Belkin thunderbolt express dock + SSD used as boot drive?

[Madone 5.2]

I'm planning on getting a Belkin thunderbolt express dock and plugging my USB 3 drives into it and I've heard that you can't boot from a USB drive if it's plugged in through the Belkin dock. My question is can I boot OSX from a LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt Series SSD that is plugged into the Belkin dock?

(My other thunderbolt port is being used by a display)

 

[matreya]

I'm planning on getting a Belkin thunderbolt express dock and plugging my USB 3 drives into it and I've heard that you can't boot from a USB drive if it's plugged in through the Belkin dock. My question is can I boot OSX from a LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt Series SSD that is plugged into the Belkin dock?

(My other thunderbolt port is being used by a display)

It should work, but I haven't got one of those docks to actually test whether it does.

 

[Madone 5.2]

It should work, but I haven't got one of those docks to actually test whether it does.

Yeah, I would've thought that booting from USB through the dock would work but according to some unhappy online reviewers... it doesn't.

 

[SaSaSushi]

This doesn't seem to be a limitation of solely the Belkin. Apparently, you can't boot from USB3 drives connected to the Caldigit Thunderbolt Station either.

Doesn't the Belkin have a Thunderbolt pass-through port? Why don't you just connect your Lacie to that? I highly recommend Thunderbolt for boot drives over USB3 anyway for the ability to enable TRIM commands.

 

[Madone 5.2]

This doesn't seem to be a limitation of solely the Belkin. Apparently, you can't boot from USB3 drives connected to the Caldigit Thunderbolt Station either.

Doesn't the Belkin have a Thunderbolt pass-through port? Why don't you just connect your Lacie to that? I highly recommend Thunderbolt for boot drives over USB3 anyway for the ability to enable TRIM commands.

I'm looking to plug the Belkin into the available thunderbolt port on my iMac and then plug the Lacie into the other port on the Belkin. The $200 portable SSD Lacie only has 1 thunderbolt port and the desktop SSD Lacie is $500

 

[SaSaSushi]

I'm looking to plug the Belkin into the available thunderbolt port on my iMac and then plug the Lacie into the other port on the Belkin. The $200 portable SSD Lacie only has 1 thunderbolt port and the desktop SSD Lacie is $500

Right, so you plug the Belkin into the one remaining Thunderbolt port on your Mac and then plug the Lacie into the Thunderbolt port on the Belkin. There's no need to use USB 3.

Is your concern that the Lacie Rugged doesn't have a pass through port for daisy-chaining other Thunderbolt devices?

You could consider the Caldigit Thunderbolt Station. I think it's a little bit more expensive, but it does have dual Thunderbolt ports.

 

[Madone 5.2]

Right, so you plug the Belkin into the one remaining Thunderbolt port on your Mac and then plug the Lacie into the Thunderbolt port on the Belkin. There's no need to use USB 3.

Is your concern that the Lacie Rugged doesn't have a pass through port for daisy-chaining other Thunderbolt devices?

You could consider the Caldigit Thunderbolt Station. I think it's a little bit more expensive, but it does have dual Thunderbolt ports.

Correct, the Lacie has to be at the end of the line because it has no passthrough. The Belkin also has dual Thunderbolt ports.

My main concern is if the Lacie Rugged would work to use as the boot drive.

I know for sure that the USB port of the Belkin will not work to plug in a boot drive, but will a Thunderbolt SSD connected to the Thunderbolt of the Belkin work to boot my Mac?

 

[SaSaSushi]

I know for sure that the USB port of the Belkin will not work to plug in a boot drive, but will a Thunderbolt SSD connected to the Thunderbolt of the Belkin work to boot my Mac?

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood your initial question. I thought you were asking about booting from the Lacie via the Belkin's USB ports.

Well, I hope someone who actually has the Belkin can positively confirm this for you but I doubt very much you would have any of the problems related to booting via USB with Thunderbolt. All Thunderbolt-connected drives should be properly recognized as the SATA devices they are and thus be bootable.

I'm booting off of an SSD in a Thunderbolt enclosure connected directly to my Mac but I doubt daisy chaining off another device would change anything.

 

[g4cube]

Re:booting
You cannot boot with any USB drive connected via USB port on Caldigit or Belkin dock. This is because the drivers for the USB controller within the dock are not available at boot time.

You can boot from drives connected via Thunderbolt.

I have verified this with the LaCie Rugged connected via daisy chain thru both the Belkin and Caldigit docks.

 

[Madone 5.2]

Re:booting
You cannot boot with any USB drive connected via USB port on Caldigit or Belkin dock. This is because the drivers for the USB controller within the dock are not available at boot time.

You can boot from drives connected via Thunderbolt.

I have verified this with the LaCie Rugged connected via daisy chain thru both the Belkin and Caldigit docks.

Sweet! Thank you g4cube!