USB type C => Type A

[pookitoo]

Today, i receive this cable :

http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00RJWCYXI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

I tested it, and when i plug this cable to another macbook air, the rMacbook charge, but with light to the max and wifi and bluetooth, the battery of the rMacbook get lower ;(

But, I wonder if we can use the rMacbook like a big USB key? And see the content of rMacbook in the finder of the macbook air ?

 

[evangw]

Today, i receive this cable :

http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00RJWCYXI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

I tested it, and when i plug this cable to another macbook air, the rMacbook charge, but with light to the max and wifi and bluetooth, the battery of the rMacbook get lower ;(

But, I wonder if we can use the rMacbook like a big USB key? And see the content of rMacbook in the finder of the macbook air ?

1. It seems kind of weird to use another Macbook as a battery pack for your retina Macbook.

2. No, what you're talking about is called Target Disk Mode ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Disk_Mode ) which has never supported USB. You can do wireless migration of computers with Migration Assistant, or you can just enable drive sharing and mount the other computer as a remote drive if you're both on the same Wifi.

Good to know that cable works though, I was just about to buy one.

 

[pookitoo]

1 - Yes, you're right, it's seem weird to use a macbook air for a battery pack, but it's for the test, just the concept : can charge the rMacbook from any usb source, i love the concept but i'm not sure to use that often

2 - With the 512 go ssd, i can put a lot of file and other thing in it, if i can use the rMacbook like a usb hdd, it's seem to me very user friendly

 

[MyopicPaideia]

1 - Yes, you're right, it's seem weird to use a macbook air for a battery pack, but it's for the test, just the concept : can charge the rMacbook from any usb source, i love the concept but i'm not sure to use that often

2 - With the 512 go ssd, i can put a lot of file and other thing in it, if i can use the rMacbook like a usb hdd, it's seem to me very user friendly

1. The USB port on the MBA is probably putting out only the bare minimum required by the MB to recognise it is being charged. If you put it to sleep I am willing to bet it actually would charge, albeit rather more slowly than normal. Under normal use it probably is using up more power than it is getting. The concept and theory is correct, you should be able to charge from any suitable powersource via USB.
2. You typically need a special cable with built in hardware and software for direct USB to USB data transfer between two full fledged computers to tell them how they are to communicate with each other...like these: http://www.amazon.com/USB-DirectLink-Data-Transfer-Cable/dp/B000BL6IZO or http://eu.startech.com/Networking-I...Transfer-Cable-for-Windows-and-Mac~PCMACLINK2

 

[glhiii]

Target Mode works

I got a usb-c to usb-a cable, put the Macbook into target mode and could mount it and transfer files on another mac. Works perfectly, but there doesn't seem any way of accessing another mac that is in target mode from the Macbook. It may be that if you have two MacBooks, you could put one into target mode and use a usb-c to usb-c cable to access it -- it would be interesting to find out, as usb-c looks as if it will be used pretty widely by Apple in the future.

 

[pookitoo]

yes i've tried the target mode, and it's very useful for me. I don't have a windows computer, the target mode work with windows ?

 

[carestudio]

Target Mode works

It may be that if you have two MacBooks, you could put one into target mode and use a usb-c to usb-c cable to access it -- it would be interesting to find out, as usb-c looks as if it will be used pretty widely by Apple in the future.

Found this thread while I was looking for the same thing. According to Apple, their type-c charging cable does not support target mode.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204360

***Your MacBook with USB-C port supports USB target disk mode. You can enable target disk mode and use the following USB-C cables to transfer data. These cables are not currently available from Apple.

***To enable target disk mode, hold down the T button on your keyboard while starting your MacBook. Then connect either of the USB-C cables described above. The USB-C Charge Cable (2m) supplied with your MacBook doesn't support target disk mode.

Luckily I am using the USB-C dock from CalDigit, and the included free Thunderbolt 3 cable does support target disk mode according to the FAQ.
http://caldigit.com/usb-3-1-usb-c-dock/faq.asp

9. Does the included Type-C cable support Target Disk Mode (TDM) in two MacBooks?
Yes. You can use the included Type-C to Type-C cable to connect in between two Type-C base Macs, and put one of them in target disk mode, then do the file sharing. For example, you can use this cable to migrate data from one MacBook to another MacBook using the Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant application.