They already exist.
Or isn't there enough of a market initially.
None of those are particularly economically effective as replacing 4-5 standard drive bays. They all throw RAID on top which raises costs. Same thing with bundling HDDs into the solutions; also drives up costs.
For example the WD Thunderbolt Duo is around $500. To substitute 4 drive sleds that is $1000+ ( plus cable ). That is not particularly effective at all. If the entry level system is priced $2,499 then that is an additional 40% cost increase to add 4 drives.
The vendors are not going to tank the prices for the current devices ( that would just buy them backlash. ). What is hugely missing is a simple JBOD box that is in the $200-299 range for 3-4 drives bays. [ To put things into context this 4 bay SAS JBOD enclosure is $229
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111183 Swapping a SFF-8088 physical connector for Thunderbot and adding TB infrastructure ( TB controller, extra power, and DP pass through) shouldn't be much more than another $70. ]
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It isn't about market it is more so about trying to solve the problem.
In terms of making a new storage product that fills the new "hole" opened up by the Mac Pro. It will take a while before anything shows up. Unless Apple worked with a vendor ahead of time to get them started on a better fit design it will likely 9-12+ months before anything shows up that is economically effective.
What is hugely missing is a simple JBOD box that is in the $200-299 range for 3-4 drives bays.
It isn't about market it is more so about trying to solve the problem.
In terms of making a new storage product that fills the new "hole" opened up by the Mac Pro.
Given the Mac Pro has USB3 and USB3 has been out for a long time and many USB3 storage devices already exist, why is lead time even needed?
I've been looking at USB 3.0 storage for cost saving but there seems to be problems with the multi-drive storage option such as the drives don't always show up and require a reboot.
I've been looking at USB 3.0 storage for cost saving but there seems to be problems with the multi-drive storage option such as the drives don't always show up and require a reboot.
It must be a very limited problem then because I have used several different ones and have never experienced those problems.
a cheap, but not so elegant, solution is to buy a http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MEQX2KIT0GBR/
with esata -> usb3/thunderbolt converter and you could use it to get ~300 MBps. Not good enough for a couple of SSDs but for 2-3 mechanical drives it's nice.
The promise pegasus j4 has room for 4 2.5"-drives and seems to be the most "cost efficient" thunderbolt solution to fit 2.5"-drives that you already have.
So there, eight drive bays for 2 thunderbolt ports or 1TB and 1USB3![]()