Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Thunderbolt Adapter

I wanted the SSD speed for my startup drive, but not the risk/hassle involved in putting a second drive inside my 27" iMac which is still under AppleCare.The Seagate adapter sits on a Twelve south backpack shelf behind the iMac Monitor, with a Samsung 840Pro 256GB SSD perched vertically. A TB to DVI-D adapter daisy chains out to my second display.I used video instructions found on the OWC computing site (Data Doubler info) , detailing how to move all my apps and start up account info to the SSD. My Data, media, etc remain on the iMac 1TB platter drive.Time Machine backs up both drives now. My Parallels virtual windows machine lives on the SSD as well.This is so FAST, and it has been a huge speed boost for my machine. Overall cost for the Adapter, miniDisplay port to DVI-D adapter, short TB Cable and the SSD was just over $400. To me, this was a win because it lets me move my setup when I get a new machine, AND it leaves my other TB port open for other use.http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-South-BackPack-Mac-Displays/dp/B00C1C1WU2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1371742828&sr=1-1&keywords=imac+backpackhttp://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Solid-MZ-7PD256BW/dp/B009NB8WRU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1371743128&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+840+pro+256gb

When I received the Thunderbolt interface I had already been using my 4TB Backup Plus drive for a few days with the USB 3.0 interface. Reading the (minimal) documentation told me that I had to install a driver to be able to use the drive with both USB and Thunderbolt I thought that might be a likely occurrence so I installed the driver and restarted my iMac as required.When the system was back on line I attached the interface to the drive and then connected it. The drive could not be read. All of my files were not available--I thought the 'driver' was supposed to solve that problem--first sign that something wasn't as I thought it should be.Fortunately, I had another Backup Plus that was still new in the box. I installed the Thundebolt adapter on the new drive and replaced the USB 3.0 interface on the original drive. I could once again see my files on my original drive--Whew!When connected with the Thunderbolt interface the new drive showed up as NTFS. Since I had already copied off all of the software from the original drive I erased the drive and set the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I then copied all of my files over from the original USB 3.0 drive. The copy apparently went well. Later in the day I had to reboot my iMac.Disaster! The system took 5 times as long as it should to boot. The real disaster, though, was that the Thunderbolt drive now told me that it was only 500 GB, not 4 TB. In investigating I found that the system thought the drive was formatted as a Master Boot Record drive. How that happened I can't say but my guess is that because I simply erased the drive using Disk Utility and did not re-partition that something wasn't set properly. I re-partitioned and re-copied the files. A 2nd adapter for my 2nd 4 TB Backup Plus came today and I confirmed some conclusions I had reached with the first Thunderbolt adapter and determined a sequence that works for me.The proper sequence that I've determined is:1. Install the Seagate driver that comes with the drive (on a separate USB flash) and reboot the Mac.2. If you have used and re-partitioned the drive with USB 3.0 make sure to copy your files off of the drive for they will be lost when connecting the Thunderbolt connector.3. Connect the Thunderbolt interface to the drive.4. Connect the drive to the Mac using Thunderbolt.5. At this point a re-partition will be required if the drive was used and re-partitioned with the USB 3.0 interface before the Thunderbolt interface. As this was the case with both of my drives this is the case I am most familiar with. In this case when connected with the Thunderbolt the system will see the drive as a 500 GB Master Boot Record drive which won't work properly with Mac OS X. You will know this is the situation because when connected the OS will inform you that it cannot read the drive and it must be initialized. After re-partitioning if necessary erase the drive to make sure it is in the proper format for your use. For most this will be Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.I did not test the instance where the drive had never been connected and re-partitioned for use with the Mac and USB 3.0 before the Thunderbolt was connected beyond noting that it appeared as NTFS and then later 'crashed' on reboot after I had erased it and copied 1.3 TB of data to it. I suspect it may be ok if left as NTFS and the Seagate dashboard is installed.After completing 1-5 both of my drives are operating normally so I've raised my rating to 4 stars. I'm knocking off one because of the inadequate documentation.As for performance--It is normally about 10-15% faster with Thunderbolt than it is with USB 3.0. I've seen read and write speeds up to 190 MB/s though the average appears to be around 130 MB/s. For me the speed improvement is nice, but the real reason for going to Thunderbolt is to free up USB ports for other uses where an outboard hub won't suffice.

I have updated my review because I'm now changing my review from being negative to strongly negative. This dock was a waste of money at the time, but now that the 'Backup Plus' range of hard drives has been updated, it is even more of a waste of money because it is obsolete. The backup plus range does not have the necessary connectors to make us of this dock, so this Thunderbolt dock is totally useless. I've heard of planned obsolescence, but the speed at which this dock has become trash is just breathtaking. Classy move, Seagate!Anyway, to summarize: Avoid, avoid, avoid!-----------My earlier review:I've never seen so many 'Amazon Vine' reviews for a single product before. As I understand it, those are reviews from people who get the item for free. If so, then wow Seagate have really pushed the boat out on marketing this.And the marketing spin is all over this - consider the sales pitch on the page for the Desktop Thunderbolt adapter. It proclaims "From Work Station to Train Station--No Outlet Required", but the small print specifies that this is the portable version they're talking about. I could find no mention at all on this page regarding the clunky power adapter that I was surprised and disappointed to find required (and included).I also could not find anything telling me conclusively that the desktop would or would not work with portable drives, and vice versa. This would be good to know, as given the choice I'd use the portable one. This would also encourage me to buy a few portables and desktops and chop and change. If they are incompatible, this strikes me as a slightly cynical move - surely the dock connectors could have been standardized? Perhaps it is to get more money out of those who might need both.Which brings me on to the price. This is an expensive piece of kit. I know that all Thunderbolt equipment carries a premium, but that doesn't make it cheaper. You are effectively getting only marginal benefit over USB3 for $150 extra. Now, if you were sent a free unit, you'd probably not give that factor so much weight... but I'm seriously wondering now whether this has been a waste of money.

its a great product

Working great so far. Upgraded my 2011 iMac to external SSD. Have been using it for months now. Solid, although the passthrough has failed on me a couple of times (my second display doesn't wake up). I then have to unplug the monitor from the thunderbolt cable and plug it in again. Not sure where the blame lies, but not bothersome enough to investigate further. It did not happen previously when my monitor was hooked up directly to Thunderbolt.All in all a good product even for uses which it wasn't designed for :)