QNAP TVS-672XT with Daisy chained LaCies

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Bryan –
replies below –

I have a IMAC (late 2013) with 2x Thunderbolt2 connections, 1x Gigbit port and for USB 2.0 ports. Running OS 10.12 Sierra

My question is:
How do I connect the QNAP TVS-672XT to my IMAC and still be able to transfer the files from the 6 Firewire Daisy chained LaCie’s to the QNAP?

REPLY – your QNAP TVS-672XT is a thunderbolt 3 product with a built in 10G Ethernet port.
Your 2013 iMac uses Thunderbolt 2. A quick simple solution here is to update your operating system of your iMac to at least 10.13.6 or later, and then purchase on Amazon the Sonnet Solo 10G Thunderbolt 2. You can now use a cheap Cat 6 cable from this Sonnet Adapter to the 10G port on your TVS-672XT . If you have six matching 7200 RPM drives in your TVS-672XT, you will get about 400 MB/sec from your iMac to your TVS-672XT over 10G. 10G is usually twice this fast, but this
adapter from Sonnet peaks out at these speeds. A faster adaptor will cost more than double the cost. The Sonnet Solo 10G T2 is $199.

I have the Daisy chained LaCie’s hooked up to the IMAC through a Thunderbolt port with an Apple T2 to Firewire Adapter. I also have a BENQ color monitor hooked up to the IMAC with the other Thunderbolt Port.

REPLY – we will need one of these Thunderbolt ports for the Sonnet Solo 10G T2. Once you transfer your data over from your old Firewire drives to the QNAP, you will now have a free port again.

Can someone please clue me in on how I can achieve my goal of connecting the LacCie’s to transfer their data to the QNAP and still have access to one or two LaCies as DAS?

REPLY – you don’t have enough ports available on your iMac to have the Sonnet Thunderbolt adapter, the BenQ, and the thunderbolt to Firewire adapter. I do not know if the BenQ has a thunderbolt port loop on it, that will work with your T2 to Firewire adapter.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com