What I post now may not be an original DT issue but maybe someone is asking himself the same (or preferably has an answer…)
I am using a MB Air (late 2010) with 128 GB flash storage and 2GB of RAM. For storage space reasons I like to “outsource” my DT databases from the internal drive to an external USB drive and I found a very tiny one with 32GB which is perfect as it can remain plugged in and does not disturb in any way. I formatted this drive as Mac-OS journaled. Now, as I migrated the databases and start DT it takes ages for DT to open up the databases. I already imagined that the internal flash memory works faster then an external USB but I didn’t imagine this effect to be so dramatic. Has anyone a similar experience and maybe a work-around or do I have to live with it?
USB external drives are slow, slow, slow. I usually buy ext. drives that have firewire (400/800) in addition to USB, or SATA. But now, Apple is moving to the new interface (whose name escapes me) on their new computers, so I don’t know what to recommend.
That new i/O that Apple has added to the 2011 MB Air and other Macs is Thunderbolt - and it’s a wonder. Fast, fast, fast!
I really prefer working on my Air than on my 27" iMac with quad-core i7 CPU and 8 GB RAM. Opening databases is remarkably quick. But the size limitation of the 256 GB SSD on the Air means there’s no room for all my DT Pro Office databases on it.
Now I’ve got a Pegasus 4-bay, 5 stripe RAID unit running via Thunderbolt on the Air and I’ve got 3 TB formatted storage space added to the Air that compares in read/write speeds to SSDs. There’s plenty of room for all my databases and anything else I might want to have available.
Although I got the smallest Pegasus unit, it’s not cheap (but what would be the cost of 3 TB SSD storage?). The required Thunderbolt cable is $50 and the RAID unit is $999. Nor is the Pegasus very portable; it weighs multiples of the weight of the Air to which it’s attached. The answer to portability when I want to move the Air away from the Pegasus is to copy the databases I’ll want to work on back to the Air. It takes only seconds per gigabyte to make the transfers back and forth.
Multiple devices can be set up in a daisy chain with Thunderbolt (with each added device requiring another of those Thunderbolt cables).
Although at the moment the only ThunderBolt devices shipping are Pegasus data storage and Apple’s new 27" monitor, numerous manufacturers are promising a variety of devices, including multipurpose expansion boxes. It’s a promising technology; the marketplace will likely provide more choices and prices will come down. My own reaction to the speed of the Pegasus is, Wow!
Many thanks for your posts - I see clearer now.
Well, it seems that I bought the MBA too early (March 2011) to take advantage of the faster USB… Anyhow, the most intriguing point of this small USB-drive was its size which was about the nail of a thumb… A pity that it wasn’t fit for purpose so I already returned it to the shop…