Western Digital, the world’s leader in external storage solutions, will demonstrate the ultra-fast data transfer rates of its upcoming My Book Thunderbolt Duo dual-drive storage system at the Macworld/iWorld show (booth #401). Thunderbolt technology will dramatically improve workflow speed and efficiencies for enthusiasts and professionals dealing with large digital files such as video, audio and still photos.
Thunderbolt technology is capable of producing up to 10 gigabits per second* of throughput on each of two channels in both directions. Users can experience very fast read/write speeds especially during applications such as video editing, 3D rendering, and other intense graphics projects. To put Thunderbolt’s speed into perspective, HD media creators will be able to transfer a standard size full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds, or backup an entire year of continuous music (approx. 8,600 hours of music) in roughly 10 minutes.
“Thunderbolt technology offers the speed needed for creative professionals and enthusiasts who produce, edit, or need quick access to large files, including HD video,” said Jody Bradshaw, general manager of WD’s consumer storage solutions, in the press release. “During the demonstration, twin Thunderbolt ports show amazing flexibility while allowing daisy-chaining of up to six My Book Thunderbolt Duo systems or other high performance peripherals for an enhanced workflow process. The combination of storage, backup, and speed could make the My Book Thunderbolt Duo the only drive a creative pro would ever need.”
*Stated transfer rate for Thunderbolt is based on published specifications from Apple. Actual transfer rates when used with My Book Thunderbolt Duo will differ significantly based on system configuration. Performance testing by WD resulted in an average actual transfer rate for Thunderbolt of >250 MB/s on 6 TB systems and >225 MB/s on 4 TB systems. Gigabits per second (Gb/s) = one billion bits per second; megabytes per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second.
Source: Western Digital
Zippy!
By dual-drive I assume they mean two drives in a single unit, in a RAID configuration.
10 Gb/s = 1.25 GB/s, in theory.
0.25 GB/s real-life is rather… unimpressive. Probably you’d only ever approach theoretical speed with a 4+ drive RAID system, or a high-end flash-memory system like those made by Woz’s Fusion IO, assuming they made external versions of those storage devices.
Didn’t I just read Fusion IO is having money problems?
Yeah…but how much $$?
How does this speed compare with an internal hard drive. It makes it seem Thinderbolt external drives are faster than the internal ones. Is that possible??
Per Tom’s Hardware, the maximum *read* transfer rate of any drive they tested in 2008 was 127 MB/s. Which supports my theory above that the 250 MB/s rate this product sees, is a unit with two hard drives that can be configured for RAID0 or RAID1.
Perhaps a small portion of Apple’s $97.5 Billion
Hope it is better quality than the Mybook that died on me after one month. I don’t intend to buy another.
You should check this system out, C1