Ideally, you should connect similar ports that is FireWire to FireWire, Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt, or USB-C to USB-C. To use external devices with your other Mac, connect them directly to the other Mac, not to your iMac. An appropriate cable to make the connection. The other Mac can't use the iMac computer's built-in camera or ports. For example, if you begin playing music on your iMac and then enter target display mode, the music doesn't pause on your iMac. Or disconnect the cable, or restart either Mac.Īpps that were open on your iMac when entering target display mode remain open in target display mode. Once that server is in Target Disk mode, it’s automatically mounted on the client and ready to access.

With an Intel Mac as the server, either select Target Disk Mode in the Startup Disk pane and restart, or hold the T key during startup. To exit target display mode, press Command-F2 again. How to turn it on: connect the two Macs with the Thunderbolt cable.For example, the 12-inch MacBook from 2015 only supports USB 3.0 or USB 3.1 cables, etc. Make sure that both Macs support the connecting cable. You should now see the desktop of the other Mac. To make Target Disk Mode work, you need two Macs connected by a USB-A, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable. Press Command-F2 on the keyboard of the iMac.You can use more than one iMac as a display, if each iMac is using a Thunderbolt cable to connect directly to a Thunderbolt port on the other Mac (not the other iMac). While you drag, the Trash icon changes to an Eject icon. Eject the disk by dragging its icon to the Trash.

Transfer files by dragging them to and from the disk. When the computer has started up, a disk icon appears on the desktop of the other computer. Connect the two computers using the appropriate Mini DisplayPort or Thunderbolt cable. Click Startup Disk on the right, then click Restart in Target Disk Mode.Make sure that the other Mac is started up and logged in to a macOS user account.Watch our video walk-through as we guide you through the process step-by-step. Make sure that your iMac is started up and meets the system requirements above. Target Disk Mode allows you to quickly share files between two MacBook Pros using Thunderbolt 3.

Target disk mode thunderbolt 2 to 3