If there's one thing faster than a hard
disk attached to a Thunderbolt cable, it’s two disks attached to the
lightning-speed connector.
That's how Western Digital has managed to
garner SSD-like speeds from the My Book Thunderbolt Duo, a desktop storage
solution that sports two 3.5in internal hard disks.
The unit follows Western Digital’s
book-as-storage metaphor, as a broad volume with a rounded spine and a series
of Morse dashes tracing the page leaves. The build quality isn't as upmarket as
the mock-metal case might suggest, though, and the Thunderbolt drive is an
all-plastic affair sprayed silver.
Depress the top of the case and a lid pops
open to offer access to the disks. We tested a model with two 2TB Caviar Green
drives; the Duo is also available in 6TB form.
These disks aren't the fastest of SATA
drives, but they run quiet and cool; combined with a fan-less design, they
prevent the My Book from driving you to distraction.
Unlike the G-Tech Thunderbolt drive (see
page 141), this drive is supplied with Western Digital’s own setup software for
Windows and Mac. You can use this software to switch between Raid 0 for 4TB of
speed and capacity, Raid 1 for 2TB of data security, and JBOD to use the two
disks independently.
Format options include HFS+ with
Journaling, and ExFAT, an updated version of FAT that can address the huge
disks and the larger than 4GB files you'll want to store on them.
The software can also execute a secure wipe
and give diagnostic information on drive health.
To use the My Book you simply need to plug
in the 12V external power adaptor and hook it up to a Mac or Windows PC using a
Thunderbolt cable (not supplied).
We tested the Thunderbolt Duo in JBOD mode
to check performance with a single disk. Running the Quick Bench test in OS X,
we recorded IIOMBps read/write speeds across a range of file sizes, from 256kB
to 100MB. Peak speeds were found with the largest files in this range, reaching
up to 112MBps.
Another useful performance gauge is the
sequential and random speeds of small-file transfers. The Duo averaged
90/92MBps sequential and 17/64MBps random transfers for read/write speeds
respectively.
In Raid 0 mode we measured up to 223MBps
sequential reads and 217MBps writes. This setup also saw faster small-file
performance, averaging 154/158MBps sequential and 46/63MBps random, for
datasets from 4kB to 1024kB.
To confirm the drive's real-world
performance, we copied a Blu-ray film from an SSD-equipped Mac mini to the Duo.
The 23.24GB directory transferred in 1 min 46 secs, suggesting an average rate
of 220MBps. That's a great result and almost twice the write speed of Elgato's
Thunderbolt SSD (page 40).
Verdict
Huge storage capacity and terrific
performance make the Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo an easy
recommendation. It doesn't have the premium build quality of the Thunderbolt
Raid drive from the company's newly acquired sub-brand Hitachi, and its eco
drives make it a touch slower, but the Thunderbolt Duo runs quieter and costs
around $156 less for the same capacity.
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Information
Price: $623 inc VAT (8GB)
Contact: wdc.com
Read more: tinyurl.com/c6tadah
Specification
4TB external desktop drive; 2 x 2TB WD
Caviar Green SATA disks; 2 x Thunderbolt; Raid 0/1/ JBOD; 12V DC mains
adaptor; 165 x 157 x 99 mm; 2.15 kg
PC Advisor Gold
Build: 6/10
Features: 8/10
Performance: 8/10
Value: 6/10
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