Can't get Thunderbolt bridge working

[mattmower]

I have my newish M2 Max Studio and a 2019 15" MBP both running macOS 13.6.1. I've connected them with a thunderbolt cable (it has the lightning bolt at both ends) but ThunderBolt bridge is resolutely "Not connected". I'm using one of the ports on the back of the studio, not the front USB-C ports.

Any ideas what I may be doing wrong?

TIA.

 

[chabig]

Can you confirm the Thunderbolt bridge is powered on? Is it plugged in?

I've connected them...

Does this imply that you've got both computers connected to the bridge at the same time? I don't know if that's supported.

 

[mattmower]

Can you confirm the Thunderbolt bridge is powered on? Is it plugged in?


Does this imply that you've got both computers connected to the bridge at the same time? I don't know if that's supported.

Thunderbolt bridge is not a physical device. It's the name macOS gives to the computer-to-computer Thunderbolt network. If you look in System Settings > Network you will see it listed there.

 

[chabig]

Sorry, I was thinking about Thunderbolt docks. Did you turn on File Sharing for both machines?

Maybe one of these links will be helpful.

Use IP over Thunderbolt to connect Mac computers

Connect two Mac computers together using Thunderbolt and set them up to communicate with each other using Internet Protocol (IP).

support.apple.com

 

[Fishrrman]

If you're trying to do a migration from the old to the new, why don't you just try a USB cable instead?

Actually, the better way to do this is with "an intermediate backup drive" -- either time machine, or a cloned backup from CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

 

[mattmower]

If you're trying to do a migration from the old to the new, why don't you just try a USB cable instead?

Actually, the better way to do this is with "an intermediate backup drive" -- either time machine, or a cloned backup from CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

Let's set aside other ways to do it which I have considered and may well use to solve my immediate problem.

But the idea of thunderbolt bridged network between two physically co-located computers is useful for me. I'd like it to work and also like to know why it isn't in this case.

In the case of the USB cable, I am not sure how it relates. Is there a USB-C equivalent to the Thunderbolt bridged network?

 

[chabig]

No luck turning File Sharing on? The next most likely problem is the cable. Do you have a different one you can try? Maybe even swap ends on the current cable?

 

[mattmower]

No luck turning File Sharing on? The next most likely problem is the cable. Do you have a different one you can try? Maybe even swap ends on the current cable?

Alas no, that did not fix it.

The TB network being connected, or not, seems like a lower-level networking issue.

I don’t have another cable but I think that is the next thing to test, thanks.

M

 

[Fishrrman]

OP, what are you actually trying to do?
Is this just a migration to a new Mac?
Or... something else?

Don't waste time with stuff that's theoretically possible but won't work (heh).
Use "what works" for the situation at-hand....

 

[TzunamiOSX]

Are you sure this is thunderbolt cable and not only a USB-C cable? From where did you get the cable?

If I connect 2 Macs over TB, I get feedback within seconds.

Now set IPs on both Macs and done.

 

[mattmower]

Sure, this is a real Thunderbolt cable and not only a USB-C cable? From where did you get the cable?

If I connect 2 Macs over TB, I get feedback within seconds.
View attachment 2317323

Now set IPs on both Macs and done.
View attachment 2317325

What you see is what I was expecting to see when I connected them, thank you.

The cable was bought, recently, from Amazon as a Thunderbolt cable and has the lightning bolt symbol on both ends. That said it's the most obvious failure point so I'm going to try and get another.

Unfortunately I don't have any other Thunderbolt peripherals I can test this cable with.