USB much slower thru Thunderbolt Display!

Question

Level 1

17 points

USB much slower thru Thunderbolt Display!

My new Air/Thunderbolt system is fabulous but I just noticed that USB transfer rates through the Thunderbolt Display are much slower!

Here are my results using the same USB disk drive, same USB cable, same file, same copy command (see * below):

USB thru Thunderbolt Display USB port: ~0.5 GB / minute

USB thru MacBook Air USB port: ~2.0 GB / minute

Anyone else able to reproduce this on a MacBook Air with Thunderbolt Display? If not, I'll need to swap mine.

I stipulate that firewire and thunderbolt are faster than USB. But some devices require USB. What I'm noticing is that at one of the USB ports on the back of my Thunderbolt display is running at about 1/4 the speed of the USB port which is built in to my MacBook Air.

Has anyone from Apple checked this?

Thanks a lot!

William

*My copy command takes less than 2 minutes if the USB cable is plugged into the MacBook Air, and takes 7 minutes if the USB cable is plugged into the Thunderbolt Display.

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.2), Thunderbolt Display

Posted on Oct 14, 2011 9:06 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

todd frombend

Level 1

5 points

Dec 19, 2011 2:44 PM in response to Williamvv

I tested my TB display's USB ports using Time Machine. My configuration is a 17" MBP with Lion and 8gb ram. I setup TM for the first time with a USB drive connected to the TB display. The backup took 7.5 hours for about 185gb. I deleted the backup and connected the drive directly to a USB port on the MBP. The exact same backup took 2.5 hours. Nothing else was running during either backup.

I talked to the local Apple dealer about this and apparently they don't read the forums very much since they hadn't heard of the issue. I'm sure hoping this is a firmware and not a hardware issue. Using the display as a hub was a primary consideration when I purchased it. I haven't heard back yet from the dealer.

Reply

Answer 2

geekbabe

Level 1

0 points

Dec 19, 2011 3:30 PM in response to todd frombend

7 hours to back up 185GB on a device that costs 1K? I'm considering the TB Display & don't like the sounds of this.

Reply

Answer 3

Williamvv Author

Level 1

17 points

Dec 19, 2011 3:48 PM in response to todd frombend

Hi Todd,

Thanks for reporting this here. The easy workaround is to use the Air USB ports for high volume data and use the ones on the back of your Thunderbolt Display for things like printers, or anything where you don't mind the wait.

By the way, the FireWire port on the TB Display screams, so it's the USB interface in the display.

I hope it's firmware, too. But I'm done testing and I'm just using the faster ports.

William

Reply

Answer 4

Williamvv Author

Level 1

17 points

Dec 19, 2011 3:50 PM in response to geekbabe

I still love my Air/TBD combination. I just plug into the faster ports for my backups and large file copies.

Happy holidays!

William

Reply

Answer 5

geekbabe

Level 1

0 points

Dec 19, 2011 3:52 PM in response to Williamvv

Excuse me if I'm wrong but if we either have to use the USB 2 ports on our machines or wait over twice as long for data transfer using the TP display, why on earth would we spend $1K for one?

Reply

Answer 6

Williamvv Author

Level 1

17 points

Dec 19, 2011 3:52 PM in response to todd frombend

And one more thing I forgot to mention. The problem is noticibly worse with some make/model drives than others. Same port, same file, same cable, yet different speeds with certain drives. Go figure.

Reply

Answer 7

Williamvv Author

Level 1

17 points

Dec 19, 2011 3:53 PM in response to geekbabe

If you're purchasing it as a hub, then it's not a good choice. But it's a great companion display for the Air.

Reply

Answer 8

Dec 19, 2011 4:04 PM in response to Williamvv

You're right of course, William, it's a better display than a hub and I'm weighing my options for a faster storage solution. Glad to hear the firewire works well, that's a much cheaper option than a TB drive. I was hoping to use the other peripherals that I already had, and for the incremental backups, USB will probably be fine.

I'm also using the TB display USB ports for the Logitech keyboard/mouse dongle, and ipod sync where the lack of speed isn't an issue.

Reply

Answer 9

geekbabe

Level 1

0 points

Dec 19, 2011 4:06 PM in response to Williamvv

The Thunderport is basically the only hub availble for the MBA , if all I want is a monitor I can get one for a helluva lot less than $1K

Reply

Answer 10

Williamvv Author

Level 1

17 points

Dec 19, 2011 4:07 PM in response to geekbabe

Stipulated.

Reply

Answer 11

geekbabe

Level 1

0 points

Dec 19, 2011 4:10 PM in response to todd frombend

The Air comes equipped with outdated USB 2 ports, if the TB display won't give me faster storage options I'm not sure what I'm going to do, I'll probably return this computer as USB 2 is not an acceptable opton for me.

Reply

Answer 12

tbirdvet

Level 6

13,617 points

Oct 10, 2013 3:13 PM in response to Williamvv

I hate to say it but I just got a new TBD and the USB ports are still very slow. I also noticed that they get even slower when I plug in a Super drive in one of the ports. Must draw too much current or something. You would think Apple would have fixed this by now!

Reply

Answer 13

hands4

Level 4

2,246 points

Oct 10, 2013 7:28 PM in response to geekbabe

There is a 3rd-part Thunderbold hub but is is not cheap ($300). It is designed as a docking station so you have only one TB connection to make to connect all your preipherals and monitors.

http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U055/

Reply