Fastest Storage Devices Available

We all know by now that Apple has committed to thunderbolt technology in all its new machines, but what of the port? Now that I just replace my antiquated USB 2.0 jump drives with shiny new USB 3.0 storage, I want to know how it will be treated.

From what I've read, the new technology can utilize any interface, but which of them will Apple support? And do we really need more than one? At the moment, my Kingston HyperX is all dressed up but nowhere to go?

 

There's always something new around the corner Except in this case Thunderbolt is more like "in the distant horizon" than "around the corner" since even in the most optimisic scenario it won't be widely available on PCs until at least Haswell.

Thunderbolt only supports 2 interfaces: DisplayPort (for monitors) and PCIe (for everything else). Beyond that, it's the manufacturer's job to choose a suitable interface and supply drivers to make their device work.

...Huh? What do you mean by "all dressed up but nowhere to go"? If you're trying to say that you got a $1000+ Thunderbolt enclosure for your SSD without getting a laptop that supports Thunderbolt, I don't know what to say...

 

The technology is there. The peripherals are there. And Apple has shown that it can be applied with practicality. Now what's the hold up?

What I'm simply saying is, with all the claims of 10 Gb/s we haven't even maxed USB 3.0 yet? Here we have the sports cars revving at the starting line and all we have for them to race on is a dirt road. What's taking so long to get this PC show on the road?

 

Apple and Intel were the main developers for the Thunderbolt technology, and part of that agreement was that Apple would be the first OEM to sell laptops with that port, and will be the only seller for a set period of time.

Also note that the 10Gb/s speeds are only with the fiber optic version of the technology. So far, Apple (and probably other OEMs) only uses a copper wire version of Thunderbolt, which probably isn't much better than USB3.0 (both in terms of realistic speeds and in practicality).

 

The copper version is able to get at least 8 Gb/s - the Promise Pegasus has already demonstrated that much with SSDs in RAID 0.

The practicality, on the other hand, is a totally different story.

 

True, but 8Gb/s != 10Gb/s.

I don't understand why companies just don't come clean with real-world data rates and other stuff (formatted HDD capacity, real-world battery life, etc.)

Still waiting for the fiber-optic version of TB

 

It is real, it's just no always attainable. Nevertheless, I think they do that to appeal to the numbers race. Just like CPUs were before Intel finally put a stop the madness. You have to admit, we're all impressed by the device with the highest number.

 

The limitation could be because of the copper. Or it could be coming from the Pegasus. Or it could be the immature nature of the Thunderbolt drivers. Or it could be the SSDs themselves. Or...

At any rate, I haven't seen anything conclusively showing that the copper medium can't support a full 10 Gbps - everything I've read indicates that future fiber versions will support bandwidths higher than 10 Gbps. Do you have any more information/links/studies on this?

 

Absolutely! That's mostly whats spurring the move to fiber optics in the first place.

With data transmission increasing exponentially by the day, we knew we'd need to come up with something that could handle it sooner or later. Right now, it the exclusion of fiber optics that holding us back.

I wish I did. That's partly why I made the thread. I was hoping someone equally interested in this technology would chime in.