Daisy-chaining Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort

I have a 13-inch MacBook Pro (Early 2011), i7. In the future, would it be possible to daisy-chain a Thunderbolt-compatible product like the Echo Express (http://bit.ly/pTlDFr) with a monitor that only has DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI (http://amzn.to/nohGbj) using a Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort/HDMI/DVI adapter, or does the display have to support Thunderbolt as well? Thank you.

@bontistic: it is not true that only the Macbook Air supports Thunderbolt. All models(!) support thunderbolt: also the Macbook Pro's and Mini's. Eg.: http://www.apple.com/nl/macbookpro/features.html#thunderbolt
My Macbook Pro from 2011 already supported Thunderbolt...

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What's the difference between thunderbolt and mini displayport?

I'm trying to connect my Macbook with a monitor and I'm thinking of what cable to get. I will have to connect using a (Thunderbolt to HDMI cable) or a (mini displayport to HDMI cable).
I was wondering what's the difference between Thunderbolt and mini displayport
Thanks

@bontistic: it is not true that only the Macbook Air supports Thunderbolt. All models(!) support thunderbolt: also the Macbook Pro's and Mini's. Eg.: http://www.apple.com/nl/macbookpro/features.html#thunderbolt
My Macbook Pro from 2011 already supported Thunderbolt...

Daisy chaining thunderbolt and MacMini power

Hi, I am a little confused by Thunderbolt - can I daisy chain a FW 800 camera (via thunderbolt to fw800 adapter) through a Thunderbolt monitor to a Mac Mini and everything still work/ be identified as expected in the OS (i.e. the camera software I use to control the camera)?
Also - I was planning on buying a Mac Pro, however it is no longer on sale with no apparent window for a re (or new) release. Currently I use 2010 Mac Pros to control high frame rate FW 800 cameras plus read/write (via an esata card) to a hard drive array. Data transfer rates are about 60 MBps both from the camera and subsequently to the hard drives. Do you think the most powerful Mac Mini will be powerful enough for this application? I don't like buying without being sure, but similarly don't want to wait around any longer for a new MacPro release.
Many thanks,
Oli

Yes. Depending on the drive enclosure you may need to power the TBolt drive as it may no longer be bus-powered. My LaCie Rugged drives are bus-powered through the adapter cable. My OWC drives are not.

Can't daisy chain Thunderbolt 1 and 2 drives

I have a Mac Mini server (mid 2011) with a Pegasus R4 connected via Thunderbolt that has been running fine. The Mini is running Lion Server.
Just recently I got a Lacie 2big drive with Thunderbolt 2. I assumed that TB2 was backwards compatible so daisy chaining the Lacie to the Pegasus wouldn't be an issue. But when I do so, the Lacie doesn't mount and Disk Utility cannot see it.
However, if I connect the Lacie directly to the Mini it mounts and works fine. So then I tried connecting the Pegasus to the Lacie. But now the Pegasus doesn't mount and can't be seen by Disk Utility or Promise Utility.
So, is the problem trying to daisy chain TB1 and TB2 devices together? Or is it the Mini? Or is it Lion?
Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks for the quick reply. The Pegasus is over 3 years old and I have never updated the firmware. I will do so.
However, I got everything to work. The one I thing I didn't try was rebooting with both drives daisy chained and turned on. This did it. I restarted many times but each time was with only one of the drives connected. Not sure why a reboot is necessary for the daisy chained device to be visible.

Daisy chain thunderbolt drives and RAID

Hi everyone!
I was wondering, is it possible to buy several thunderbold drives, daisy chain them, and then make them act like a RAID 5 ?
Another question would be: I looked around the lacie drives and they said they can be put as RAID 0 or 1, but when you daisy chain them, so every one of them become a RAID 0 or 1 independent from the other or do they act as one?
Thank you for the precisions!

I believe you may do that provided the iMac is at the end of the chain, so the external drive must be able to pass through the port. But Apple's information on chaining is in relation to their standalone displays which must terminate the chain. So I am assuming that may also apply in your case even though the iMac isn't a standalone display.
It may be much simpler to use an USB external drive.

Is thunderbolt and mini the same thing?

Hi, I'm a little confused about my 'thunderbolt' ports on my Mac Book Pro. Are 'thunderbolt' and mini connecting cables pretty much the same thing (disregarding connectivity speeds) and can I just buy a generic mini-to-HDMI or mini-to-VGA cable to connect a third display to my Mac or do I specifically need the proprietry 'thunderbolt-to-HDMI/VGA' cable from apple?

Any Mini DisplayPort adapter or cable can be used with a computer's Thunderbolt port.

