Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter (STAE121)

by Seagate

Product Features

• Works with any portable GoFlex Drive
• Upgrade your interface for faster file transfer performance
• Compatible with Thunderbolt displays and other devices
• Bus powered, no external power supply required
• 10 Gbps Thunderbolt port
• Allows you to take it with you everywhere you go
• Increase performance
• Inside the Box: GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter, quick start guide (Note: Does not include Thunderbolt Cable)
• System Requirements: GoFlex Ultra-Portable Drive, Mac OS X operating system 10.6.8 or higher, Available Thunderbolt port & Thunderbolt cable
• Thunderbolt technology is a revolutionary interface supporting high-resolution display and high-performance data devices through a single port.

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Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Up to 20x the speed of USB 2.0 and 12x the speed of FireWire 800

Thunderbolt solutions from Seagate for working at home, or on the go

Satisfy your need for speed. Designed to meet the demands of professional media creators, Thunderbolt technology allows users to unleash their creativity using high-bandwidth audio- and video-capturing devices, while transferring data at up to 10 gigs-per-second--up to 20x the speed of USB 2.0 and 12x the speed of FireWire 800.

Just connect the Thunderbolt adapter to any Seagate GoFlex drive for high speed data transfer

Featuring Time Machine software compatibility for easy backups

Now this technology is available to you to address your growing storage needs with Seagate's new, flexible Thunderbolt adapters. Simply connect your GoFlex drive and Thunderbolt adapter to your computer using your Thunderbolt cable to instantly begin transferring high-speed data and high-definition (HD) video on a single interface.

Speed with Precision

Built for accuracy, capacity and speed, Thunderbolt technology precisely moves vast amounts of data at up to 20x the speed of USB 2.0 and 12x the speed of FireWire 800.

Compatibility

Connect the Desk Thunderbolt adapter directly to your computer, or to displays and other Thunderbolt devices. With dual ports, you can daisy chain up to six devices. Works with any GoFlex desktop drive.

Or take the Thunderbolt Portable adapter on the go--you can connect it directly to your computer’s Thunderbolt port. When you get home, attach it to the end of your Thunderbolt daisy chain. Works with any GoFlex portable drive.

Data and Display Daisy Chains for When You're At Home

Thunderbolt technology supports two separate channels--one for high-speed data transfer and one for high-definition (HD) display on a single interface. Take advantage of this cutting-edge technology by connecting high-end displays to a Seagate Thunderbolt adapter and realize the benefits of maximum performance with minimal desktop clutter.

From Work Station to Train Station--No Outlet Required

The Seagate Thunderbolt Portable adapter is entirely bus powered, meaning you don’t have to be tethered to a power outlet. That means that you have high-speed access to your data no matter where you are.

The Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Family

GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter Bundles		GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapters
GoFlex Desk for Mac	GoFlex Ultra-Portable for Mac	GoFlex Desk Thunderbolt Adapter	GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter
Dual ports enable daisy-chaining up to 6 devices Compatible with displays and other Thunderbolt devices 3TB capacity Includes 1-m Thunderbolt cable Compatible with Time Machine software	Completely portable, no external power supply needed Attaches directly to your computer or to the end of your Thunderbolt daisy chain 1TB capacity Includes 0.5-m Thunderbolt cable Compatible with Time Machine software	Dual ports enable daisy-chaining up to 6 devices Compatible with displays and other Thunderbolt devices Designed to work with Backup Plus or GoFlex desktop drives only	Completely portable, no external power supply needed Attaches directly to your computer to the end of your Thunderbolt daisy chain Designed to work with Backup Plus or GoFlex portable drives only

Product Description

Upgrade your GoFlex Ultra-Portable drive to increase performance with the GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter. Thunderbolt technology is a revolutionary interface supporting high-resolution display and high-performance data devices through a single port. At 10 Gbps, Thunderbolt technology is up to 20x faster than USB 2.0 and up to 12x faster than FireWire 800. Transferring high-definition movies and other large files now can take seconds versus minutes when compared with older interface technologies. As part of the GoFlex ecosystem, the GoFlex Thunderbolt portable adapter turns any GoFlex portable drive into a blazing-fast Thunderbolt device for your computer. This portable solution allows you to take it with you everywhere you go, as it is completely bus powered, meaning you do not need an external power supply. Connect it to the end of a daisy chain of Thunderbolt devices, or directly to the Thunderbolt port on your computer. With the help of Thunderbolt technology and compatible peripherals, users can turn their everyday computer into a powerful workstation.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Wicked fast but a bit eccentric March 27, 2012

By AndyOfLinux

The Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter (STAE121) is the most cost-effective product on the market for adding an external drive to your Mac via Thunderbolt. It works well (and fast!) with a few issues. You DO need Apple's Thunderbolt cable which is another $50. I have tried this adapter with a 1TB Seagate GoFlex 2 1/2" drive and a Crucial m4 SSD 2.5 drive. One nice feature is that you can physically attach a "bare" 2.5" drive to the SATA connector that is "exposed" on the Seagate adapter

One issue I had was attaching the thunderbolt cable to the adapter. It *seems* to connect snugly with a solid "click" BUT sometimes just moving the drive or touching the cable causes the drive to disconnect - with an OS error :( If you disconnect and connect several times and are very careful with alignment, eventually the cable is well mated and the adapter & drive work fine - even when bumped or moved.

