Apple display usbc/thunderbolt/daisy chain query

I've currently got a M2 MBP and I'm looking to purchase the Studio display (SD) (27" version) and connect my external HD's through the SD so I only have 1 cable going to and and from the MBP and SD. (first world problems hey!)

I wanted to know, if it's possible to connect the mbp to the USB-C port on the SD so I can use it as my main monitor and a hub for external HDs.

My external HD's would then be connected via the specific thunderbolt port (on the SD) and I can access my data. The reason why is because I have Thunderbolt 2 hard drives (mains powered) that are all daisy chained (very handy) so having just 1 cable for all three HD's is nice and tidy and suits my workflow.

I know I could connect via the usb ports from each HD, but this increases the number of cables and reduces the data speed to USB3 which defeats the purpose of having thunderbolt.

If anyone has experience with this, I would be most grateful! Or if you have a MBP/SD/thunderbolt hard drives and could try this setup, I would be most grateful!

Many thanks

Studio Display

Posted on Jun 5, 2023 4:58 AM

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Servant of Cats

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Posted on Jul 6, 2023 8:35 PM

I don't think the three downstream USB-C ports are designed to take video input.

I also don't think that they are designed to take Thunderbolt input. So if you plugged a chain of Thunderbolt hard drives into the monitor's Thunderbolt video input, exactly how would a Thunderbolt signal get from the laptop, to the monitor, to be passed along to the drives?

Maybe it would be better to think of

Plugging a 27" 5K Studio Display into one of your USB-C(TB) ports
Plugging an Apple TB3-to-2 adapter and your chain of TB2 drives into your other USB-C(TB) port

A variation on the theme might be to get an OWC Thunderbolt Hub. Then you would have one cable running to the Mac, and you would use two of the three downstream Thunderbolt ports for the display, and for the drives. There would be one downstream TB port and one downstream USB-A port left over.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-hub

Note that you would be limited to 5 Thunderbolt devices, total (not counting the hub). The hub splits up a TB chain, but doesn't remove the 6-device-per-chain limit. (The hub itself counts as one of the devices.) Your display and drives would be competing for the use of the Thunderbolt bandwidth between the hub and Mac.

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Apple display usbc/thunderbolt/daisy chain query

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