New LaCie eSATA hub

[Matt Johnston]

Starting to think CNet was fed bogus info. LaCie today announced their Thunderbolt 2Big series at CES. Did not announce any SATA adapter or anything else... I guess we'll know tomorrow if they show anything at their booth space. I'm having my doubts.

Here is more info. Including real pics of both the 2Big and the eSata hub.


http://www.engadget.com/photos/lacie-2big-and-esata-hub-thunderbolt-hands-on/#4724499

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Here is more info. Including real pics of both the 2Big and the eSata hub.


http://www.engadget.com/photos/lacie-2big-and-esata-hub-thunderbolt-hands-on/#4724499

Yep, guess it does exist. Definitely not wild about the design, way bigger than it needs to be or should be. Seems kinda odd they announced the 2Big TB drives before the exhibits opened with no mention, other than a rumor leak, about the eSATA hub. Then they just amend yesterday's press release to talk about it? Anyway, looks like an OK solution unless you're trying to be ultra-portable. Stupid thing looks like it weighs as much as a Macbook Air and I have to find a place to plug it in... Wonder if we could power it from USB? Wondering why it can't be TB bus-powered. Seems kinda like they put their resources into building a generalized PCIe expander enclosure that they can drop proprietary, compact PCIe interface modules into. Anyone want to bet they will have a USB3.0 version as well as an upgraded 6Gbps eSATA version of this? Looks like a modular or multi-purpose design given that it's powered and in the same enclosure as the Little Big Disk.

 

[Tehben Dean]

There is a side view here as well as a write up on other TB devices. Looks like it;s the size of a HD... http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news...bolts-year-devices-arrive-in-force-at-ces.ars

 

[Bob Gundu]

Bummer that the new Belkin TB dock doesn't have an eSata port???!!!!

There is a side view here as well as a write up on other TB devices. Looks like it;s the size of a HD... http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news...bolts-year-devices-arrive-in-force-at-ces.ars

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Every time I get a chance to talk to someone at Promise Tech I politely suggest that if they were to add a couple of eSATA ports to their 6 bay TB tower enclosure they would sell like hotcakes. They're using an 8 lane card internally so unless I'm missing something it seems like it would be pretty straightforward to assign one lane to each of the 6 drives in the RAID and one lane to each eSATA port. Perhaps Jeff or someone can explain why that's totally whack from an engineering standpoint but it sure would make it easy to write the check for the TB RAID system if it also offered eSATA for legacy peripherals.

Cheers - #19