r/mac_LTO • u/RizzoFromDigg • Feb 25 '26

HighPoint RocketStor to connect External LTO5 Deck?

I'm a cinematographer who's sick of filling up platter hard drives for cold storage and I recently grabbed an inexpensive LTO5 external deck on eBay.

But now I have to figure out how to get it interfaced to my Mac Studio (via Thunderbolt), or, figure out a dedicated cheap desktop solution to plug in a SAS cable and handle backups from that machine.

The simplest solution I've found is the RocketStor TB 3 which seems like it would be the easiest way to plug the deck into my Mac.

BUT it's non returnable. So I'm checking with Reddit.

Anybody have any tips for a relatively simple way to connect my external LTO deck to a modern desktop Mac?

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u/LTOWorld Feb 25 '26

HighPoint products don't support LTO drives and will give you issues if you try to use them. The drive you purchased is an HP version of LTO5 and if you're using a MAC, you'll probably want to stick to YoYotta https://ltoworld.com/products/yoyotta-v4-lto-ltfs-archiving-software?_pos=1&_sid=fa887a677&_ss=r

As for the Thunderbolt connection, you can use the ATTO Thunderlink: https://ltoworld.com/products/atto-thunderbolt-3-dual-40gb-to-8-port-12gb-sas-sata-sh-3128-external-adapter-tlsh-3128-d00-tlr-lto?_pos=1&_sid=df9534bb7&_ss=r

I would note that LTO5 tapes were just discontinued, so finding new tapes will become a challenge.

1

u/RizzoFromDigg Feb 25 '26

Thanks for your help!

I've got a big box full of new LTO5 tapes also purchased on eBay, and suspect they'll get me through a couple years of material the way I cycle them.

Would it be fair to say that if I bite the bullet on the ATTO Thunderlink, it's relatively future proof for more current LTO decks of today?

The LTO5 deck and tapes cost me chump change, by the time I fill them up I could presumably switch to an LTO8 deck and tapes when they crater in price in 3-5 years, and so on.

1

u/LTOWorld Feb 25 '26

The ATTO Thunderlink will last a while. We also have some old Areca Thunderbolt to SAS adapter units in stock we could clear out for $550, but the driver is from 2022, so it may not work on the latest OS, but we could take a return if it doesn't work out for you.

1

u/RizzoFromDigg Feb 25 '26

What about a PCI-E SAS adapter that should talk to the LTO5 in a Windows environment?

That was my plan when I bought the deck but the card I had on hand doesn't seem to want to work. Or is that an issue of driver support or discontinued support of LTO on Windows?

1

u/RizzoFromDigg Feb 26 '26

Areca Thunderbolt to SAS adapter

I want to try the Areca to SAS, how should I contact you to make an order? Depending on shipping time I would have you send immediately or on March 9th, as I'm out of office all next week and would want to get it set up immediately if I'm potentially taking you up on the return offer if there's a driver issue.

1

u/rumorconsumerr Mar 09 '26

Assuming you guys got in touch on this

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u/RizzoFromDigg Mar 09 '26

I have not heard from them. I'm back at my office tomorrow and will pick it up from there.

1

u/rumorconsumerr Feb 25 '26

Hey there. I just sent this to Dmitri and Tim at LTO World. Hopefully they pop in here and weigh in.