MacFixIt reader Charles asks: 'Would adapter allow a MacBook Air to connect to another computer's FireWire port in FireWire target disk mode, via the Air's Thunderbolt port?' Given that some new MacBook systems do not have FireWire, people with older systems who have purchased one of these new MacBooks might benefit from using an adapter to mount the new system's drive on the older computer.

In some cases people have wondered about the options for troubleshooting systems using Apple's Target Disk mode, where the hard drive of one can be mounted as an external drive on another system through either FireWire or Thunderbolt connections. Since the adapter links both FireWire and Thunderbolt and can be connected to from either end, several readers have been hoping to use it as a bidirectional bridge between systems with Thunderbolt and those with FireWire. This adapter offers FireWire connectivity to the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina Display, which do not have built-in FireWire connectivity. Recently Apple made its Thunderbolt-to-FireWire adapter available, which was announced along with Apple's latest MacBook systems at this year's WWDC.