Thunderbolt and MINI DP compatibility

hi...
I want to buy an ATLONA AT HD620 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/810597-REG/Atlona_AT_HD620_HDMI_Mini_Displ ayPort.html necause i want to use my xbox and ps3 on my imac 27" 2011, but it says it uses a MINI DP, and the imac 2011 only has 2 thunderbolts.
Can someone tell me if the thunderbolt and MINI DP have compatibility
Thank you

Any monitor which works with a Mini DisplayPort will also work with a Thunderbolt port.
(60994)

Daisy Chaining Thunderbolt Monitors

I see that a 15 inch Macbook can drive two daisy chained Thunderbolt monitors. Can a post 2012 Air Book also do this?
Going in another direction, if i use the 15 Inch Macbook with a thunderbolt monitor, can i daisy chain in a Cinema Display to that?

I see that a 15 inch Macbook can drive two daisy chained Thunderbolt monitors. Can a post 2012 Air Book also do this?
Yes. See question 14 in:
<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5219>
Going in another direction, if i use the 15 Inch Macbook with a thunderbolt monitor, can I daisy chain in a Cinema Display to that?
Not directly (see question 16 above), but it will work if you connect a Thunderbolt disk drive (with two Thunderbolt ports) between the displays.

Target Display Mode - Thunderbolt to Mini DisplayPort?

I have a MacBook Pro which has a Mini DisplayPort and I connect this to the Mini DisplayPort on my 27" iMac and use Target Display Mode.
I am interested in the MacBook Air but there is no longer a Mini DisplayPort and I want to be able to go into Target Display Mode on my iMac. Is this going to be possible ie can I connect the Thunderbolt port on a MacBook Air to the Mini DisplayPort on my iMac and go into Target Display Mode? If possible, are the cables available yet?
Thanks
Tony

Yes, you can use the Thunderbolt port (which doubles as a Mini DisplayPort).
And yes, the cable (Thunderbolt/Mini DisplayPort) is available.
You can probably use your existing cable for Target Display Mode, just not for connecting Thunderbolt devices to your MacBook Air.

Daisy-Chain Thunderbolt Monitors

I have been having a lot of issues since purchasing two new thunderbolt displays. I mounted both displays on my office wall via VESA brackets. I was super happy with how they looked and how they were able to Daisy-Chain together making them the most beautiful full function docking station for my MacBook Pro. I hooked up my mac via the single thunderbolt cable and power cord from monitor 1 and turned on my Mac. As expected the two monitors came to life in dazzling fashion giving me 54in of usable space. My issues began after I disconnected my Mac to go to a meeting. When I returned and reconnected the power and thunderbolt cords and after the usual blinking of the monitors only the Mac and monitor number 1 worked. Monitor 2 (the one daisy-chained to number 1) would not turn on, 27in of blackness. I tried reconnecting, changing the order of the displays, rebooting, and even re-imaging; nothing worked. I Googled it and found a lot of issues that people were having with displays and thunderbolt drives but none offered a solution that worked. after a lot of research I was able to piece together what was happening and a fix that actually worked. The issue is the Thunderbolt ports and they way peripherals get assigned. So the first time I connected the monitors they worked great but when I went to a meeting and connected to a projector or went home and connected to my single thunderbolt monitor there the ports would get reconfigured to run the single monitor or projector. Macs use SMC (System Management Controller) to control many low level functions like lights, fans, power button, and ports. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964 Following the SMC reset fixes the port assignment issue and allows the Mac to recognize the daisy-chained monitor or drive. One additional tip is to plug in the power and thunderbolt cable before resetting the SMC. it is a simple keyboard procedure that is easy and works every time. I hoping a firmware update of SMC will make this fix obsolete but until then at least my $2500 display investment is paying off in a lot of beautiful useable space.

Please do not double post - it does not help and things can get very confusing, so I've asked the hosts to remove the duplicate.
Good luck!

How to daisy chain thunderbolt devices with only one port

I am using a macbook pro with one thunderbolt port. Quite a few thunderbolt devices have only a single thunderbolt port (don't support daisy chaining).
Does anyone know of a thuderbolt hub that adds additional thunderbolt ports?
If such a product does not yet exist, is it at least technically possible?
Thanks!

alexgrainger wrote:
Quite a few thunderbolt devices have only a single thunderbolt port (don't support daisy chaining).
Does anyone know of a thuderbolt hub that adds additional thunderbolt ports?
If such a product does not yet exist, is it at least technically possible?
(1) Thunderbolt does support daisy chaining up to 6 devices to the MBP's port (with some limitations). See
<http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/io/thunderbolt/thunderbolt-technology-dev eloper.html>
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.7/en/mh35952.html>
<http://www.macworld.com/article/158145/2011/02/thunderbolt_what_you_need_to_know .html>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)>
(2) Note that daisy chain and hub are not the same. However, my understanding is that, in principle, a Thunderbolt hub is feasible. I'm not aware if such a device is already on the market. I guess that whether or not Thunderbolt hubs will be eventually available depends on the demand.

