For the first time since I started using a Mac I find myself without a Firewire port. Since I've always had FW to fall back on I haven't paid any attention to Thunderbolt until today as I'm staring at my two ancient Macally drive enclosures cursing Apple for charging $29 for their Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter.
Also, why is it that only Apple seems to make any of this stuff? None of the usual suspects—from my research—have really gotten into the Thunderbolt game. I expect Apple to charge a lot for these sorts of things which is why I've always gone third-party in the past. I appear to have lost that option.
I can't find a *single* manufacturer of barebones Thunderbolt HDD enclosures, just a few insanely high-priced units with their own drives.
Firewire accessories were always more expensive than their USB brethren. Smaller market, higher power/computing requirements on the device itself. I understood *why* those items had a premium. Does anyone have an explanation for the a) ridiculous price and b) utter lack of options when it comes to Thunderbolt? Hasn't Apple been using this for about a year now? Is there something fundamental about Thunderbolt that causes these high prices?
In the end I'll just drive to the Apple Store tomorrow and shell out for the adapter since I need to restore my old files from Time Machine but I'm a bit perplexed as to why Thunderbolt appears be a big step backwards in terms of options for the end user.
That said, I'm perfectly willing to accept the explanation that I totally overlooked some treasure trove of TB drive enclosures. Any takers?
