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The unique design of the Transfer Drive Dock combines the speed of two Thunderbolt 3 ports for up to 5400 MB/s bandwidth.
The Transfer Drive Dock can be used in Dual Link mode (up to 5400 MB/s read/write speed) or Single Link mode (up to 2700 MB/s read/write speed).
The Transfer Drive Dock has two Thunderbolt 3 ports on the rear of the unit. Between the two ports is the Dual Link Thunderbolt Switch (see image below).
Below is a guide to connecting the Dock in either Dual Link or Single Link mode:
1. Set Dock to Correct Mode
2. Connect Thunderbolt Cable(s) to Mac
Here are some examples of incorrect Thunderbolt connections and mode settings:
The Transfer Drive Dock is in Dual Link mode, but only has a single Thunderbolt cable connected:
The Transfer Drive Dock is in Single Link mode, but only PORT 2 is connected:
Incorrect Thunderbolt cables are used, or the Transfer Drive Dock is connected to Thunderbolt 2 ports:
The Transfer Drive Dock is in Dual Link mode, but both Thunderbolt cables are connected to the same Thunderbolt bus:
Transfer Drive Dock Thunderbolt PORT LED's
Each of Thunderbolt PORT 1 and PORT 2 on the rear of the Transfer Drive Dock has an LED beside it to indicate its status.
The LEDs will be:
Transfer Drive LED
The LED on the front of the Transfer Drive indicates its status.
The LED will be:
The following cable types have been tested and are known to work with the Transfer Drive Dock:
For optimal performance, the Transfer Drive Dock should be connected in Dual Link mode to 2 x Thunderbolt buses.
Connecting in Dual Link mode to Thunderbolt ports on the same bus will result in Single Link performance.
In either Dual Link or Single Link mode, the Thunderbolt buses used for the Transfer Drive Dock should not be shared with other Thunderbolt devices in order to achieve maximum performance.
Mac computers usually have multiple Thunderbolt / USB-C ports. Typically two ports on each computer share the same Thunderbolt bus. Here are some examples of the Thunderbolt port / bus arrangement on some of the popular models of Apple Mac computers:
Mac Pro 2019
For optimal performance on the Mac Pro 2019, set the Transfer Drive Dock into Dual Link mode and connect Thunderbolt cables from PORT 1 and PORT 2 on the Transfer Drive Dock to either BUS 1, BUS 2 or BUS 3 on the Mac Pro.
When in Dual Link mode, ensure PORT 1 and PORT 2 are connected to two different buses. For example:
Macbook Pro
For optimal performance on the Macbook Pro, set the Transfer Drive Dock into Dual Link mode and connect Thunderbolt cables from PORT 1 and PORT 2 on the Transfer Drive Dock to either BUS 1 or BUS 2 on the Macbook Pro.
When in Dual Link mode, ensure PORT 1 and PORT 2 are connected to two different buses. For example:
or:
iMac Pro 2017
For optimal performance on the iMac Pro 2017, set the Transfer Drive Dock into Dual Link mode and connect Thunderbolt cables from PORT 1 and PORT 2 on the Transfer Drive Dock to either BUS 1 or BUS 2 on the iMac Pro.
When in Dual Link mode, ensure PORT 1 and PORT 2 are connected to two different buses. For example:
or:
iMac Pro 2020
The iMac Pro 2020 has 2 x Thunderbolt / USB-C ports which both share a single Thunderbolt BUS. This means that only Single Link mode is possible with the iMac Pro 2020.
Mac Mini (Apple Silicon M1)
For optimal performance on the Mac Mini (Apple Silicon M1), set the Transfer Drive Dock into Dual Link mode and connect Thunderbolt cables from PORT 1 and PORT 2 on the Transfer Drive Dock to either BUS 1 or BUS 2 on the Mac Mini.
When in Dual Link mode, ensure PORT 1 and PORT 2 are connected to two different buses. For example:
or:
Mac Mini (Intel)
For optimal performance on the Mac Mini (Intel), set the Transfer Drive Dock into Dual Link mode and connect Thunderbolt cables from PORT 1 and PORT 2 on the Transfer Drive Dock to either BUS 1 or BUS 2 on the Mac Mini.
When in Dual Link mode, ensure PORT 1 and PORT 2 are connected to two different buses. For example:
or:
Device Manager version 6.1 allows you to format a Transfer Drive with a HFS+ or ExFAT file system.
Device Manager version 6.0 allows you to format a Transfer Drive with either a HFS+ or ExFAT file system.
Note: It is not recommended to use Disk Utility for formatting of Transfer Drive as Device Manager will have no awareness of volumes created in this way, and will show the Transfer Drive as unformatted.
Please see the table below for more information on support formats and file systems for Device Manager versions:
File System | Device Manager 5.1.2 | Device Manager 6.0.0* | OS Compatibility | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Format | Read | Write | Format | Read | Write | ||
HFS+ Striped | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | macOS |
HFS+ Parity | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | macOS |
ExFAT Striped | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | macOS |
ExFAT Parity | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | macOS |
CodexFS Striped** | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | macOS read-only** |
CodexFS Parity** | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | macOS read-only** |
* Ability to format with Parity is not available in the initial Device Manager 6.0.0 release. This will be released as a licensed option in a subsequent Device Manager release, along with enhanced performance for Parity modes.
** CodexFS is a legacy feature. As it is a read-only format on macOS, it is not recommended for any standard workflow.
You can check how the Transfer Drive is formatted by going to Device Manager > Transfer Drive Rack TB and checking the Type.
Go to Device Manager > Transfer Drive - TB and choose the Format option.
A pop-up window titled Create new volume on Transfer Drive - TB will appear asking you to choose options for three properties.
Choose the following options to create a RAID-0 HFS+ volume with read / write access on macOS:
Volume Name: Any name you would like to give the volume up to 11 characters.
File system: HFS+
Redundancy: Striped