(Old Model) Seagate Backup Plus Portable Thunderbolt Adapter

This thing is whizz-fast. That's the first thing. (have had it for over 6 months)Casually testing it with a Samsung 256 GIg 840 PRO, I was able to get over 350 megs a second with large files on my 2014 MacBook Pro.Of course, no TRIM and such, but a nice indicator of speed. Obviously an unofficial test, but it was something I wanted to try.With various SATA laptop drives, it's faster than the drives themselves as a class.Oh yeah, it's not MADE for 2.5" laptop drives, it's made for the Seagate Backup Plus Portable Drives.Yeah, I have one of them too, terabyte size. But it's REALLY useful for other "foreign" drives as well as long as you realize:1) It's not going to fit perfectly; there's a gap between the base and the drive laterally (where the drive case lies on it's "back" as you see in the default picture (as of 12-12-2014)) where the non-connector side of the drive will list downwards some few millimeters.2) Drives can get warm.SO...Keep the drives cooler and the connectors happy by using a SMALL *non-conductive* prop a few millimeters high to keep the drive(s) parallel/level with the connector and to allow air flow. I say non-conductive as some bare drives have circuitry exposed and, although the unit itself is nicely painted, the prop might not be.

This adapter seems to work with any 2.5" mobile SATA drive. Its main drawback is that it has only one Thunderbolt port so has to be at the end of the chain or plugged directly to the computer. I read the reviews and decided to buy this to use as a drive dock for various bare backup drives I've collected over the years. Works great!I'm confused what the actual intended use for this adapter is..."For Use With Backup Plus Portable Drives." Backup Plus Drives seem to be complete portable drives with enclosures and their own interface, be it USB 3 or Thunderbolt. So call me baffled by the intended purpose of this drive dock.I'd give it more stars if it had two ports. I suppose that would make it a lot more expensive?Seagate should make a drive enclosure similar to this for a similar price. It would be a hit. I haven't seen any on the market.

Won't repeat my long Crucial MX100 512GB SSD review here will just say the Crucial MX100 512GB SSD with Seagate Backup Plus Portable Thunderbolt Adapter as external boot drive on my mid-2011 27" i5 iMac with Mavericks 10.9.5 is working great.After a week of heavy, daily use the combo is rock solid and on the order of 3X faster responsiveness than prior internal 7200rpm internal WD Black (YMMV of course). Not experiencing any issues or problems seen reported for use of other 512GB SSDs as Thunderbolt boot drive w/this portable sled, perhaps due to Crucial MX100 512GB SSD mostly lower power draw compared to others (& certainly compared earlier SSDs).Notes: Since the SSD kind of hangs in space in the sled I used a little sticky rubber bumper (from an assorted Home Depot pack) under the drive to relieve any pressure on its connection. E.g. used *just* the right height clear rubber on SSD outer edge to support the drive & not stress its connection. Maybe Crucial could include spacers for this & yeah it doesn't come with a cable.This review/rating is based on price being 100 dollars or less, maybe a bit steep for this little thing but good compared to alternatives. *And* for my particular use, I've no USB 3.0 ports & no other Thunderbolt devices (so fact that its an end-chain device doesn't bother me... yet).

This "dock" can be effective for you if you are willing to spend some time to make it work in your setup. Because of the thunderbolt connection, it can add storage to a computer which has an ssd for its primary drive. I have mine attached to my silo-style Mac Pro, because the addition of more internal storage would be far more expensive. While it does run warm, it is never hot to the touch, and it does its job. I had hoped to use it to add performance to a 2011 Mac Mini, which has only a mini display port, not a true thunderbolt connection. It worked, but I gained little, if anything, from the combination of an ssd and t-bolt. I'm NOT using a Seagate drive, but rather a Kingston Hyp[erX ssd and I have no issues.We all sit waiting for some manufacturer to see the potential of thunderbolt and bring to market an array of quality, more reasonably priced peripherals. When that day comes, this unit may have to be retired, but until then, if you can spot its utility for your own situation, you will be glad for the performance increase. The quirks it manifests will be of no importance.

I purchased this to use with drives without cases. I have a few that I need to transfer data from, and wanted a quick solution. In a nutshell it works. I have gotten good transfer rates from all the drives I have used this to connect to my computer. I had a slower Seagate USB 3.0 HD that is from the same group, and it connected perfectly as well, although the bottom part of this device makes it not as elegant as the USB 3.0 connection. I swapped it out for an SSD, and now it smoking fast.The downside of this unit is that it does run a bit on the hot side, and it's not a dedicated sled, so it doesn't hold stand alone hard drives in a great way. I think it's a bit pricey as well, especially since it doesn't include a cable. That's why I'm giving it 4 starsI've been very happy with my purchase, and would recommend this to anyone looking for a way to connect hard drives to their Apple computer and get the fastest speed available from their hard drive.

I am running my late 2013 iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5 (which came stock with only a 1TB HD) with a SSD via thunderbolt with this Seagate Backup Plus Portable Thunderbolt Adapter. I am processing large RAW files from my Sony A7R with the latest Photoshop CC and so far it is working beautifully and fast on Yosemite OS X 10.10 via thunderbolt and saving to an external HHD on USB3. The best part is I didn't need to open the iMac and risk voiding my warranty to install a SSD and I can easily upgrade to a larger one.I hope that Seagate will continue producing this model. I would highly recommend this product and Amazon.

I use this for multiple 'bootable' backups of my Mac computers.The instant plug 'n' play of HDD's makes it easy and convenient, which means, more likely to get done.The backups complete quickly and the bootable restores are insanely fast.

Awsome unit. Be aware 3.5 Inch drives will not work

Does not power up. I waiting too long to try it, so couldn't return it, but it was DOA.

Overall good product. The cons: heats rapidly, lacks cover for a non-seagate SSD and as a result can cause the SSD to unwittingly disconnect from the unit while in use.