Daisy-chaining thunderbolt in target display mode

If I connect an imac 27" (which has two thunderbolt ports) to my retina MBP via target display mode, can I use the thunderbolt gigabit ethernet adapter on the imac and get network on my macbook via "Daisy-chaining"?
It's a shame that there are no cheap thunderbolt hubs available so I'm hoping for this so I can use two displays and still have ethernet.. The option is maybe using the USB to ethernet adapter but I'd rather not.

Target Display Mode is not the same as Target Disk Mode. The latter is done using Firewire. The former is only currently usable with a 27" iMac with a Thunderbolt port. Target Display Mode is for using the iMac's display with another computer that has a Thunderbolt port.

Daisy Chaining Thunderbolts: Mavericks

So, I installed Mavericks this morning...the set up wasn't exactly smooth. There was a lot of resetting and restarting and freezing, but what I am most upset about is that apparently Mavericks doesn't support daisy chaining several Thunderbolt Displays. Has anyone gotten this to work? After talking to someone for over an hour, asking me to do things that I had already done, they put me through to a developer that said it wasn't support and he didn't know when or if a patch would come through to fix it, and that he couldn't help me because Apple didn't support daisy-chaining.
Just curious if anyone else has had the same problem, and if they found a way to fix it.

I have the exact same problem. I purchased a maxed out fully loaded Macbook Air from the Apple Store a week ago - and was assured by the sales rep that it supported Thunderbolt Daisy chaining. I also purchased a couple of Thunderbolt displays - hook everything up - and it doesnt work.
I get on Apple Care and try to resolve the issue - no luck. I take my displays and Macbook Air and go to the store with a genius bar appointment - no luck.
Then one of the sales people suggest that I try the 15" Macbook Pro which is supposed to be able to handle this without any issues. So I purchase a brand new 15" Macbook Pro with retina support - and try hooking it up with the Thunderbolt displays - and EXACT SAME PROBLEM.
I am now at my wits end with this. I am pretty convinced this is a OS Mavericks issue - and that once resolved it will also work on my Macbook Air (which means I can return my Macbook Pro)
Fingers crossed that I get this resolved in the next couple of days.
Please add your findings/developments to this thread. Thanks.

Dell 2400MP projector and mini-DisplayPort

I have a MacBook Pro with a mini-DisplayPort and wanted to know which mini-DisplayPort to VGA adapter should I get to connect to the Dell 2400MP? It only has a VGA port, and I'm doing a presentation at a place that uses such a projector, and wanted to be prepared in case no one there knows how to use the PC and bring my own laptop. I see the mileage on these adapters may vary, so which one works best?

Get the Apple adapter. It costs more, but it's made better than most.

MBP Unibody and Mini DisplayPort to S-video adapter

Why is the Mini DisplayPort-to-s-Video Adapter the only adapter that Apple can't seem to make? My late model PowerBook G4 came with its own S-Video out, which was perfect for running video to the dual overhead projectors in my Sunday School class. But alas, the PowerBook couldn't keep up with the multimedia video requirements I made for it, so I upgraded to the MacBook Pro (mid 2009). But I can't find a friggin' adapter to save my life! I've tried an external VGA unit, only to have the video rolls all over the screen with no way to stop it. All I need is one simple adapter: a Mini DisplayPort to S-Video /Composite adapter. Apple makes almost the exact same adapter, but it's for the mini-DVI out. At least the PowerBook had a full-size DVI out- all the MBP has is the single, stupid Mini DisplayPort. Why can't the fine folks at Apple make up their stupid minds which ports they're going to use?

This is why I think that won't work. I might be wrong tho.
Once you head on over to VGA from the Mini DisplayPort, you are then talking about an ANALOG signal. This analog signal must be changed BACK to digital in order to work with S video. So, what you need is a VGA to S video converter box. They are a lil too pricey for me, around $100 I think.
What I was thinking was this. Since Mini DisplayPort and S video are both digital signals, you need to have digital all the way. I wonder if the Apple Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter shown here:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB570Z/A
would work when connected to the DVI to Video Adapter shown here:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M9267G/A?fnode=MTY1NDA3Ng&mco=MTA4NDU1Mjc
At that point you would need an S video cable connected to the second adapter...but if the first adapter is in fact transmitting a digital signal, the second adapter should then just pass through that digital signal to the S video cable.
Has anyone tried this?

Daisy-chaining Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort

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