Thunderbolt Series User Manual
13
THUNDERBOLT TECHNOLOGY AND DAISY CHAIN
THUNDERBOLT TECHNOLOGY
Thunderbolt technology is an active cable technology with extraordinary promise. A single Thunderbolt
technology connection includes two bi-directional streams, each with a potential bandwidth of up to 10Gb/s. As
the illustration demonstrates, the streams run in opposite directions to support simultaneous operations: one
bi-directional stream for data operations and another bi-directional stream for video operations. For example,
files can be copied to the Thunderbolt Series volume (upstream) while playing back an HD film on your
computer (downstream). Certainly, it is possible to perform both actions with existing interface technologies but
not at the speeds offered by a Thunderbolt technology connection. See the performance comparison in the
illustration.
While maximum theoretical transfer rates are rarely sustained, it is no less impressive to imagine the amount of
high-end data that can be passed to and from your LaCie Thunderbolt Series storage. To take advantage of the
throughput offered by Thunderbolt technology, the two internal drives in your LaCie enclosure have been
preconfigured as a Striped RAID Set (RAID 0).
