G-Dock ev with Thunderbolt – 2TB at a glance:
- Two 1TB USB 3.0 drives
- Transfer data up to 10Gb/s
- Compatible with all other G-Drive ev products
- Price: £473
- Website: www.g-technology.com
Backing up and storing important image data is a critical requirement in any photographer’s workflow. The G-Dock ev Thunderbolt drive from G-Technology provides expandable storage, with two interchangeable drives that can be configured either as Raid 0 or Raid 1.
With Raid 0, your data is split across the two drives, boosting performance. The drawback is that if one drive fails, the whole system can be affected and, in the worst-case scenario, vital data could be corrupted. Alternatively, the mirrored Raid 1 drive configuration means that if one drive fails, you have a copy of the data on the other drive – though you will be halving your capacity from 2TB to 1TB.
G-Dock ev with Thunderbolt – 2TB – key features
Portable data
The removable drives support SATA and USB 3.0 connections for portability, slotting in and out of compatible systems or via the supplied cables.
Dual Thunderbolt
Providing support for two Thunderbolt ports, G-Technology claims the G-Dock ev can deliver a top transfer rate of up to 10Gb/s.
Sleek and Strong
Housed inside a metal shell, the G-Dock ev makes a sturdy addition to your desktop. Drives reduce connector wear and tear.
G-Dock ev with Thunderbolt – 2TB – verdict
The Raid 1 configuration still gave impressive data transfer speeds. I was able to transfer image files from a full high-speed 16GB UHS-I Class 3 SDXC memory card straight to the drive in around 4mins. In Raid 0, the same test took under half the time and about a minute when transferring the same data directly from the computer.
In our benchmark test of the Raid 1 configuration, the G-Dock ev showed 158MB/s read and 138MB/s average write speeds, but both figures were almost 100MB/s faster on average in the Raid 0 configuration. This drive offers good flexibility and superb data transfer speeds.
SCORE: 4 out of 5
You may also wish to consider:
Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive with Thunderbolt
Price: From £90 (2TB)
Website: www.seagate.com
Compatible with Seagate 1TB Backup Plus Portable hard drives, this delivers Thunderbolt speeds and similar flexibility to the G-Dock system. It’s possible to daisy chain up to six devices with this, however the 1TB hard drives are sold separately.
LaCie 5big Thunderbolt 2
Price: From £979 (10TB)
Website: www.lacie.com/uk
This is aimed squarely at photo and video professionals, particularly those currently or considering incorporating 4K video into their workflows. This is an advanced system that enables Raid 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD configurations. Capacities include 10TB, 20TB and 30TB.
Drobo 5D
Price: From £462
Website: www.drobo.com/storage-products/5d
Compatible only with Mac OS X, this is a five-bay storage system with a built-in battery to protect data from corruption during a power cut, keeping the drives operational long enough to complete writing data. The battery recharges itself automatically.
