CES 2012: LaCie Hub Connects eSATA Drives to Thunderbolt Macs - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

CES 2012: LaCie Hub Connects eSATA Drives to Thunderbolt Macs

lacieCNet reports on a new eSATA Hub from LaCie which allows you to connect external eSATA drives to your Thunderbolt equipped Mac.

The hub comes with two Thunderbolt ports and two eSATA ports. Users can connect up to two eSATA drives to the hub for use on their Thunderbolt equipped Macs. The additional Thunderbolt ports can also be used to daisy chain additional Thunderbolt peripherals off the device.

eSATA is a high performance drive connector used to connect external hard drives to your computer. eSATA has never been a standard option on Macs, but is a faster alternative to USB 2.0 and Firewire and is commonly found on high performance external drives and storage arrays. As noted by CNet, eSATA devices are also presently cheaper than their Thunderbolt counterparts. While Thunderbolt has a higher maximum speed than eSATA, if you are just connecting a single external drive (and not a drive array), it's not likely to exceed the upper limit of eSATA.

So, for those who are have existing eSATA drives or are waiting for Thunderbolt drives to drop in price, this could be a good interim solution. Unfortunately, LaCie hasn't released a price yet, but this eSATA hub is expected to be available during the first quarter of 2012.

Popular Stories

imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
ios 26 4 pastel

iOS 26.4: Top 10 New Features Coming to Your iPhone

Friday March 20, 2026 2:44 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 isn't the major update with new Siri features that we hoped for, but there are some useful quality of life improvements, and a little bit of fun with an AI playlist generator and new emoji characters. Playlist Playground - Apple Music has a Playlist Playground option that lets you generate playlists from text-based descriptions. You can include moods, feelings, activities, or...

Top Rated Comments

185 months ago
LacCie

So many issues with LaCie devices and the customer support or lack of it and of course their very inflated prices.

I will wait and see what Belkin come up with as although their prototype looked strange, they are usually of reasonable quality and with much better customer service that Lacie.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
185 months ago
Don't worry, all of these accessories will be competitively priced. Of course, there is no competition at the moment, so...
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
185 months ago
That's great, but what about a hub to connect USB 3.0 devices to Thunderbolt?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
185 months ago
Thunderbolt has been the most botched tech launch I can think of in recent memory. A year out and we still dont have basic products like this on the market... And devices are way overpriced.

My esata hdd drives have been sitting unused since launch day of this thunderbolt mbp... Here's to hoping that finally changes soon..
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mrr Avatar
185 months ago
Please someone in China jump on the Thunderbolt bandwagon - so that we won't have to play inflated LaCie prices!

I can get Chinese eSATA and USB 3.0 drive enclosures on sale for FREE after rebate at Frys!

Bring on the cheap Thunderbolt drive enclosures !
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
InuNacho Avatar
185 months ago
So many issues with LaCie devices and the customer support or lack of it and of course their very inflated prices.

I have a 1 TB external made by LaCie and I fear it's nearing death's door even though it's less than a year old. The Thailand flooding ruined any chances of me getting a more reliable drive so now I'm stuck with a drive that will most likely croak in a few months time.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Related Apple News: News | Education | Iphone | Travel | Culture