What is the best Esata to Thunderbolt adapter on the market right now

[Adam Eden]

Hi All

I have just ordered a new macbook pro retina and i am after the best way to connect my Red card reader via Esata to it.

I have heard mixed reviews of the Sonnet product as you need two devices to convert Esata to thunderbolt, but i can't find any reviews about the new Lacie Esata to Thunderbolt converter.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Danai Chutinaton]

Been using the Lacie thunderbolt to esata hub quite successfully on my MBP Retina. I connect the REDMag Esata reader to the Lacie and then connect Esata an external drive enclosure to it for offloading files on shoots. The MBP Retina also works well with USB3 hard drives.

 

[Adam Eden]

Hey Danai,

How long does it take to download a 128gig red mag to a USB 3 drive this way? I used the Sonnet yesterday and it was about 15min which i thought was great

 

[Adrian Weinbrecht]

Hi Adam

We use the Lacie TB to esata hubs in the office and on location.

They seem to be pretty good, I'd strongly suggest carrying a FireWire 800 to TB adapter just in case.

Im not familiar with the Sonnet product, the LaCie does seem to do the Job though.

good luck

Adrian

 

[Danai Chutinaton]

My USB3 external hard drive enclosure can sustain around 180MBps read/write when used with Western Digital Blue or Black drives. (Green drives only get about 100MBps). I've never actually timed a whole card copy, but I know that the eSATA RedMag reader can read at around 200MBps in when connected via the Lacie Thunderbolt to eSATA hub.

So doing the math: about 12-13 min in theory for a 128GB SSD. The numbers I'm quoting you are from the Black Magic Disk Speed Test program not actual footage copy.

 

[Christopher Barrett]

I did some quick test with the Lacie and an H680 Card in my Mama TB PCI Chassis. The Lacie was faster in all instances (just a bit though). It also mounted drives that the H680 would not, since that card doesn't like Port Multiplier enclosures. What was interesting was, I tried a test where I had the Magma on one TB channel and the Lacie on another to transfer files from a mag reader to an external drive. I would have thought this faster than having both devices plugged into the Lacie. Nope. Lacie still faster.

I dig it.

 

[William Albertini]

I have had the Lacie for about 6 months and use it for offloading from my Redmag 1.8 (firewire version) reader to a G-Speed Q both of which are attached to the Lacie esata. It takes about 5-6 minutes for a 64GB card. No problems, I would recommend it.