Thunderbolt 2 Port Not Reading Harddrives

[wkwdp87]

Hi,

I've got an issue with both the thunderbolt2 ports on my iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015 Running Catalina. (Model 17,1)

I have an OWC Thunderbolt 2 hard drive dock that isn't connecting to the iMac over thunderbolt 2. It can connect via USB3.0, but it is much slower and isn't able to handle the video editing loads I require from thunderbolt 2.

Initially, I thought it was the cable, but the replacement cable didn't yield any positive results.

Next I assumed Dock's thunderbolt ports that had gone bust, but they work when connected to a MBP 13" via the Thunderbolt 2 to 3 Adapter that Apple sells.

So it's safe to assume it's the iMac ports that are stuffed right?

NOPE.

I plugged in an external monitor to both ports and the Display Port function is working fine and dandy.

I have reset NVRAM, SMC (multiple times) to no avail, and have run several diagnostic reports which have all returned with no issues.

Do I have a firmware/system issue with the thunderbolt 2/DisplayPort ports? Perhaps from the latest Catalina update? (I've attached screenshots below of relevant system info)

Would have taken it into Apple store but we've still got another 3 weeks left of stage 4 lockdowns (potentially extended to 5...) so that will be off the table for a while yet.

Thanks in advance for any assistance/pointing in the right direction!!

 

[Fishrrman]

Has the dock EVER worked with thunderbolt using Catalina?
And then... it STOPPED working?
Or... has it NEVER worked with tbolt/Catalina?

If it NEVER worked with Catalina, might be some kind of hardware/controller board conflict between the OWC dock and Catalina.
Solution in that case is probably "get a different dock" or at least put the core drive into a new enclosure.

What are your read/write speeds RIGHT NOW using USB3?
Post those for proof of speed.

 

[joevt]

You tested the DisplayPort functionality of the Thunderbolt 2 ports. Try a different Thunderbolt device to test the Thunderbolt functionality of the Thunderbolt 2 ports?

 

[wkwdp87]

Has the dock EVER worked with thunderbolt using Catalina?
And then... it STOPPED working?
Or... has it NEVER worked with tbolt/Catalina?

If it NEVER worked with Catalina, might be some kind of hardware/controller board conflict between the OWC dock and Catalina.
Solution in that case is probably "get a different dock" or at least put the core drive into a new enclosure.

What are your read/write speeds RIGHT NOW using USB3?
Post those for proof of speed.

Yes, the dock has been working over Thunderbolt with Catalina. Can't recall when the last Catalina update was installed but I suspect it was after that latest update that the issues started.
Hard to tell as there was a gap of a few weeks when I didn't use the dock at all, and in late July was when this issue started.

Not sure if related but during that gap between non-use of the dock, I got a midi keyboard (which connects over USB3) and installed Ableton and Cubase and some audio samples for music creation.
Could this have done anything to the port firmware?

Attached below are the speed test results over usb3.

Something else I've noticed is that the OWC drive dock occasionally disconnects randomly for no apparent reason over usb3. I may be reverting back to suspecting a driver issue on the dock's end now....

 

[wkwdp87]

You tested the DisplayPort functionality of the Thunderbolt 2 ports. Try a different Thunderbolt device to test the Thunderbolt functionality of the Thunderbolt 2 ports?

Yes, this is the next step - just that I don't have anything else other than the OWC drive dock.
Just tried to connect a Samsung t5 via the t2-t3 adapter but realised that adapter can't supply bus power...

Perhaps this is a good time get a thunderbolt port dock for 'testing' purposes too now...

 

[chrfr]

Yes, this is the next step - just that I don't have anything else other than the OWC drive dock.
Just tried to connect a Samsung t5 via the t2-t3 adapter but realised that adapter can't supply bus power...

Perhaps this is a good time get a thunderbolt port dock for 'testing' purposes too now...

A Samsung T5 is not a Thunderbolt device, it's USB. The Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter does not support USB devices connected directly.

 

[wkwdp87]

A Samsung T5 is not a Thunderbolt device, it's USB. The Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter does not support USB devices connected directly.

Thanks for pointing that out.
Regardless I don't have any other thunderbolt 2 devices to test at the moment.
I have a Blackmagic UltraStudio recorder 3G that is thunderbolt 3 but that doesn't help coz the adapter doesn't supply bus power.
Getting sidetracked with too many extra devices!
Hopefully will get this T2 dock thing sorted - I'm really close to just doing a fresh install at this point!

 

[Fishrrman]

I recommend that you get a plain-old USB3/SATA dock for your bare hard drives. No thunderbolt at all.

I would also recommend that you get one OTHER THAN from OWC (I've not had much luck with their stuff).

For 2.5" drives, you might consider an enclosure like this:

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

tinyurl.com

(fast and cheap)