Acasis Thunderbolt NME drive connected as USB3.1 on Thunderbolt 4 port

[VitoBotta]

I have an Acasis enclosure with a Firecuda NVME drive that I was using with an M2 Pro Mac mini, and it was working at full Thunderbolt 3 speed.

However I connected it to my new MacBook Pro M3 Pro and it's connected as USB 3.1 instead of Thunderbolt 3 mode according to System Information. What could be the reason?

 

[BeatCrazy]

Bad cable

 

[VitoBotta]

It's the same cable that worked fine with the mini and I have also tried another cable I have for another drive (Samsung X5). How do I verify if the display is connected with Thunderbolt?

 

[DeltaMac]

System Information will tell you.
Check in the Thunderbolt tab. Should show your display attached.

 

[VitoBotta]

System Information will tell you.
Check in the Thunderbolt tab. Should show your display attached.

I guess you didn't read my post. That's where I saw that it was not connected as TB but as USB3.1.

But I just tested moving the display from TB port to HDMI port, and now the drive is recognized as TB. So I am confused. I have 3 TB ports on this MBP, are they kinda sharing the same bandwidth or something like that? Where can I find detailed information/explanation on how this works?

 

[DeltaMac]

In your OP, you only mentioned the NVMe drive, and not an external display. I did not suspect that you had a multi-port hub, but simply an NVMe enclosure. Acasis offers several such devices. Then, in your post #3, you asked how to verify the connection to your external display, which I assumed was a different issue.
I think it's simply a port selection issue -- maybe there is more power available on some of the ports.
But, now that it seems to be working as you hope, then I suggest that your external display is the answer.
If you are now using HDMI to HDMI for that, I guess that allows the full bandwidth for the TB connection, and HDMI might be a good one to use. I usually look for a DisplayPort choice on displays that I set up. That might avoid the auto-set to USB that, in your case, is avoided with the HDMI connection, but DisplayPort (if that is an available choice) to USB-C could be a good choice if you want to try something other than HDMI
There may be other answers here--I will not convince anyone that I am some kind of expert. I just will try things that I think might help (I am not always successful!)
One more question: What display are you using?

 

[joevt]

How do I verify if the display is connected with Thunderbolt?

I don't have an Apple Silicon Mac. Does System Information.app show the connection type in the Graphics/Displays tab?
Since your display is probably not a Thunderbolt display (because it doesn't appear in the Thunderbolt tab of System Information.app) then it means the display is using DisplayPort and the Thunderbolt port it is connected to is using USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode.

But I just tested moving the display from TB port to HDMI port, and now the drive is recognized as TB. So I am confused. I have 3 TB ports on this MBP, are they kinda sharing the same bandwidth or something like that? Where can I find detailed information/explanation on how this works?

Moving a Display from USB-C to HDMI port should not affect other devices connected to other Thunderbolt/USB-C ports of an Apple Silicon Mac since all the Thunderbolt ports are separate. This means the Apple Silicon hardware is flaky. Maybe you can improve things by using a different cable or by connecting the Acasis to a Thunderbolt dock or hub.

Does the Acasis have its own power supply or not?

 

[VitoBotta]

In your OP, you only mentioned the NVMe drive, and not an external display. I did not suspect that you had a multi-port hub, but simply an NVMe enclosure. Acasis offers several such devices. Then, in your post #3, you asked how to verify the connection to your external display, which I assumed was a different issue.
I think it's simply a port selection issue -- maybe there is more power available on some of the ports.
But, now that it seems to be working as you hope, then I suggest that your external display is the answer.
If you are now using HDMI to HDMI for that, I guess that allows the full bandwidth for the TB connection, and HDMI might be a good one to use. I usually look for a DisplayPort choice on displays that I set up. That might avoid the auto-set to USB that, in your case, is avoided with the HDMI connection, but DisplayPort (if that is an available choice) to USB-C could be a good choice if you want to try something other than HDMI
There may be other answers here--I will not convince anyone that I am some kind of expert. I just will try things that I think might help (I am not always successful!)
One more question: What display are you using?

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound impolite. The display is a BenQ EL2870U.

In the meantime I have done some more digging and read also several previous discussions here on this forum and learnt that there is a known problem with the power available with the thunderbolt ports in Apple silicon Macs. Apparently several people have reported issues similar to mine when using bus-powered devices like in my case.

Common solutions include using enclosures with separate power supply so they don't take power from the thunderbolt bus, or using docks. I ordered a Dock already since I wanted one anyway to be able to more quickly undock the laptop when I leave home and dock it when I am back with just one thunderbolt cable. So I am looking forward to try that as soon as it arrives. if it doesn't work then I will find another NVME enclosure that has its own power supply.

 

[VitoBotta]

I don't have an Apple Silicon Mac. Does System Information.app show the connection type in the Graphics/Displays tab?
Since your display is probably not a Thunderbolt display (because it doesn't appear in the Thunderbolt tab of System Information.app) then it means the display is using DisplayPort and the Thunderbolt port it is connected to is using USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode.


Moving a Display from USB-C to HDMI port should not affect other devices connected to other Thunderbolt/USB-C ports of an Apple Silicon Mac since all the Thunderbolt ports are separate. This means the Apple Silicon hardware is flaky. