Elgato's Thunderbolt SSD is one of very few
portable drives able to use the emerging Thunderbolt desktop interface.
Thunderbolt is specified up to 10Gbps (equivalent to 1,250MBps), which should
comfortably allow best performance from current 2.5in SSDs that hit around
550MBps.
The Elgato drive comprises a 2.5in SSD in a
compact all-metal enclosure, with a single Thunderbolt port at one end. Power
comes over the Thunderbolt bus.
Elgato's Thunderbolt SSD is a solid-feeling
hunk of metal, with its two halves of cast aluminium secured by four hex-head
screws. The drive is finished in gunmetal paint, although we found this could
chip off in use.
The SSD inside is an older SATA Revision
2.0 type, a SanDisk Ultra 120, selected due to power restrictions.
Thunderbolt's spec provides 10W but the SSD is short-changed by the high power
requirements of the supporting electronics, leaving only 3.5W available for the
SSD.
The drive is quick by the standards of
portable hard disks: QuickBench revealed write speeds up to 264MBps, and
sequential reads up to 271MBps. The SanDisk SSD 120 takes a SandForce
controller to accelerate write performance, so compressed media files will
return much slower results: the CrystalDiskMark test recorded 205MBps reads and
just 118MBps in sequential writes.
Elgato clearly warns against opening the
case and using any other drive with the Thunderbolt SSD. With the company's
agreement, we did so anyway, and experienced the expected issues. Using a
Patriot Wildfire 256GB, a third-generation SATA SSD, connections became erratic
as the drive was starved of sufficient peak current.
In addition to the power constrictions that
deny fast SSDs, the top speed is limited by a single-lane PCI Express chip.
This meant the best-case speed we saw between disconnects was 382MBps, which is
well short of the 500MBps or higher capabilities of SATA 6Gbps SSDs.
Verdict
The Elgato Thunderbolt SSD is undoubtedly a
quick device, but current limitations from available electronics mean it can
work only at SATA 2.0 speeds. It's not optimal for a drive that’s likely to be
writing media files either. Otherwise, the Elgato is solidly constructed and
works well.
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Information
Price: $514
Contact: elgato.com
Read more: tinyurl.com/d7a2xu3
Specification
Thunderbolt external portable drive;
120/240GB capacities; SanDisk Ultra SSD; bus power; 131 x 83 x 20.8 mm; 265 g
PC Advisor Gold
Build: 8/10
Features: 6/10
Performance: 6/10
Value: 6/10
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