USB adapters for Mac Studio - does it matter?

[steveatesh]

Sorry about this but I’m totally out of touch with the various standards of USB connectors.

Basically I’m waiting for a new Mac Studio to arrive which has thunderbolt 4 ports and USB C ports and a couple of the USB A ports. I last bought an iMac in 2014 and have never needed to keep up to date with the wonders of USB standards and various cables.

I have a few peripherals that I will want to use with the Studio, all USB A connections - 2 time machine hard drives , a printer, flatbed scanner, various USB memory sticks , tablet for photo editing and a camera to transfer photos to the computer.

I have a 4 port USB adapter too.

Nothing particularly requires a high speed connection, but I have bought a Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD that has a very fast transfer speed which will go into one of the TB ports on the rear.

I started looking at simple USB to USB C adapters but am bewildered at the various standards of USB - 3.0 , 3.1 etc and some reviews said not suitable for a modern Mac…..?

Amazon has plenty to chose from at reasonable prices, but so many standards and numbers!

So basically does it matter as long as it’s a USB to USB C adapter, anything I have to avoid or look for or is there any recommended adapters other than the Apple one?

Thank in advance.

[somouk]

As you are going from USB to USB C I wouldn't worry about the speeds as you are limited by the end device. It becomes more of a minefield if you intend to maintain a certain standard or speed, you're already on the lowest speed combo anyway.

[steveatesh]

somouk said:

As you are going from USB to USB C I wouldn't worry about the speeds as you are limited by the end device. It becomes more of a minefield if you intend to maintain a certain standard or speed, you're already on the lowest speed combo anyway.

That’s great thanks, cheap and cheerful it is!

[colin79666]

I've found them to bit hit and miss with my MacBook Air M1. A cheap set I got work fine for USB flash drives but didn't work at all with a USB 3.0 2.5" SATA hard drive caddy, perhaps it wasn't capable of passing sufficient power through. I got it working by buying an Amazon basics USB micro B 3.0 to USB C cable.

[tog]

Don't mess about with adapters, just get new USB-C leads for your peripherals.

[vaud]

Also consider how old your Timemachines are... drives are prone to failing (eventually) and a newer NAS with RAID may be worth considering.

[steveatesh]

Cheers for the last couple of suggestions too…..

I’m going for the cables rather than adapters.

I know local backup still has risk to it, I did have a NAS RAID when I had a Windows set up a few year back but the ECB inside just gave up and stopped access to the hard drives.

I guess my thinking is that two different hard drives (one was replaced about a year ago) will help as it makes it less likely they will fail togther (of course they can always suffer a spike or lightning strike or or or!)

[steveatesh]

tog said:

Don't mess about with adapters, just get new USB-C leads for your peripherals.

Sorry to resurrect this thread, basically I got a usb C to usb c and a usb c to usb A cable.

When plugging them into the peripheral abs then into any of them usb c ports on there Mac studio then Mac doesn’tseem to recognise the peripheral is there?

This happened with a printer and a tablet,

What am I missing please?

[Magnum 475]

Not sure. I'm using USB-C to USB 3 adapters and plugging USB 3 cables in, everything works fine. I've got an external SSD, Jabra speaker, and 1080p external web cam working using this approach without any issues. This is on an M1Pro based MBP, not a studio.

What are you connecting?

[wyson]

steveatesh said:

Sorry to resurrect this thread, basically I got a usb C to usb c and a usb c to usb A cable.

When plugging them into the peripheral abs then into any of them usb c ports on there Mac studio then Mac doesn’tseem to recognise the peripheral is there?

This happened with a printer and a tablet,

What am I missing please?

What sort of cable did you get? Can you post a link. USB C is a minefield of different standards sharing the same connector.

[steveatesh]

Magnum 475 said:

Not sure. I'm using USB-C to USB 3 adapters and plugging USB 3 cables in, everything works fine. I've got an external SSD, Jabra speaker, and 1080p external web cam working using this approach without any issues. This is on an M1Pro based MBP, not a studio.

What are you connecting?

I’ve tried connecting an XP-Pen graphics tablet which came with a USB C to USB A connector. I replaced it with a C to C and then Mac didn’t pick it up at all.

I also tried a 4 port USB A adapter by using abs A to C cable and again they Mac didn’t pick it up at all but it did when I plugged it into one of the USB A ports with three original cable.

[steveatesh]

wyson said:

What sort of cable did you get? Can you post a link. USB C is a minefield of different standards sharing the same connector.

Just about every cable I looked at on Amazon and elsewhere said “charge cable”, I couldn’t find one that said data cable so I bought this off eBay, it was to replace there Tablet cable with a 90degree connector:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314008957143?_trkparms=...

[wyson]

I think the below cable might work:

https://www.belkin.com/uk/cables/data/3-1-usb-a-to...

At least get a cable certified by USB IF (guarantees a minimum standard)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-Double-Braid...

Or use the original cables and get Apples official adaptor.

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MJ1M2ZM/A/us...

If I were in your shoes, because USB C is such a minefield, I’d get Apples official adaptor.

Edited by wyson on Friday 1st July 08:44

[Magnum 475]

steveatesh said:

I’ve tried connecting an XP-Pen graphics tablet which came with a USB C to USB A connector. I replaced it with a C to C and then Mac didn’t pick it up at all.

I also tried a 4 port USB A adapter by using abs A to C cable and again they Mac didn’t pick it up at all but it did when I plugged it into one of the USB A ports with three original cable.

Try using single USB-C to USB-A adapters, they're inexpensive and seem to work fine. I've done this successfully. If you use these and they work, then you can safely say that the problem lies with the cables.

[NWMark]

steveatesh said:

Just about every cable I looked at on Amazon and elsewhere said “charge cable”, I couldn’t find one that said data cable so I bought this off eBay, it was to replace there Tablet cable with a 90degree connector:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314008957143?_trkparms=...

something not quiet right about that cable

"

• Built-in E-marker chip, High Power D USB C Cable. Support 100W output. Rapidly and safely charging laptops and smartphones.
• USB 2.0 standard, transmission rate up to 480Mbps.

"

id guess the data element is out of spec or just not working