Drive manufacturer Seagate has confirmed that it will stop offering Thunderbolt storage and adapters under its own brand name, and will instead leave Thunderbolt drives and storage options to the separate LaCie division, which it acquired in 2012.
Seagate’s retiring of the USM connectors also likely signals the end of any drive compatibility with FireWire 800 as well, along with the option of connector interchangeability.
The company has already discontinued the Seagate-branded 3TB and 4TB Backup Plus desktop units, and the 1TB Backup Plus Portable version which offered a Thunderbolt connection
Seagate is dropping the USM connectors that allowed Seagate drives to use a variety of interfaces, from USB to Firewire to Thunderbolt, to function with some of its drive lines. Seagate will continue to offer storage products aimed at Mac users through either wireless or USB 3.0 connections, but likely found that Thunderbolt sales were limited to mostly Mac and “creative pro” users.
Former Firewire 800 adapter
LaCie, which is seen as a premium brand that particularly caters to Mac users with its polished designs, is a logical choice for the change. The division already focuses heavily on Thunderbolt, offering at least three lines of drives with Thunderbolt storage on board.