Another issue I had was the drive not waking from sleep on occasion. I use Time Machine to backup to the drive and found the drive unresponsive on several occasions after the drive had spun-down. I changed my System Preferences to never let the drive sleep and have had no problems since.

The speed of the adapter & external drive is fantastic - especially with an SSD drive! I ran some benchmarks with the Seagate GoFlex 1TB 2.5" drive and a Crucial m4 SSD 2.5 drive (64GB).

Performance results with both Black Magic drive test and XBench test:

Seagate GoFlex 1TB
R/W
BM: 77 MB/s -- 78 MB/s
XB: 73 MB/s -- 67 MB/s

Crucial m4 SSD 2....5
R/W
BM: 377 MB/s -- 105 MB/s
XB: 259 MB/s -- 98 MB/s

So, I give this product 4 stars as it is wicked fast but took a while to determine the right system configuration and best cable connection method. Read more ›

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Back up to 3 stars March 8, 2012

By Rick

Amazon Verified Purchase

New follow up: June 27, 12

I apologize for this review getting longer and longer but I'm trying to be as accurate and descriptive as I can.

I received a replacement adaptor and so far it has been working well with only one problem. I'm upgrading my rating to a 3 star pending whether the problem occurs again. Incidentally, the build date was three months later than the original but the firmware was the same.

After using the adaptor a couple of weeks I tried to rename a partion on the attached drive the standard Mac way, by clicking to select the partition, pressing return, and typing over the old partition name with the new one. I tried this three times and about a second after each attempt the name changed back to the original.

I'd never seen a name change fail in my experience with OS X over several years. I used disk utility to verify disk permissions and verify disk on both the boot disk and the one connected with the adaptor, but neither reported a problem.

I finally shut down the Mac, unplugged the adaptor, restarted, and plugged the adaptor back in. I was able to change the name after the reboot. I was unable to Google any similar,simple problems but the problem was not with any illegal or immoral characters in the volume name (Backup 2).

I still have no idea what caused the problem, but it was unusual enough that I'm still hesitant to give the adaptor a 5 rating, even though I've had no other problems.

If the problem doesn't reoccur I'll probably rate the adaptor a 4 or 5 with this one reservation.

Follow up: I reported the problem to Seagate and sent them the system log files they requested.... Their reply was quote "After reviewing your case the best course of action would be to replace the Thunderbolt adapter or return it to the place of purchase if possible." Beach Audio does not offer replacements but they will take the adapter back for refund. When I order a replacement I will comment on whether it works. Meanwhile, 5 stars to Beach for accepting the device for refund with a pre-paid mailing label offered.

Not ready for prime time! (Or non-prime time, either)

I originally rated the thunderbolt interface as 5 since I was having no problems with it and backup was about 2x the speed of the Seagate firewire 800 adapter. Now I join the others in removing my old rating and giving this "product" a 1.

When I was consolidating external disks by transferring a few hundred G of files, the Macbook Pro totally locked up and required powering off to recover. The freeze was total; the file transfer indicator froze, the trackpad didn't work, and the keyboard was dead, too.

I tried a second transfer with a different goflex hdd and the same thing happened after a little over 180 G had been transferred.

When I changed from the thunderbolt interface to either the FW 800 or USB Seagate interfaces the problem didn't occur, and in fact, over the last several years I've never had a similar lock-up problem with these Seagate adapters.

What was odd is that I've left the thunderbolt adapter hooked up for hours at a time, handling the time machine files with no problems.

However, based on these incidents I'd recommend NOT buying this interface until Seagate gets it working.

I saw in one of the comments that Seagate had told a user that it was an Apple OS X problem. I don't buy that at all, since many--if not most--thunderbolt interfaces are probably on various Mac computers. If the adapter doesn't work with OS X Lion it should have been clear in the description that the adapter was NOT for use with Apple products, and that wasn't stated by Seagate.

