Randy Knowles

Q: LaCie d2 Thunderbolt 2 drive incompatible with Mac mini?

Greeting all -

 

Well I bought a brand new LaCie d2 Thunderbolt 2 3TB eternal drive for use with my mac min (mid 2011).  I have previously used several Seagate Thudnerbolt (1) external drives with the mini (with my monitor beyond in the chain) with no problem.  However when I upacked the new LaCie, shut down and connected it to my mini and started up mayhem ensued.  I have a solid satate internal drive and boot up in about 12 seconds.  With the LaCie it takes almost a minute and a half.  Then, while the mouse moves the cursor, clicking does nothing.  After about 14 minutes the click finally takes effect and seems to work normally thereafter.

 

I have shut down and gone back to my old Seagate Thunderbolt 1 drive and it works just fine.  I have swapped out thunderbolt cables and used another known good cable.  I have switched cable order on the LaCie Thunderbolt ports.  I have disconnected the monitor from the Thudnerbolt chain and run the drive only.  All to no avail.  The LaCie is supposedly good on System 10.6.8 and later, I am running 10.7.5.

 

Anyone know of any problems of the current crop of LaCie Tunderbolt drives with Mac minis??  Thanks - Randy

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.5), 2011; 2.7GHz i7; 8GB RAM; HD 6630M

Posted on Mar 18, 2016 9:02 PM

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Q: LaCie d2 Thunderbolt 2 drive incompatible with Mac mini?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by lllaass,Helpful

    lllaass lllaass Mar 19, 2016 9:09 PM in response to Randy Knowles
    Level 10 (188,672 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 19, 2016 9:09 PM in response to Randy Knowles
    • Note the time of the next freeze. Then when you can open the Console app in Finder>Applications>Utilities and look for log entries at the time of the freeze. Post suspicious ones here.

    If you have to reboot, look before the log entry that starts with BOOT_TIME since that is the first line of a bootup

  • by den.thed,

    den.thed den.thed Mar 19, 2016 7:58 AM in response to Randy Knowles
    Level 7 (27,550 points)
    Mar 19, 2016 7:58 AM in response to Randy Knowles

    Are you trying to daisy chain a Mini DisplayPort monitor or an Apple Thunderbolt Display thru the LaCie...?

     

    I would contact LaCie, because from > http://www.lacie.com/technologies/thunderbolt/ it looks like only Mini DisplayPort (Display Port, DVI, HDMI, VGA) monitors are supported from the LaCie's second port.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-03-19 at 7.45.54 AM.jpg

  • by Randy Knowles,

    Randy Knowles Randy Knowles Mar 19, 2016 9:11 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Mar 19, 2016 9:11 PM in response to lllaass

    Thanks a lot for your excellent suggestion.  Unfortunately, Other World Computing directerd me to return the drive so I can't follow up on your suggestion at the moment.  I'll keep it for future reference if the replacement drive acts the same way.  Thanks again - Randy

  • by Randy Knowles,

    Randy Knowles Randy Knowles Mar 19, 2016 9:16 PM in response to den.thed
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Mar 19, 2016 9:16 PM in response to den.thed

    I have my HP 24" monitor being driven from the Thunderbolt port, yes.  I had the LaCie first in the chain and the HP monitor 2nd.  However I have a 2nd ASUS monitor  connected via VGA, and tried the drive with nothing else in the Thunderbolt chain, and got the same result.  I already talked to LaCie before posting here and they seemed unfamiliar with this problem.  At any rate I have now returned the drive and await getting a replacement to test - hoping very much the problem is not present on the replacement drive.  Thanks very much for your answer,  -  Randy

  • by den.thed,Helpful

    den.thed den.thed Mar 20, 2016 10:25 AM in response to Randy Knowles
    Level 7 (27,550 points)
    Mar 20, 2016 10:25 AM in response to Randy Knowles

    It kind of sounds like either a bad cable or the drive overloaded your Thunderbolt port.

     

    I would reset the Mac Mini's SMC and NVRAM, then try the HP and/or ASUS again without a drive in the chain.

    Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Suppor

    How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

  • by Randy Knowles,

    Randy Knowles Randy Knowles Mar 20, 2016 10:29 AM in response to den.thed
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Mar 20, 2016 10:29 AM in response to den.thed

    Thanks for your helpful suggestions.  I did try swapping out several cables with others that work fine with my Seagate Thunderbolt drives.  I tried 3 different replacement cables.  I am using the AC power supply for the LaCie drive, so hopefully it's not drawing too, much power, but perhaps the power supply is bad.  I'll have to meter it when I get the replacement drive back.  I'll keep your 2 suggestions and try them if the replaement drive does the same thing (ugh).  Thanks again for your helpful comments.  - Randy

  • by Erik Savesen,

    Erik Savesen Erik Savesen Mar 21, 2016 5:25 AM in response to Randy Knowles
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Mar 21, 2016 5:25 AM in response to Randy Knowles

    I have two LaCie Thunderbolt2 Disks and experienced a similar thing.

