LaCie Dual ESATA HUB - Thunderbolt

I debated between a two star and a three star rating for this device. The major issue with it seems to be compatibility with various eSATA drives. LaCie only mentions their own drives with respect to compatibility. Two out of my 3 external eSATA drives would not connect via this device. Only my oldest FirmTek SeriTek 1EN2 drive would connect (the newer model of the same FirmTek drive did not work nor did a newer Hitachi duo pro drive). The device seems to work well when it can recognize the drive. If you are interested in this device, be sure to do a thorough search ahead of time to try to verify that someone has your particular drive working.Update: LaCie officially came back and indicated that the device was only designed for their drives as designated on their web site.

In a world of USB one tends to forget how to use devices that are not hot swappable. When mounting a new device on eSATA one must turn off your computer and the eSATA devices. Plugin and turn on your eSATA devices and then turn on your computer. Likely this would help about 25% of the bad reviews for this device.(added) This may be buried; however, it must be stated. I have 2 LaCie 2big Quads running off this hub and the setup has NOT been reliable enough for system drives. One or the other (not consistent) of these drives will often drop off or not mount upon launch. I have replaced cables but this did not permanently fix the issue.I do not know if it is the hub, eSATA or just dark magic but something is ill.

I recently bought a Macbook Pro that has a Thunderbolt Port. Until now I have been using it exclusively with a Thunderbolt to DVI Adapter. But I wanted to expand and include e-SATA, so I bought the hub -- only $179, right?I own a large volume of storage drives for editing video. So my needs are for speed both in editing and in moving large files from one drive to another. I have been using the 800 FireWire port on the computer and decided since a number of my drives are equipped with both 800 FW and e-SATA ports, to buy this Thunderbolt Hub.The bottom line: it works 100% flawlessly for what it is supposed to do.The problem: most consumers do not read the product page on LaCie's website. It shows THE LIST OF DRIVES which will work with the hub as:Optimized products (WORKS 100% GUARANTEED / NO REBOOT REQUIRED TO CONNECT-DISCONNECT)d2 Quadra USB 2.0d2 Quadra USB 3.02big Quadra4big QuadraBig disk QuadraLittle Big Disk QuadraRugged XLHard Disk MAX by Neil Poulton QuadraCompatible with limitations (MAY REQUIRE REBOOTING YOUR COMPUTER OR UNPLUGGING/REPLUGGING THUNERBOLT CABLE)d2 Quadra Entreprise Class2big Quadra Entreprise Class4big Quadra Entreprise ClassWhat I tested it works with:G-Technology 1TB Storage Drive (single hd unit / not an array of drives -- works great, connects/disconnects without rebooting or powering on/off)What I tested it DOES NOT work with:G-Speed Multi-Bay 4TB eSATA Storage Drive (incompatible chipset on multi-bay configuration)The opportunity:This is a product you can grow with as long as you buy and attach products it is optimized for. As you begin to transfer new data onto new e-Sata drives or Thunderbolt Drives, you can DAISY CHAIN up to 12 (the technician said you can probably add even more) hard drives -- and THE SYSTEM WILL ACTUALLY CLOCK FASTER AND FASTER SPEEDS AS YOU ADD MORE DRIVES.If you travel and want speed, this unit not only works, but it SHIPS WITH ADAPTERS FOR MOST ELECTRICAL PLUGS. So you can take it to EUROPE and the AC Adapter still works without an adapter.I am happy with it.Right now I am using it with my Cinema Display and several 1TB drives.The speed? I am getting about 4-6X faster through put on the e-SATA than I was with my Mac Pro using an e-SATA card. IT'S FAST.Again -- READ THE PRODUCT INFORMATION ON LACIE'S WEBSITE. It works with the drives listed. And I am using it with G-Technology 1TB drives no problem!For that, I give it FIVE STARS.

I've used this with a late 2011 MacBook Pro running OS 10.9.3. It was connected using an Apple cable. One drive was used - a 2 TB G-Tech brand. Part of the time it worked fine. Sometimes I could even sleep the computer and the drive stayed mounted when the computer activated; other times not. Eventually corruption became an issue. Strange that Disc Utility identified an unrepairable drive when it was connected via this device. However, when the drive was reconnected with Firewire, it was read as OK. Also as 2 other people mentioned this is not comparable with a string of ESATA drives. This unit, which I have, may or may not be broken (my computer was running hot the last few days - and now, since this device was removed, is no longer hot). Bottom line: Firewire is fast enough for Time Machine backups. This LaCie unit is not ready for prime time - an expensive experiment for me!

I purchased the LaCie Thunderbolt hub to connect a monitor and 2 eSata hard drives to my iMac. I received a dead product: neither the eSata nor thunderbolt ports worked and the blue LED on the front did not go on. I sent it back and Amazon.ca got me another one in just one day! Unfortunately it was the same as the first. I contacted LaCie "tech support", which should be called "customer delay department". The person who replied demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge of the product and even included incorrect information, which was in conflict with info on the LaCie web site. In researching the product, I found that MANY people have had trouble with this device (though not everyone) and it only works with a few eSata drive enclosures (mostly LaCie's), but this is not mentioned anywhere on their site. Fortunately, Amazon.ca took the second one back and gave me a full refund. Excellent! Except I'd still like to find a way to connect my eSata drives to the Mac. Perhaps the best (Amazon.ca) and worst (LaCie) on-line support I've ever received.

Great if you want to pretend you're talking with Hal, well your devices download at great speeds with super ease of use.