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target mode over USB-c not working

I have 2 Mac books pro 15 with touch bar one from 2017 one with 2019. One I start it up in Target mode, one in normal mode. I connect them via original USB-c cable but I cannot see the drive on the normal boot laptop

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on May 17, 2022 11:02 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 18, 2022 6:33 AM

It either laptop are running macOS 11.x Big Sur, then you cannot use USB in Target Mode (thanks Apple) so you would need to use a Thunderbolt cable (lightning bolt on the connectors). See this Apple article for details:

Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode - Apple Support


Edit: changed the OS versions to be correct with the article. Thanks @Grant!


5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 18, 2022 6:33 AM in response to andreifromdubai

It either laptop are running macOS 11.x Big Sur, then you cannot use USB in Target Mode (thanks Apple) so you would need to use a Thunderbolt cable (lightning bolt on the connectors). See this Apple article for details:

Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode - Apple Support


Edit: changed the OS versions to be correct with the article. Thanks @Grant!


May 18, 2022 9:37 AM in response to andreifromdubai

andreifromdubai wrote:

Oh,
so the USB-C cable used for charging the laptop is not good. I will order one thunderbolt 4 cable.

To much confusion with this protocols

Agreed. The Apple USB-C charging cable only handles up to USB2 so transfers would be extremely slow anyway. It doesn't help that Apple changed Target Disk Mode for macOS 11.x+ either.

target mode over USB-c not working

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