Connecting Thunderbolt device to two Macs...

[Killerbob]

I bought the Sonnet Echo Express III-D box some time ago, have two cards (a Sonnet Tempo Pro and an Accelsior card) in the Echo box, and I access them via TB on my nMP.

Now I am getting a new MBP, the 2014 version, with TB2 ports, and I wonder if I can connect the Echo box (via the two TB2 ports) to both the nMP and the MBP at the same time?

Or, said in another way, would anything happen if I did so?

 

[matreya]

I bought the Sonnet Echo Express III-D box some time ago, have two cards (a Sonnet Tempo Pro and an Accelsior card) in the Echo box, and I access them via TB on my nMP.

Now I am getting a new MBP, the 2014 version, with TB2 ports, and I wonder if I can connect the Echo box (via the two TB2 ports) to both the nMP and the MBP at the same time?

Or, said in another way, would anything happen if I did so?

No, that would be a bad move. Each machine has it's own bus.

 

[ColdCase]

That would be like connecting the PCI bus of both machines together and unless the two machines are designed for it, results are unpredictable. Probably a disaster, as there can be only one master/host. But perhaps the TB ports have some protections built in. You may be able to put one machine into disk slave mode (making just another device on the bus), but I don't think thats what you want.

 

[Killerbob]

No, what I wanted to do was access the Sonnet Echo box from both computers, the nMP and the MBP. It would be a much faster way to share files than off my NAS.

 

[matreya]

No, what I wanted to do was access the Sonnet Echo box from both computers, the nMP and the MBP. It would be a much faster way to share files than off my NAS.

It won't work, and will likely damage your Macs or the Echo box...

 

[Killerbob]

OK - too bad.

 

[Alrescha]

That would be like connecting the PCI bus of both machines together and unless the two machines are designed for it, results are unpredictable. Probably a disaster, as there can be only one master/host. But perhaps the TB ports have some protections built in. You may be able to put one machine into disk slave mode (making just another device on the bus), but I don't think thats what you want.

Thunderbolt is not like USB. It is perfectly valid to connect two Thunderbolt hosts together for IP over Thunderbolt, or for Target Disk Mode. I know nothing about the Sonnet box, however.

A.

 

[smithrh]

It is perfectly valid to connect two Thunderbolt hosts together for IP over Thunderbolt

It's not just valid... it's wonderful!