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Storage spotlight: Elgato Thunderbolt SSD

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Elgato SSD Thunderbolt

By Andrew Harrison, PC Advisor (UK) | Jul 17, 2012

Thunderbolt, the high-speed interconnect standard, launched in February 2011 with Apple's springtime updates to the MacBook Pro. Yet useful products to use it remain relatively thin on the ground. Elgato's Thunderbolt SSD is one of very few portable storage drives to use Thunderbolt. It's a fast drive but it also highlights some current issues with the implementation of the standard that means it cannot perform close to its potential.

Elgato is best known for its digital TV adaptors, enabling digital terrestrial and satellite television to be watched on a Mac or Windows PC. And the company has an even longer background in digital media, commissioned to develop Roxio's CD burning technology, for example. But the Elgato Thunderbolt SSD is the company's first storage product.

The Elgato Thunderbolt SSD comprises a 2.5in solid-state drive in a compact all-metal enclosure, with a single Thunderbolt port to connect to an Apple Macintosh, or a Windows PC fielding a Thunderbolt-enabled motherboard. It requires no extra connection as it takes its power from the Thunderbolt bus, like most portable USB and FireWire hard drives.

Thunderbolt allows up to 12 devices to be connected to one port, daisy-chained together, and up to one display at the end of the chain. Bus-powered units like this SSD are however only permitted to offer one Thunderbolt port. So unlike FireWire, which will allow two portable drives to be linked in-line to one port, bus-powered Thunderbolt devices can only work at the end of a chain.

Elgato Thunderbolt SSD: Build Quality

The Elgato Thunderbolt SSD is a solid-feeling hunk of metal, comprising two halves of cast aluminium secured together by four hex-head screws.

It's finished with gunmetal paint over the natural metal, and this finish can chip off with use.

One such screw has been glued over to discourage removal. In fact Elgato explicitly warns against opening the case. If you should dare to open the case, you may find a message adhered to the inside of the top half that reads:

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