I put a support request in to Seagate on this problem. I'll update this review when I get a reply, good or bad. Read more ›

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Causes system freezes; "wait for Apple to issue update" March 6, 2012

By Erik Syring

Amazon Verified Purchase

Update:
* STAE121 units produced since late April appear to work fine with HDDs.
* STAE121 does not work with SSDs (this is the experience of many, and is Seagate's position).
* With Macs hereafter supporting USB 3.0 there is of course no reason to get the STAE121 for the use of GoFlex drives with new Macs, and external USB 3.0 chassis fit HDDs better and support SSDs.

===========================================

The Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter causes a system freeze every 30-60 minutes and is hence not yet suitable for general use. Seagate encourages "waiting for Apple to release fix"?
Replacement received in early May - star rating to be reconsidered soon.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very pleased July 5, 2012

By W. E. Thackrey

Amazon Verified Purchase

I should start by saying that I've become a big fan of the Seagate GoFlex product line. I have a number of GoFlex portable drives as well as I/O adapters for USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and FireWire 800. For those who have not dealt with the GoFlex product line, the products consist of a drive chassis and a separate (or, at least, swappable) I/O adapter. This product is one of those adapters, adding a Thunderbolt interface to the product line.

One of the very cool things about the GoFlex product line is that the interface between the drive chassis and the I/O adapter is the SATA interface on the drive itself. This is advantageous for two reasons. The first is simplicity. Some proprietary connector here would just add to the size and complexity. The second advantage (and this is VERY cool) is that you can plug a bare 2.5" drive onto the adapter, instantly converting the bare drive to a USB, Firewire or Thunderbolt interface.

Now I'm sure Seagate would prefer that you buy their GoFlex drives. Frankly I own quite a few of them. They're a fine product for use as a portable external drive. You can swap the I/O adapters between drives, so you end up with a very flexible set of gear. But I also now own a BUNCH of bare 2.5" SATA drives, which I use for archives and for doing clone backups of my partitioned boot disk. I use GoFlex I/O adapters to connect them to the port du jour. When I'm done using the drives I keep them in storage boxes like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Ineo-Technology-Drive-Protection-I-NC07/dp/B0051BV0H0. They're small, safe and less expensive than GoFlex drives for archival purposes....

Now to the GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter itself - The adapter is a good deal larger than the USB and Firewire GoFlex adapters, which are inch-long affairs that plug onto the end of the drive chassis. Some of the other adapters have built-in cables, others use separate cables, but in all cases, the adapters are small and include the necessary cable.

The Thunderbolt adapter is different. It's configured like a sled. The GoFlex drive chassis sits on top of the sled portion and slides onto the plug section. The sled contains quite a bit of active electronics. Before I bought this adapter I never realized how much went on to support a Thunderbolt interface. Google it. It's fascinating. Note that you'll need to buy a Thunderbolt cable, as the adapter does not ship with one. Right now that adds about $50 the the cost.

The sled portion of the adapter is heavily ventilated on the sides and end, and with good reason. The adapter dissipates a LOT of heat. It isn't dangerously hot - hard drives typically run warn anyway - but it is noticeable. You'll want to make sure you allow it to get enough air to keep it from overheating. Don't toss a magazine on top of it.

I was prompted to buy this adapter by a recent move to a Macbook Pro Retina Display. The new laptop looses the FireWire 800 port of my previous MacBook Pro. It does have USB 3.0 support, but with two USB ports and two Thunderbolt ports, it made sense to do something to allow external drive support on the Thunderbolt ports.

I've been using the adapter for three days now. My initial reaction is that I'm quite pleased with it. I haven't spent a lot of time doing benchmark tests, but from a strictly anecdotal point of view, it seems blazingly fast. A TimeMachine initial backup of 520GB of data on the 750GB internal SSD to a 7200 RPM drive on the GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter took about 130 minutes. By comparison, the same TM backup took 12 hours over a gigabit ethernet connection to a high speed RAID SAN. A Carbon Copy Cloner clone of 195GB took about 34 minutes, which pencils out to about 95MB/second. That's pretty terrific real-world performance considering this was a file level not block level clone. I don't recall exactly how may files there were, but it was around 3 million.

Overall I'm very happy with the product. Would it be nice if it cost $20, like the other GoFlex adapters? Sure. But it's clear Seagate wasn't able to use some off-the-shelf ASIC to support Thunderbolt. They clearly had to develop a bunch of custom electronics for this. Considering the speed and flexibility, I don't at all mind paying the price they're charging for it.

By the way, in the three days that I've had the thing I've used it with five different drives including 1TB and 750GB GoFlex drives and 1TB and 750GB bare 2.5" drives (one Seagate, one WD, one Toshiba).I've used both Mac HSF+ and NTFS formatted drives and have formatted drives using it. I've had ZERO problems with it. It's been stable and has worked flawlessly. Read more ›