Apple Thunderbolt Bridge ( Working & Benefits )

The thunderbolt bridge is a hardware interface that is widely used to transfer larger amounts of data ( Audio, video, images, programs, apps) from one Macbook device to the other Macbook device with ultra high-speed.

Yes, Thunderbolt Bridge is only available in Macbooks and can only be used by Macbook owners to send and trasnfer data from one macbook to the other back and fourth. The biggest reason to use this network interface is the highest speed than any other network interface like Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or AirDrop.

Apple Thunderbolt Bridge ( Working & Benefits )

A downside or you can say, a disappointment with this interface is that it is only available for Macbook or IOS supported devices. You won’t be able to enjoy high-speed transfer on Windows through this interface.

Using a Thunderbolt Bridge will make sure that the enormous amounts of data are transferred in seconds rather than minutes. Plus, you have to connect the Macbook using a thunderbolt cable only, an ordinary cable won’t do the job here because simple cables lack the technology to hold that much data.

file transfer from old mac to latest upgraded mac

How Thunderbolt works

Let’s take a look at how Thunderbolt bridge works.

As mentioned earlier you need two macbook machines for a thunderbolt bridge to work properly. For that, you can use the migration assistant that comes pre-installed in a macbook and if you couldn’t find that in your machine, simple download it from the internet. The migration assistant gives you a user-friendly interface to migrate data from one device to another through thunderbolt bridge network interface.

So, you if you have a requirement of sending data from one machine and receiving on another Mac machine, then use migration assistant because it can support large amount of data transfer which is impossible to send through AirDrop, Wi-FI, or Ethernet. So, if you are short on time then use thunderbolt bridge.

generic data transfer and target disk mode

The best part of thunderbolt bridge is that it works in both directions and can send data as well as receive data. So, you can use it for sending generic data and target disk mode.

Performance

When you send and receive data through thunderbolt channel, you will experience the fastest possible conneciton of 10GBs/second which is fastest than a FireWire, USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi.

Connect multiple devices on a single port:

Thunderbolt bridge has the capacity of holding 6 devices which communicate through the chaining technique and each chain is connected with two thunderbolt ports. One to connect from front, second to connect from end.

How to add Thunderbolt Bridge Network Interface Manually

You should know that thunderbolt works on the built-in software which is migration assistant. When you connect two devices, during the connection, a popup opens, just follow the process to add Thunterbolt Bridge Network Interface manually.

Go to network preference panel. A pop up will come, click ok

Choose “Thunderbolt Bridge” from the preference panel. Hit apply

Now, Thunderbolt Bridge Network is added to your list of networking optoins. So, the next time, you need to transfer data, just send it through the Thunderbolt Bridge.

Removing Thunderbolt Bridge

If due to any reason, you don’t want to have Thunderbolt Bridge in your network interface, do this.

Visit Network Preference Panel, Click OK on the dialog box that opens.

Choose Thunderbolt Bridge and click on Minus sign and Hit apply.

If you would like to add it again, just press the plus sign.

How to physically connect Macbook With Thunderbolt Bridge

Macbook ports are connecting peripherals and among all these ports, the Mini DisplayPort can be used to connect Thunderbolt Bridge.

Thunderbolt Bridge offers more speed than AirDrop as well allowing you to transfer large video, audio files effortlessly.

But, keep this in mind that it Only works between Macbooks or iOS devices and cannot be used for Windows laptops or devices.

One more thing that you should remember is that data trasnfer won’t be possible if hard drive is encrypted because encryption is a layer of security.