    Lion won't start if the LaCie disks is atatched, but Yosemite and El Capitan will, so  I think Lion have problems with those disks

  • by Randy Knowles,

    Randy Knowles Randy Knowles Mar 21, 2016 2:01 PM in response to Erik Savesen
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Mar 21, 2016 2:01 PM in response to Erik Savesen

    Thank you Erik, that is just what I was afraid of.  LaCie claims that the disk works with Snow Leopard and higher, but your answer now makes me think they might be wrong.  I'll post here when I get the replacement drive.  I have a feeling I am going to be talking to LaCie a whole lot more ….     - Randy

  • by Erik Savesen,

    Erik Savesen Erik Savesen Mar 22, 2016 11:23 AM in response to Randy Knowles
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Mar 22, 2016 11:23 AM in response to Randy Knowles

    Here is the requirements :

    Computer with a Thunderbolt 2, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt*, or USB 2.0* port

    Thunderbolt 2: Mac OS® X 10.8.5 or later

    USB 3.0: Windows® 7, Windows 8, or Mac OS X 10.6 or later

  • by Randy Knowles,

    Randy Knowles Randy Knowles Mar 22, 2016 11:58 AM in response to Erik Savesen
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Mar 22, 2016 11:58 AM in response to Erik Savesen

    Thanks Erik -

     

       I am familiar with those LaCie specs.  However, I spoke to LaCie before buying the drive.  They told me 10.8.5 was required for Thudnerbolt 2, but that the drive is backwards comptible with Thunderbolt 1 and will work with my mini and Lion, but at the sower speed of Thunderbolt 1.  OWC also claimed the same thing re backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 1.  I am not aware of anyone making Thunderbolt 1 desktop drives any more, so I sure hope there is some way to make this work or I am really stuck!!  - Randy

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Mar 22, 2016 2:29 PM in response to Randy Knowles
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Mar 22, 2016 2:29 PM in response to Randy Knowles

    Randy Knowles wrote:

     

    Greeting all -

     

    ...for use with my mac min (mid 2011). 

    I also have the 2011 Mac Mini.

     

    FYI: It can be made to boot and run Snow Leopard using the information that newfoundglory described on this forum with the addition of certain kexts that previously were only supplied by Lion.

     

    I keep a Snow Leopard partition on mine for times when I need it.

     

    Snow Leopard 2011 Mac Mini.png

                                                                [click on image to enlarge]

  • by Randy Knowles,

    Randy Knowles Randy Knowles Mar 24, 2016 1:52 PM in response to Randy Knowles
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Mar 24, 2016 1:52 PM in response to Randy Knowles

    Hello again -

     

       Well I received the new replacement LaCie d2 Thunderbolt 2 3TB drive today.  It behaves exactly the same way as the first one.  During the time I was waiting for the new drive to arrive I did 2 things.  1) I did a PRAM reset; and 2) I was able to download El Capitan onto one off my other Seagate external Thunderbolt 1 drives.  I have now tested the new LaCie booting into El Capitan.  I have the Seagate drive (with El Capitan) first in the Thunderbolt chain, then the LaCie, and lastly my 2nd (HP) monitor.  Everything works NORMALLY, no problem.

     

       Despite that both LaCie and Other World Computing told me (before I bought the drive) that the LaCie drive is backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 1, it appears that Erik is right, the problem seems to be in the Lion operating system.  From what I have seen of El Capitan so far, it does not have all the horrible problems that I saw in Mavericks.  Most (but not all) window sizes and placements are retained on shut down.  It appears that all tags are also saved.  So I guess I will start working toward changing over to El Capitan.  Since I used migration with my previous 2 new computers, its time to do fresh, clean installs with El Capitan.  Lots of work, but probably overdue.  Once I am able switch over then I will have no more problems with the new LaCie d2.

     

       In the meantime, I need to try to find some sort of workable partial solution while I am still on Lion.  My next step will be to clone my internal solid state hard drive onto the LaCie d2 and see if I can boot from that as an emergency backup.  I'll also be talking again with LaCie technical support and will report any results back here.  Thanks all for your comments so far.  - Randy