Thunderbolt is quite fast , as our lab has experienced first hand . In our on-going look at Thunderbolt performance , we tested two more configurations , as requested byMacworldreaders . The first involves the new Promise Pegasus R6 Thunderbolt array configured as a RAID 0 ; the second is with Target Disk Mode using Thunderbolt . ( Previously , we comparedThunderbolt and FireWire 800speed . We also look at Thunderbolt and eSATA . )
RAID 0 vs. RAID 5
When we first looked at how Thunderbolt performance equate to FireWire 800 , we used a new PromisePegasus R6Thunderbolt array configured as a maraud 5 . The results were impressive , but readers want to know what the performance would be like if the Pegasus R6 was configure as a RAID 0 .
The Pegasus R6 is pre - formatted as a RAID 5 array , which offers speed as well as the surety of knowing that any one private road in the array can fail and information will not be lost . RAID 0 ( also known as a stripy array ) can be faster , peculiarly when writing , but if any of the drives seize with teeth the dust , you miss all of your data .
The Pegasus R6 is Thunderbolt only , and we do n’t have access to another six - drive array . So , as a point of reference with FireWire 800 , we used the Promise SmartStor DS4600 , a four - drive raiment . We reformatted the Pegasus R6 and the SmartStor DS4600 as RAID 0 arrays , connect them to our 15 - in 2.2GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro with a 250 GB solid - country drive ( SSD ) .
Promise Pegasus R6
Promise Pegasus R6
In our AJA System Test , the Pegasus R6 RAID 0 write speeds were about 9 percent faster than the Pegasus R6 ’s RAID 5 write amphetamine . Read results showed the Pegasus R6 RAID 5 to be about 6.5 pct quicker than the Pegasus R6 RAID 0 .
Similarly , our 2 GB data file and 2 GB brochure test on RAID 0 establish a bit of advance when writing , and a bit of speed degradation when reading . The FireWire 800 - connected SmartStor DS4600 , on the other hand , was faster across the plug-in when format as a RAID 0 , though just by a MB or two per bit in the read tests . pen examination were significantly faster in RAID 0 on the SmartStor DS4600 , though still about half the speed of the Thunderbolt - equipped Pegasus R6 regalia .
Promise Pegasus R6
Benchmarks: RAID 0 vs. RAID 5
Promise Pegasus R6 Thunderbolt
All results are in MiB per second ( MBps ) . mellow results are better .
Target Disk Mode
Thunderbolt - equipped Macs support Target Disk Mode , when two Macs are connect via Thunderbolt ( or FireWire ) and one Mac acts as an external hard drive . We showedhow to mark up two Thunderbolt Macs in Target Disk Mode , and now we ’ll take a look at the operation .
We connect a 17 - inch MacBook Pro with a 256 GB SSD and a 27 - inch 2.7GHz Core i5 iMac via Thunderbolt . We ran the AJA System Test , with each Mac take a turn as the target thrust . We then repeat the mental test over FireWire 800 .
Benchmarks: Target Disk Mode via Thunderbolt
When looking at the final result , it ’s easy to notice that the MacBook Pro ’s SSD is much fast than the iMac ’s 1 TB hard private road . But what may not be so obvious is that neither joining is anywhere nigh as fast in Target Disk Mode as they are when dissemble as the boot crusade . Also hit is that the performance differences between FireWire 800 and Thunderbolt in Target Disk Mode are so elusive . Target Disk Mode is a great convenience for transferring files and cloning system , but it does n’t appear to be tuned for performance .
[ James Galbraith is Macworld ’s lab director . ]
