17" MBP - Cable Advice & Help!

[Bazzy]

Hi All,

I have a Early 2012 17" Macbook Pro which is crippled by having USB 2.0 ports. I need to do a large amount of data transfer (600GB) & using just USB 2.0 will be painfully slow.

I have a USB 3.0 portable hard drives & as the 17" MBP has a single Lightening Port, I am wondering if there is such a thing as a Lightening To USB 3.0 cable that I could use instead?

I understand that I may only get USB 3.0 speeds but at least that is way better than USB 2.0!

Many Thanks!

 

[casperes1996]

No such thing as a Lightning port on a Mac. You're talking about Thunderbolt 2.

I assume it's a Type-A USB device you'll be using. There are probably loads more, and probably also cheaper ones, but I found this on the British Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thunderbol...&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=StarTech.com+TB2USB3GE

It goes from Thunderbolt 2 to USB 3.0/3.1-Gen1 Type-A + RJ45 Ethernet.
The reason for the high price, is that Thunderbolt is an active cable, which means that when this thing goes from TB2 to USB+RJ45, it needs to have actual circuitry and chips inside the adapter.

 

[CoastalOR]

There are not many options and it is not cheap. Here are a couple:
https://www.amazon.com/Kanex-KTU20-...488842732&sr=1-18&keywords=thunderbolt+to+usb
https://www.amazon.com/Kanex-Thunde...1488842668&sr=1-5&keywords=thunderbolt+to+usb

 

[Bazzy]

No such thing as a Lightning port on a Mac. You're talking about Thunderbolt 2.

I assume it's a Type-A USB device you'll be using. There are probably loads more, and probably also cheaper ones, but I found this on the British Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thunderbol...&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=StarTech.com+TB2USB3GE

It goes from Thunderbolt 2 to USB 3.0/3.1-Gen1 Type-A + RJ45 Ethernet.
The reason for the high price, is that Thunderbolt is an active cable, which means that when this thing goes from TB2 to USB+RJ45, it needs to have actual circuitry and chips inside the adapter.

Hi,

Many thanks for the reply & my apologies for using the wrong term! Apple says, that the 17" MBP has a "Thunderbolt Port Up to 10Gbps" so believe that is the Thunderbolt Version 1 as opposed to Version - will that affect matters greatly regarding compatibility/availability of any cables?

I believe it is a Type A USB I am using - it is a Seagate Expansion 2TB External USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive with a supplied cable - see image attached.

Wow, that one you showed certainly is mighty expensive - I will have to look for cheaper alternatives if there are any - I just assumed it would be a single cable (like many other Apple TB ones) with a TB connection at one end & a USB connection on the other!

Really need to find a much cheaper cable/option!

Many Thanks!

 

[casperes1996]

Hi,

Many thanks for the reply & my apologies for using the wrong term! Apple says, that the 17" MBP has a "Thunderbolt Port Up to 10Gbps" so believe that is the Thunderbolt Version 1 as opposed to Version - will that affect matters greatly regarding compatibility/availability of any cables?

I believe it is a Type A USB I am using - it is a Seagate Expansion 2TB External USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive with a supplied cable - see image attached.

Wow, that one you showed certainly is mighty expensive - I will have to look for cheaper alternatives if there are any - I just assumed it would be a single cable (like many other Apple TB ones) with a TB connection at one end & a USB connection on the other!

Really need to find a much cheaper cable/option!

Many Thanks!






View attachment 691259

You're welcome. "Up to 10GBps" does sound like TB1, yes, but comparability will be the same. TB1 and TB2 can be used interchangeably. The speed will of course vary, but if you're not using the full bandwidth anyway, it's no big deal.

If you're not sure if it's Type-A/B/C, it's most likely Type-A. It's as of now still the most common type of USB, and what people normally refer to when they just say "USB". I could find a picture though, so I couldn't verify for you.

Yeah - it's not cheap. But as I said, all TB cables need to be active cables with tiny logic boards and chips in the cable itself. You might be able to find one that doesn't have the RJ45 or eSATA connector bundled in alongside the USB - I just sent you the very first thing I found as a proof of concept that they are out there.

 

[Fishrrman]

If the source drive and the target drive are platter-based HDDs, there really aren't going to be any "high-speed" solutions.

Pretty much just plug 'em in, set up the transfer, and "wait it out"...

 

[casperes1996]

If the source drive and the target drive are platter-based HDDs, there really aren't going to be any "high-speed" solutions.

Pretty much just plug 'em in, set up the transfer, and "wait it out"...

Could still see a potential doubling of speed going from USB2 to USB3/TB
From around 65mbps to 120≈ with a Satechi drive (MacWorld results - google USB 3.0 speed to see table of all results)