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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

We Want Thunderbolt -> USB 3.0

Doug Beatty

Doug Beatty

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I'm a bit disappointed that NAB didn't offer any Thunderbolt -> USB 3.0 solutions. I would think someone like CalDigit or Sonnet would be all over this. It has been almost two years and no solutions for this yet?

As of now, in order to get USB 3.0 you have to go through Sonnet's TB Express34 adapter and then find a compatible card. Belkin has a breakout box that is USB 2.0 only. Why they didn't include at least one 3.0 port is beyond me!

It's simple- give me a box that has 2x USB 3.0 ports and 2x TB ports. Heck, throw in an eSata port while you are at it. And please don't charge me a thousand dollars for the convenience.

USB is far more ubiquitous, less power hungry and vastly cheaper to implement. Sure it's only 5GB/s vs. 10GB/s, but color me someone that's willing to trade daisy chaining devices and ridiculous transfer speeds for price/performance and backwards compatibility to all my USB devices.
 
AMD's Lightning Bolt: Low Cost Thunderbolt Alternative for USB 3.0/DP. Lightning Bolt is an AMD technology that can deliver USB 3.0, DisplayPort and Power over a single cable with mini DisplayPort connectors.

On other hand... There is Thunderbolt to USB 3 adaptors but not USB 3 to Thunderbolt. They cost a lot of money at the moment, around $270 when you include the Apple Thunderbolt cable.
 
I like the Lacie e-sata thunderbolt hub. Hook that up to the redstation mini and hard drives and it's fast.
 
Kwan Khan said:
AMD's Lightning Bolt: Low Cost Thunderbolt Alternative for USB 3.0/DP. Lightning Bolt is an AMD technology that can deliver USB 3.0, DisplayPort and Power over a single cable with mini DisplayPort connectors.
Click to expand...

So, basically a no-go if you are planning on using OSX.
 
i think the biggest problem is that lion OSX doesn't support USB3, so an adapter wouldn't work, but correct me if i'm wrong
 
Lacie, Sonnet, and CalDigit have all designed USB 3.0 drivers for OSX 10.5 or later so the framework is in place.

Also, with the recent Ivy Bridge announcement that USB 3.0 is now natively supported one would hope that the upcoming Macbook (Mac Pro?) refresh would take advantage of the new chip architecture.
 
Doug Beatty said:
Also, with the recent Ivy Bridge announcement that USB 3.0 is now natively supported one would hope that the upcoming Macbook (Mac Pro?) refresh would take advantage of the new chip architecture.
Click to expand...

All fingers crossed and holding my breath, Apple better not let us down again....
 
Why would you want TB -> USB3 when people are making TB devices?
 
I have a CalDigit USB 3 Card in my tower that doesn't have Thunderbolt and a Macbook with thunderbolt that doesn't have USB 3 (and a heap of portable USB drives).

Also, the price: Thunderbolt Cable - $50; USB 3 Cable $5 // 1TB Thunderbolt Hard Drive - $450; 1TB USB 3 $100

I'm not against the Thunderbolt standard- I think there are awesome peripherals coming out, but I don't need to pay for all the bells and whistles when I just want some of the whistles. Hope that makes sense?
 
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