Do Thunderbolt drives in between MBP display need to be powered on?

Question

Do Thunderbolt drives in between MBP display need to be powered on?

Reeeeally basic one -

If I am going to have a setup with a Thunderbolt drive in between by MacBook Pro and an Apple Display, in order to use the display does the external drive have to be powered on? Or can Thunderbolt information just "pass through" external drives without needing to the intermediate parts of the daisy chain (just the drive in this example) powered on? Basically wondering if I will be able to leave the external drive powered off, but still use the Thunderbolt display? Just curious since there will be lots of times when I would use the Display but not the drive (would swap the drive and display in the order, but my display only has just one TB (actually mini displayport) input.

Thanks!

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), Time Capsule

Posted on Apr 29, 2013 11:59 AM

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Answer 1

May 1, 2013 2:51 PM in response to aquestionortwo

Not sure this applies to all Thunderbolt drives...but did find an answer for the LaCie 2big Thunderbolt, which does apparently let you pass through the connection with the power "off".

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10573

For more energy savings, the front power button even lets you turn off the product without breaking a daisy chain connection.

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Answer 2

May 2, 2013 1:54 AM in response to aquestionortwo

I have two LaCie Thunderbolt 2big drives - one 4TB and on 8TB. They are, of course, at the beginning of the chain with my Thunderbolt Display at the end of the chain. When my computer sleeps, so do the LaCie drives - and I think that this may be only with these LaCie drives as my FW800 G-Drives don't sleep.

So if you just want to let them sleep when your computer sleeps, they'll do that. And if you want to power them off (for whatever reason) you can turn them off shile still using the Display.

Clinton

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Answer 3

May 8, 2013 4:39 PM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Thanks. I also found out the same holds true to G-RAID drives (can pass through info to display with drives in between laptop and display in the chain).

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