD as my boot drive.

I'm in the same situation. It appears to me that very few have tried the desktop model, and none of those few have reported issues. If you're okay with a smaller capacity drive, portable model appears sufficient, otherwise you can be the first to try the desktop model and report back to us.

I bit the bullet and bought the STAE121 (portable) with an Apple Thunderbolt cable. I have a Crucial M4 256GB I'll try out first. If that fails, I may pull out a 128GB M4 from another machine. I plan to use this boot configuration long-term (with Time Machine backup as a safety net). I plan to report back with my results.

If this setup doesn't hold through my benchmarks, I might return the Apple cable for an Elgato (additional $10 cost + inconvenience) or exchange the dock for the desktop version (additional $100 + inconvenience). I'm not familiar with Apple or Amazon return policies, so that inconvenience might factor into my willingness to experiment further.

 

[philipma1957]

amazon is good if is was an amazon sale. if it was a third party amazon is not as good. if you return to amazon just say item was not working or not as described they will pay the return shipping.

 

[jhonka]

Just got the parts and set it up today:
Crucial M4 256GB
Seagate GoFlex STAE121
Apple Thunderbolt cable (2.0m)

I cloned my internal drive using Carbon Copy Cloner (130GB) and it's been running for a few hours, no sweat. The dock and drive do get a little bit warm, but it's comparable to the heat put off by my iMac.

This is one sweet upgrade!

 

[WesCole]

Just got the parts and set it up today:
Crucial M4 256GB
Seagate GoFlex STAE121
Apple Thunderbolt cable (2.0m)

I cloned my internal drive using Carbon Copy Cloner (130GB) and it's been running for a few hours, no sweat. The dock and drive do get a little bit warm, but it's comparable to the heat put off by my iMac.

This is one sweet upgrade!

[url=http://i.imgur.com/gVe6Nm.png]Image[/URL]

Any issues with it disconnecting? I really want to get this setup for my iMac, but have heard a few reports of kernal panics from the drive disconnecting for a split second.

 

[jhonka]

Any issues with it disconnecting? I really want to get this setup for my iMac, but have heard a few reports of kernal panics from the drive disconnecting for a split second.

None yet; I'll update the thread if I do. I have all the latest updates installed.

Carbon Copy Cloner was really easy to use as well. Just remember to clone your recovery partition with it if you want encryption to work.

 

[Jackintosh]

Interesting.

 

[Riotofwords103]

I went for the Crucial M4 256GB, GoFlex and Thunderbolt set up for my 27" iMac. Was able to fairly easily partition it and get both OSX and Windows running on it with very little hassle. Been running like a charm and I'm getting ~260MB/s Writes and ~380MB/s Read. Very happy with it!

(Also the TwelveSouth BackPack makes a perfect stand for the goflex)

 

[philipma1957]

I went for the Crucial M4 256GB, GoFlex and Thunderbolt set up for my 27" iMac. Was able to fairly easily partition it and get both OSX and Windows running on it with very little hassle. Been running like a charm and I'm getting ~260MB/s Writes and ~380MB/s Read. Very happy with it!

(Also the TwelveSouth BackPack makes a perfect stand for the goflex)

LOT BETTER then cracking that iMac open!

 

[MrSEC]

LOT BETTER then cracking that iMac open!

Can you boot both windows/OSX(partitioned) from an external SSD though TB?

 

[philipma1957]

Can you boot both windows/OSX(partitioned) from an external SSD though TB?

yes but I do it with fusion. it can be done with bootcamp some posters have done it .

 

[Chippy99]

yes but I do it with fusion. it can be done with bootcamp some posters have done it .

I am not sure it can be done. Bootcamp normally only works off an internal drive and every time I tried to boot off an external drive, I got a BSOD at startup. Maybe it can be tricking into working, but I am not sure.

 

[philipma1957]

I am not sure it can be done. Bootcamp normally only works off an internal drive and every time I tried to boot off an external drive, I got a BSOD at startup. Maybe it can be tricking into working, but I am not sure.

the bootcamp booters state they did some type of tricky move. When I tried it with bootcamp I could not do it. it is easy with fusion.

 

[omvs]

I am not sure it can be done. Bootcamp normally only works off an internal drive and every time I tried to boot off an external drive, I got a BSOD at startup. Maybe it can be tricking into working, but I am not sure.

I've got bootcamp booting off a TB drive using the STAE121 - note, I did this with an iMac, but I'd expect it to work on any machine . A bit involved, but here's a quick summary of what I did.

1> Use bootcamp assistant to install on internal drive
2> hook up the TB drive, and let windows install the relevant drivers.
3> Use Winclone to backup the partition
4> Use bootcamp assistant to remove the internal parition (otherwise you'll have two partitions with the same drive ID, which can cause BSOD's)
5> Create a partition on your external drive, restore winclone backup
6> Boot & enjoy

NOTE: Windows can't sleep with a TB device attached. I was hoping Win8 might fix this, but the preview version I tried had the same limitation.

 

[shortcut3d]

I've got bootcamp booting off a TB drive using the STAE121 - note, I did this with an iMac, but I'd expect it to work on any machine . A bit involved, but here's a quick summary of what I did.

