IP, USB, PCIe, DisplayPort are all packet-based. This would work over any network, including Thunderbolt Networking.īut trying to define a file transfer mode for Thunderbolt would be out of scope because Thunderbolt is about transferring packets. One could easily write a program that runs on Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iOS, etc, that listens for connections on fe80::/10 and allows an Airdrop-like experience, but you'd have to convince all of these operating systems' maintainers to include it by default and support it. You'd want systems with P5800X drives.Īnyways Windows does have Windows File Sharing if you are using both Windows computers. scp tops out at 3Gb/s on modern processors.
Even if all 40Gb/s could be used for networking, userspace software would not keep up.
Talking about Thunderbolt 3 as supporting 40Gb/s and expecting that as usable for one purpose is a little bit off because Thunderbolt 3 is just a tunnelling protocol for other protocols and does not define bulk transfer methods. But this is a very Apple kind of thing to do and will likely not be interoperable with other operating systems because any entity interested in doing the work will want a pay-off for it. Allowing IP allows for other standards to be ratified. If Thunderbolt were to define some operating system standard of dragging and dropping files then it would be a GROSS overstepping of the appropriate boundaries of the specification. It could reach the 24Gb/s mark except it does not bond two Thunderbolt lanes together for networking. Also Thunderbolt Networking usually can handle at least 15Gb/s easily if you want more performance. If you want something that your grandparents could use, you can buy a purpose-built transfer cable with bundled software, but that will annoy experienced users. Well you CAN just connect two computers with a Thunderbolt cable and transfer files.