Is Mini-DisplayPort the same as Thurderbolt?????

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Is Mini-DisplayPort the same as Thurderbolt?????

I have a macbook air end of 2010 model.

Specs are here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP618

I want to connect it to a laCie external hardrive hat has only a Firewire port. My Mc appears to have a Mini DisplayPort and a USB but no Thunderbolt or Firewire port. ANy thoughts on how I can connect the Hard Drive to my MacBook? - Thanks - Pete

Peripheral connections

SD card
USB 2.0
Mini DisplayPort
MagSafe
USB 2.0
Headphone
Microphone

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Mar 31, 2013 8:43 AM

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Answer 1

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mende1

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Mar 31, 2013 8:46 AM in response to Peter in NYC

If you have an external drive only with a FireWire port, you won't be able to connect it to that MacBook Air, so you will need a Mid 2011 or newer MacBook Air (that have got a Thunderbolt port) and a Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter, to connect the external drive to your MacBook.

Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort use the same connector but they are different. Thunderbolt can transfer data, audio and video, and Mini DisplayPort transfers video and audio

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Answer 2

Peter in NYC Author

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Mar 31, 2013 9:00 AM in response to mende1

thanks mende. so on the one hand, i have all my back up data ina firewire hard drive, ont he other hand, my current laptop has no way to connect to a firewire drive.

are there any adapters that would work?

any ideas on how i get my back up data to a new harddrive that can be synchroized with my existing macbook air? Thank you!

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Answer 3

mende1

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Mar 31, 2013 9:08 AM in response to Peter in NYC

Unfortunately, you can't use any adapter because the Mini DisplayPort of the MacBook Air hasn't got the ability to transfer data.

One thing you can do in order to transfer the data from your actual external drive to another one is by using the Disk Utility's Restore feature, choosing your actual external drive as the source and the new external drive as the destination. See > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU7.html

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Answer 4

Peter in NYC Author

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Mar 31, 2013 9:40 AM in response to mende1

thanks - sorry i am still slightly confused.

Do I understand correctly:
1 - Buy a new external drive that uses USB 2 and Firewire for my existing macbook air
2 - connect the new drive to the old drive using a firewire cable

3 - Using disk utility restore, transfer data from the old hard drive to the new hard drive.

4 - Synchronize the new hard drive with the macbook air
5 - Give away the old hard drive

Is that correct? thanks - Peter

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Answer 5

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Mar 31, 2013 10:00 AM in response to Peter in NYC

Not exactly. As you already have the LaCie drive, I suppose that you have a Mac that can read it, so in the step 2, you have to connect both external drives to the same Mac, and then, use the Disk Utility's Restore feature to transfer the data.

Finally, connect the new external drive to the MacBook Air. Also, if you are going to sell the old external drive, erase it

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