Thunderbolt to usb 3

[Chetty]

Hi I read another thread that was closed in 2011 on ethernet to USB 3 that brought me to ask this question after two days of driving around Brisbane and talking to teeny boppers in malls trying to answer my questions. I need a connection that goes from a macbook air thunderbolt connection to USB 3 or something along those lines. I am helping her edit a video and we are at 220gig of footage now but transferring and processing it with USB 2 speeds is driving me batty. Does anyone have a decent solution that they would mind sharing?

 

[ngrego]

You will need to elaborate on what exactly it is you are trying to do.
What do you have connected to the other end of the thunderbolt cable now?

 

[Chetty]

Sorry mate its a little late here. I need to know the best way to transfer data from one seagate goflex hard drive into another one and also with that being said I am using one to be "my hard drive" while I edit. I am needing something faster than the speed that USB 2 is giving me. Its (I believe that USB 2 is the problem) causing Final Cut to render very slowly and to make import and export to the drives a very time consuming endeavor. I am a total newbie to this this and I'm not even sure if this is the proper way to do it. I just thought if I could go with a thunderbolt cable to USB 3 (which is the input on the seagate drives) than it would be cheaper and better than going for the Thunderbolt adaptor that seagate offers. If you have any input or suggestions again I would greatly appreciate it and if you need me to explain further I can try and break it down better. Thanks for your time

 

[ngrego]

OK I get it now..
Well the USB 2 is definately slowing you down but its not only that. All the data you are transfering is (if understand correcly) going through your pc from one drive to the other. The data is being read, processed and then sent to the other drive. Even if it is simply being copied it will slow down the process. Also be sure to have both drive directly on the mac and not on a usb hub, they also slow down the process.

I don't think there is an adapter available for thunderbolt to usb3 at the moment but there is something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822165477

Definately not cheap but it will probably save you a load of time!

 

[Chetty]

I don't think there is an adapter available for thunderbolt to usb3 at the moment but there is something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822165477

Yeah mate I saw those in my search to figure out a solution to this and this is definately an option. I hate buying new External Hard Drives when I have 4 that work great but it might be the way I have to go. As for using my computer to be the "middle man" I'm not even sure how else to go about it. I figured it would slow the process down from external hard drive to external hard drive but I'm not aware of an easy solution. Which by all means does not mean there isn't one. It just means that I haven't gotten around to looking which I should. If you can be bothered to point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it and thanks heaps for the help so far!

 

[ngrego]

Under the circumstances I don't think you have any other options. The USB2 drive you are using has limited speed both from the HDD itself and also the USB2 interface. The (most likely) SATA2 disk inside the Seagate casing is limited to 3Gbit/s and the USB2 interface is limiting that to 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s) per usb controller. That means that if ther is only one controller all USB2 ports on it will have to share that speed.

One option would be to remove the disk from the Seagate casing and install it in the PC. But since it is a laptop that probably isn't possible .

Another option may be to remove the disk from the Seagate case and buy a new USB3 or eSATA case and install it in there. That will give you better speeds than the USB2 but I doubt it would reach Thunderbolt levels. A case would cost you as low as $10 and it doesn't need too much knowledge to install either.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519&IsNodeId=1&Description=hdd%20enclosure%20usb%203&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20
You will probably be able to find similar prices in Australia...

I hope that was helpful.

 

[lokki19]

Hi I read another thread that was closed in 2011 on ethernet to USB 3 that brought me to ask this question after two days of driving around Brisbane and talking to teeny boppers in malls trying to answer my questions. I need a connection that goes from a macbook air thunderbolt connection to USB 3 or something along those lines. I am helping her edit a video and we are at 220gig of footage now but transferring and processing it with USB 2 speeds is driving me batty. Does anyone have a decent solution that they would mind sharing?

If you are to work on your macbook air with a Seagate Goflex 3.5 drive, the most convient way to go would be the Seagate Goflex Thunderbolt adapter; http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/seagate-seagate-goflex-desk-3-5-thunderbolt-adapter-stae122-stae122/10199812.aspx

It<s not cheap but it<s the easiest way to go for you. As off now they are no direct adapter to connect to thunderbolt. Some Docking station from Belkin and Matrox are on the way but at a whapping 400$ and up.

As a professional video editor myself, that<s what i recommend you.