1> Use bootcamp assistant to install on internal drive
2> hook up the TB drive, and let windows install the relevant drivers.
3> Use Winclone to backup the partition
4> Use bootcamp assistant to remove the internal parition (otherwise you'll have two partitions with the same drive ID, which can cause BSOD's)
5> Create a partition on your external drive, restore winclone backup
6> Boot & enjoy

NOTE: Windows can't sleep with a TB device attached. I was hoping Win8 might fix this, but the preview version I tried had the same limitation.

You can successful complete this operation from within Windows 7 as well by using Norton Ghost. This also happens to be bundled for free with Samsung 830s that many are using. Complete a full bootcamp install as stated. (Then perform the AHCI hack found in the OCZ forums. Might as well since you can't sleep anyway.) Install Norton Ghost and clone to the external Thunderbolt drive. Make sure to Rick copy MBR. Then shutdown and restart in OSX to remove the original boot camp partition as stated above. This is the most critical step listed above.

FWIW using this method gives you insane clone speed so it's 10-15 minutes or better.

TIP: If you have a second Mac you can do the AHCI hack easier by putting the target system in target disk mode and then using the second Mac's command line to patch the MBR.

 

[Chippy99]

the bootcamp booters state they did some type of tricky move. When I tried it with bootcamp I could not do it. it is easy with fusion.

It's easy and *cheap* with VirtualBox (which is what I use for VM environments).

The problem is, there are certain things for which a VM will just not do, and you need a physical Windows instance.

 

[philipma1957]

It's easy and *cheap* with VirtualBox (which is what I use for VM environments).

The problem is, there are certain things for which a VM will just not do, and you need a physical Windows instance.

yeah I ran into that. my solution was more complicated. I had a hex core mac pro. I sold it purchased a pegasus r6 and a 2011 mac mini server. graphics not good enough . sold the server. purchased a base 2011 mini put fusion / lion windows 7 and built a pc with thunderbolt runs only windows 7. they share the pegasus r6. they can't access the same drive at the same time but the pegasus has 6 drives.

worst case is I turn off one computer access a drive with the other then turn it off turn the other computer back on and access the same drive. if I don't need to do that. I can leave both machines on and use the drives separately. .

Not a perfect marriage but close. I also have 2 computers and a pegasus r6 for the price of the mac pro hex core. my pc is as powerful as the mac pro hex was. they both get 15000 or so with geekbench 64 bit. and the hd7950 card in the pc is better then the hd5870 card in the mac pro.

 

[jammybastard]

I bet this has already been asked and answered, but I can't find it here or on the Seagate support forum...

Just got my Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Desk Adapter and none of my 2TB or 3TB drives show up. I checked them with FW800 adapter before and they all worked fine.

The adapter came with a USB dongle that upgrades the drivers for drives over 2TB. On the envelope the drive came in it says install the drivers so I did, then rebooted.
( On the Seagate website it says to extract and install the drivers to the root of the actual GoFlex drives, which I found strange.)

After installing the drivers I still do not see the drives at all.
Is there another step or do I have a bad adapter?

Thanks for the help.

 

[dvdchance]

I bet this has already been asked and answered, but I can't find it here or on the Seagate support forum...

Just got my Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Desk Adapter and none of my 2TB or 3TB drives show up. I checked them with FW800 adapter before and they all worked fine.

The adapter came with a USB dongle that upgrades the drivers for drives over 2TB. On the envelope the drive came in it says install the drivers so I did, then rebooted.
( On the Seagate website it says to extract and install the drivers to the root of the actual GoFlex drives, which I found strange.)

After installing the drivers I still do not see the drives at all.
Is there another step or do I have a bad adapter?

Thanks for the help.

Interesting. Does the LED on the adapter light? I have the Desk Adapter but got mine together with a 3TB Seagate drive so I haven't used the adapter with any other drive.

Perhaps you can check with a >2TB drive to see if the adapter is functioning?

 

[billib]

Windows * Bootable from External USB Drive

Windows 8 booting from an External USB
Drive is now supported. I suspect it'll be
much easier to boot Win8 via TB in the
near future.

http://www.howtogeek.com/121322/how...wsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=140812

 

[Aygodriver]

I ordered a Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter and when I plug it in with Thunderbolt, in the system manager appear two unknown AHCI controllers. It looks like my Little Big Disk. Is it normal, that there are two controllers? For what is the second? When I plug a HDD in, the HDD only appears under the first controller. When I take the adapter off the computer, the two controllers disappear.

 

[philipma1957]

I ordered a Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter and when I plug it in with Thunderbolt, in the system manager appear two unknown AHCI controllers. It looks like my Little Big Disk. Is it normal, that there are two controllers? For what is the second? When I plug a HDD in, the HDD only appears under the first controller. When I take the adapter off the computer, the two controllers disappear.

REMEBER that thunderbolt cables have chips.

Those chips may cause a ghost controller.

 

[Aygodriver]

Thanks for the answer! Does the "ghost controller" appear with every GoFlex Adapter? Or only under certain condititions?
My Little Big Disk has two physical SATA-Ports and so there are also two AHCI Controllers in the system profiler (Hardware -> Serial-ATA).
And with the GoFlex adapter it looks the same. Very strange...

 

[dvdchance]

Thanks for the answer! Does the "ghost controller" appear with every GoFlex Adapter? Or only under certain condititions?
My Little Big Disk has two physical SATA-Ports and so there are also two AHCI Controllers in the system profiler (Hardware -> Serial-ATA).
And with the GoFlex adapter it looks the same. Very strange...

Your first post made me curious, and yes it appears with the GoFlex Desk adapter as well.