Thunderbolt 3 in Action: Akitio Thunder3 Duo Pro DAS Review
by Ganesh T S on April 14, 2016 8:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
- DAS
- Thunderbolt 3
- Akitio
Thunderbolt Software
Consumers dealing with Thunderbolt 3 must understand that this is cutting-edge technology. It is imperative that the drivers and the Alpine Ridge firmware be up to date in order to ensure a smooth usage experience. GIGABYTE has a driver update as well as a firmware update tool available for the GA-Z170X-UD5 TH motherboard, and other system vendors should also have similar updates available.
The Thunderbolt software component gets installed along with the driver. Unlike traditional USB, every connected Thunderbolt peripheral must first be authorized to connect before becoming accessible. This authorization can be permanent or on a case-by-case basis. Management of authorized devices is done through the Thunderbolt software.
The software also allows users to check the driver and firmware versions.
Power Consumption
Power consumption of the Thunder3 Duo Pro units were recorded under various conditions. While using the device in a standalone mode (i.e, just connected to the host, and no daisy chaining involved), the unit idled at around 5.4W and had a peak power consumption of around 12.1W. This was with two of the Intel SSDs in RAID-0 in the course of our benchmarking routine.
Benchmarks were also processed with the typical usage scenario of high-capacity hard drives. Two 8TB Seagate Enterprise NAS HDDs (7200 RPM) were configured in RAID-0 for this purpose. Peak power consumption was around 40W, but the unit stayed between 24W and 28W throughout the course of our benchmarking.
Adding the SanDisk Extreme 900 to either of the above configurations drove up the power consumption at the wall by around 5 - 8W.
Concluding Remarks
The Thunderbolt ecosystem has received a major boost with the release of products and peripherals supporting Thunderbolt 3 with its Type-C connector. Intel has managed to create a compelling case for the inclusion of Thunderbolt 3 in various systems due to the unique features of the Alpine Ridge controller. The integration of a USB 3.1 Gen 2 host controller has emerged as a key aspect.
Coming to the business end of the review, the 2-bay Akitio Thunder3 Duo Pro performed flawlessly in our testing, and gave expected results in various benchmarks. More importantly, thanks to the presence of a two-port controller, it could easily bring out the various advantage provided by Thunderbolt (daisy chaining etc.). The availability of a USB 3.1 Gen 1 device port ensures that the unit can also be used with systems that don't have Thunderbolt 3.
The unit has a solid feel and a pleasing industrial design. The tool-less installation procedure for the drives is welcome. The unit includes an active Thunderbolt 3 cable (capable of handling 40 Gbps), and, for a cutting-edge product, the street price of $378 sounds reasonable. That said, there is scope for improvement in the product - it would be nice to have easy hot-swap capabilities similar to, say, the LaCie 2big Thunderbolt 2. A notch / plastic key to help in setting the RAID level would also be welcome. The drive bay / slot could also be designed to make drive removal / replacement simpler.
Going through the specifications of the Thunderbolt 3 peripherals currently announced / available in the market (including the Akitio Thunder3 Duo Pro) shows that Windows support is being worked upon first, and not Mac OS X. This leads me to believe that Thunderbolt has well and truly arrived for the mass market. Widespread usage is bound to bring down the premium associated with Thunderbolt right now. One can definitely say that Thunderbolt will not go the Firewire way.
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name99 - Thursday, April 14, 2016 - link
There is obviously a market for this sort of thing for SOME people, but if you're trying to save money, the way you do it is to use standard (high-performance) USB-3 cases and software RAID-1; there's no need to do that in the case.OSX and Linux obviously support RAID out of the box; I've no idea about Windows but I'd assume they're also on board. The only reason I can see that you need this hidden behind HW is if you need to move the device between different OS's.
danbob999 - Friday, April 15, 2016 - link
well there is this one for $50:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9S...
if you don't need a real case there are various dual dock for about $30. I also found dual 2.5" USB3 cases for $25.
Great_Scott - Thursday, April 14, 2016 - link
At $100 over the price of a normal enclosure, no one that really needs the extra features this offers will care. Thus the item will stay niche and the price will stay high.This is self-reinforcing problem.
TB is putting up a good fight, but the future doesn't look bright. No interface has ever survived higher prices by having better features. See: Microchannel, Token Ring, EISA, ATM, e-SATA and, yes, FireWire.
epobirs - Saturday, April 16, 2016 - link
Look at the Cineraid portable models. I picked up one from Newegg a couple of years ago for about $20 because the things weren't selling. Either the target market didn't know they existed or just didn't see the value. Mine still sits unpopulated because I don't have any great need for a somewhat faster USB 3.0 drive, unless I'm getting the drives really cheap. At the time I bought the unit I was getting a lot of requests for laptop SSD upgrades. The customers would either get their original hard put in an enclosure or just let me keep it for a token amount. (I'd label it and put it in a drawer for a month or so, in case the SSD proved defective.)I expected I'd have a couple of drives to use or sell it to somebody converting two laptops but neither situation came along since obtaining the Cineraid.
HideOut - Thursday, April 14, 2016 - link
The good news for us is that you will be asleep until hell freezes over. No more trolling from you.danbob999 - Thursday, April 14, 2016 - link
At $378 I might as well buy a PC... which will be able to hold at least 4 drives.jbrizz - Thursday, April 14, 2016 - link
People are going to plug these things into their Mac Pro, then do some 4k video editing on their 5k screen. You are not it's target audience (although you still shouldn't be so ignorant as to think that just because you don't want/need it no one else will).danbob999 - Thursday, April 14, 2016 - link
That's just one more reason why a Mac Pro is a crap PC. Such a professional PC should include room for at least 4 hard drives. Requiring an external $378 case just to get close to the same performance that you would get with internal drives is a joke.apoctwist - Friday, April 15, 2016 - link
I had to log into the site for the first time because of how silly this comment is. People working in the pro audio/pro video side are not going to rely on internal storage for their work or software RAID. First of all what happens when the machine you are using dies? What happens with your software RAID array on all those internal drives? With this device due to hardware RAID I can just plug in a cable on a new machine and I'm up and running in minutes. I don't have to worry about taking hard drives out of the PC, I don't have to worry about rebuilding the array (if that's even possible since you are using software RAID tied to you OS). All I have to worry about is a cable.That's why devices like these exist. In Pro video workflows external RAID arrays are common and encouraged. You see less heartache in the long run that way.
As an audio professional I have all of my projects/audio/recording on an external TB raid array. if my machine dies tomorrow I can pick up where I left off the next day. I also have multiple machines for DAW work and I can just plug my TB cable to them and continue working on whatever project I need to with no worries.
You are looking at a device like this from a consumer level but that's not what it's made for and the price tag is rather in line with what you will find out there for a TB enclosure.
theduckofdeath - Saturday, April 16, 2016 - link
It might sound like harsh words, but, he is right. At the moment,. everything Mac related is stupid solutions to problems we didn't have. Thunderbolt has to die. It's a way to milk consumers for even more money on relatively limited sales.There are a ton of ways to make a better solution for your external storage you actually need. The first choice is exactly what he said, design the workstation case to allow for stortage expansion, instead of selling people an overpriced and under-powered garbage bin.
There's a reason why companies like Oculus and HTC Vice refuse to support Mac OS these days. Because Mac devices are designed to work against the consumer from the foundation, Thunderbolt being one of the key culprits.