FW800 to TB or ESATA to USB3?

Macintosh software/hardware discussion and troubleshooting

Moderator: James Steele

Post Reply
User avatar
KarlSutton
Posts: 504
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Mount Juliet, TN
Contact:

FW800 to TB or ESATA to USB3?

Post by KarlSutton »

I've got a bunch of G Tech drives that have the old quad interface - FW800, USB2, & Esata that I'd like to get top speed out of when hooking up to a new Mac Pro - which adapter would be faster? FW800 to TB or ESATA to USB3?
MPB 17" 2.66 i7/8GB RAM, OSX 10.6.8, DP 7.24, 828 mkII, Ethno 1 via Ultimate Soundbank, MX4, MSI, Komplete 9, Ivory, Stylus RMX.

for a time:MacPro6,1 3Ghz 8 core 32GB RAM
User avatar
HCMarkus
Posts: 9712
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:01 am
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Rancho Bohemia, California
Contact:

Re: FW800 to TB or ESATA to USB3?

Post by HCMarkus »

TB<>eSATA would be my choice, as that is essentially direct out from the hard drive inside the case. USB3<>eSATA should be very similar.
User avatar
mikehalloran
Posts: 15134
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: FW800 to TB or ESATA to USB3?

Post by mikehalloran »

Unless you are configured as a single RAID, it doesn't matter. eSATA, TB and USB 3 are all faster than mechanical drives due to platter speed.

Only FW is slower - a lot, btw, so don't use it. FW to TB is limited to the FW speed, either 400 or 800.

When using SSDs, then eSATA 3G, USB 3, eSATA 6G, TB and TB 2 are faster in that order. Again, to max the speed in TB or TB 2, you need multiple SSDs configured in certain flavors of RAID.

Only PCIe blades in a TB chassis are faster than SSDs without configuring as a RAID array.
Last edited by mikehalloran on Mon Mar 31, 2014 6:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
User avatar
mikehalloran
Posts: 15134
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: FW800 to TB or ESATA to USB3?

Post by mikehalloran »

HCMarkus wrote:TB<>eSATA would be my choice, as that is essentially direct out from the hard drive inside the case. USB3<>eSATA should be very similar.
You can get adapters that let you run two or four eSATA drives off of one TB port. Better is to just get a TB drive housing to fit all of your drives - no more expensive. They all support RAID. Some of the new ones also support JBOD* which lets them show up as individual drives if you want. Later you can swap out SSDs as your needs grow and budget allows.

The nMP has multiple ports but only one USB 3 bus. One or two drives will not load it up but get a few drives plus an interface or more and it can overload the bus (theoretically) causing possible issues such as latency. There are 6 TB 2 ports - gonna be damned difficult to overload that.

* Just a Bunch Of Drives. Yes, really.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
User avatar
KarlSutton
Posts: 504
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Mount Juliet, TN
Contact:

Re: FW800 to TB or ESATA to USB3?

Post by KarlSutton »

The only TB to ESATA I've been able to find is the $160 LaCie one. Surely there's a more economical solution?
MPB 17" 2.66 i7/8GB RAM, OSX 10.6.8, DP 7.24, 828 mkII, Ethno 1 via Ultimate Soundbank, MX4, MSI, Komplete 9, Ivory, Stylus RMX.

for a time:MacPro6,1 3Ghz 8 core 32GB RAM
User avatar
mikehalloran
Posts: 15134
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: FW800 to TB or ESATA to USB3?

Post by mikehalloran »

KarlSutton wrote:The only TB to ESATA I've been able to find is the $160 LaCie one. Surely there's a more economical solution?
You are short on info here. We can't read your mind. "a bunch" of drives doesn't say how many. Neither do you say how you use those drives - if as individual drives, than any solution that does not support JBOD does not work for you.

LaCie has a number of products. If you are referring to the 2-port hub and you only have 2 drives, then $160 is a pretty good price. However, it only allows you to connect those drives configured as RAID. If you want JBOD, then you need one hub per drive - and the TB cables are extra.

If there's a TB hub that supports eSATA Port Multiplier protocol and JBOD, then you can get a multiplier box ($125) that lets you hook up 4 or 5 drives. That LaCie hub does not support PM and I can't find any that do.

There aren't many ways to get what you want.

One is multiple adapters like that LaCie.

Another is to use a PCIe expansion chassis, install a PCIe card for eSATA port multiplier - many are available around $100, add a 5-port box like the Addionics. This may be doable under $500 including cables but I couldn't make it happen on a quick search.

The best, and probably the least expensive when you add up the costs including cables, is a drive bay that supports JBOD. Unless you are configuring as RAID then there are more units available. OWC has this for $495 and will hold up to 4 drives.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Thunderb ... nderBay-IV

It's laudable to want to reuse the old stuff but not always practical. I still have a lot of SCSI - I don't like to think how much $ I have invested in it - cant go there. Haven't used it since I got my G5 12 years ago and will never use it again. Even if there was a way to use it with my iMac, I wouldn't be interested - should have sold it when it was worth anything.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
User avatar
KarlSutton
Posts: 504
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Mount Juliet, TN
Contact:

Re: FW800 to TB or ESATA to USB3?

Post by KarlSutton »

I've got four single drives & one raid I'd like to use but I am seeing that maybe it would be more economical to get something new & use these as back up or archive drives.

I hear ya about the SCSI - I remember the first "big" drive I bought - 700mb! I was cutting edge back then tough I could burn hour long CD's!

I did order a TB - FW800 - maybe that will give me a suitable bridge solution.

Thanks for the tips.
MPB 17" 2.66 i7/8GB RAM, OSX 10.6.8, DP 7.24, 828 mkII, Ethno 1 via Ultimate Soundbank, MX4, MSI, Komplete 9, Ivory, Stylus RMX.

for a time:MacPro6,1 3Ghz 8 core 32GB RAM
Post Reply