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FAQ

ux-1

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  What is Blackjet UX-1 Thunderbolt™ 3 Cinema Dock?

A:  Blackjet UX-1 is the world’s first Thunderbolt™ 3, 1U-Rack-Mount with modularized design with the following features:

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a. Dual Thunderbolt™ 3 connections with speeds of up to 40Gb/s.

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b. Thunderbolt™ 3 connections natively supports USB3.1 Gen 2 (10Gb/s) interface.

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c. Second Thunderbolt™ 3 port supports Daisy Chaining of five additional Thunderbolt devices, a 5K display, or one USB device.

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d. 2.5” SSD (up to 9mm in height), CFast 2.0, XQD 2.0, CompactFlash UDMA7, SDXC UHS-II, and MicroSDXC UHS-I media cards supported.

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e. Dual SSD can be configured as RAID-0, RAID -1, or JBOD (Software RAID).

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Q:  Does UX-1 work with Windows 10 PC with Thunderbolt 3?

A:  The Blackjet UX-1 is certified for use with Windows 10 PCs with a Thunderbolt 3 port.  However, you may experience connectivity issues between the UX-1 and the Thunderbolt 3 port on your PC.   Therefore, before setting up your UX-1 media dock, please visit your PC manufacturer, Thunderbolt and Microsoft to get the latest versions of:
 

  • BIOS

  • Thunderbolt 3 firmware

  • Thunderbolt 3 driver

  • Windows 10


For questions regarding your PC, please contact the PC manufacturer or contact the motherboard manufacturer. To find out the latest Thunderbolt 3 information please visit: https://thunderbolttechnology.net/updates

Q:  A pop-up message appears when on my PC when UX-1 is first connected?

A:  When you first connect a Thunderbolt™ 3 device to Windows PC, a pop-up message appears.

      The device must first be authenticated through Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 software:  

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  1. In the New Thunderbolt devices have been attached pop-up message, click OK.

  2. In the Windows User Account Control (UAC) pop-up message, click Yes.

  3. In the Approve Thunderbolt Devices pop-up message, select the device in the drop-down list:

    • If you want to authorize your Thunderbolt devices every time that you connect them, select Connect Only Once in the drop-down list.

    • If you want to authorize your Thunderbolt devices only once, select Always Connect in the drop-down list.

  4. Click OK.

Q:  The RED LED for the XQD 2.0 slot does not flash during Read/Write activity like the rest?

A:  XQD Format Version 2 supports both PCI Express Gen 2 and USB3.0 (now called USB3.1) interfaces.

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Blackjet UX-1’s XQD slot supports XQD 2.0’s internal USB3.0 pass-through interface, therefore, there is no controller involved to customize the LED behavior like the rest of the slots on the UX-1. Also, the slot is not backward compatible with XQD Format Version 1.0.

Q:  What is the Thunderbolt 3 interface and how does it compare with other interfaces?

A:  Theoretical bandwidth of different interfaces compared to Blackjet UX-1 Thunderbolt™ 3 interfaces.

Q:  How much does the SSD extend when inserted into UX-1?

A:  The SSD will extend 18mm when inserted.

Q:  What is the maximum bandwidth of the UX-1?

A:  The maximum bandwidth for Blackjet UX-1 is PCIe Gen3 x4 or 2750 MB/s on Read/Write.   To demonstrate how fast UX-1 is, we daisy-chain two UX-1 together with a USB3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps) portable storage as the last end-point device, 

and configure four SSD, two CFast2.0 memory card and a USB3.1 Gen2 storage as RAID-0 with the following performance.

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**Performance would vary depending on the type of SSD and memory cards used**

Q:  Can you RAID the UX-1 SSD drives?

A:  The two SSD slots on the Blackjet UX-1 can be software RAIDed as RAID-0 (for faster performance) or RAID-1 (for data redundancy) through the operating system (i.e. Windows or macOS). However, please be aware of pros and cons of RAID technology and use it with cautions.

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**Caution: If you software RAIDed two SSDs in Windows, the RAID volume can only be accessed on other computers running the same operating system. In other words, you cannot use the same RAID volume in macOS, and vice versa.**

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RAID 0 (Disk striping) – minimum number of disks: 2

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Pros:  Allow higher data throughput for increased performance (Write and Read speeds)

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Cons:  No redundancy for data protection (If one of the two drives fails, the entire RAID 0 volume is lost)

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RAID 1 (Disk Mirroring) – minimum number of disks: 2

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Pros:  Increase Read performance

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           Fault tolerance for data protection (If one of the two drives fails, the entire RAID 1 volume would continue to function)

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Cons:  Cost (Need twice the amount of drives to achieve the desired capacity)

Q:  What happens if I use more than 1 media card in the CF/SD/MicroSD reader module?

A:  The three media slots on the M2 (CF/SD/MicroSD) Module shares a single card reader controller, therefore, you would see drop in performance when you try to use two or more slots at the same time. This is a typical behavior of any Multi-LUN card reader controller on the market.

Q:  Is the UX-1 compatible with my Mac computer with Thunderbolt 2?

A:  Yes. You would need a Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter.

Q:  Can I service or switch out the Reader modules on the UX-1?

A:  Yes. You service/switch out the Reader modules on the UX-1.  Please refer to this UX-1 Service Guide for information.

If you need further assistance or help please contact our support via email or telephone:

Toll-free number for USA only
1-800-964-3088

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International please call
1-510-824-6868

 

Pacific Time 
10:00AM to 5:00PM

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Support email

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