User profile for user: moritzhberg
moritzhberg Author
User level: Level 1
30 points

Daisychaining a Display to an External Thunderbolt Hard Drive

Hey guys, I have an Early 2011 i5 MacBook Pro 13", which I have attached to an LG EA 93 via Display Port. I was thinking of buying a WD Velociraptor Duo, which is a Thunderbolt hard drive. If I daisy chain my display with the Hard drive, is it like connecting to the native Thunderbolt port on the Mac, or could I see degraded image quality or issues due to daisy chaining? I've daisychained Firewire Hard drives without an issue (the max I did was 5, and there were no problems), but I've never had a display at the end of a Daisychain.


Thanks a lot for your help in advance.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on May 10, 2014 10:13 AM

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User profile for user: joe_73
joe_73
User level: Level 3
705 points

May 12, 2014 9:20 AM in response to moritzhberg

Hello moritzhberg,


I understand you and looking to purchase a Thunderbolt external hard drive and plan to connect a monitor to it in a daisy chain from your Macbook Pro. If you create the chain the way you described (MacBook Pro > Thunderbolt hard drive > display port monitor) you should have no performance issues. I did find some information in the article below that verifies the display port monitor should be at the end of the chain.


Thunderbolt ports and displays: Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5219



23. How do I connect my Mini DisplayPort monitor or monitor using a Mini DisplayPort adapter to my Thunderbolt-equipped Mac when I have other Thunderbolt devices connected?

When connecting a Mini DisplayPort display or a display using a Mini DisplayPort adapter to a Thunderbolt peripheral (except as described in question 24), make sure the display is connected at the end of the Thunderbolt chain. You can use only one Mini DisplayPort device in the Thunderbolt chain.

Note: Systems with more than one Thunderbolt port, like an iMac, can have more than one Mini DisplayPort monitor or monitor connected with a Mini DisplayPort adapter connected as each Thunderbolt port can support one Mini DisplayPort display.


Thanks for reaching out,

-Joe

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Daisychaining a Display to an External Thunderbolt Hard Drive

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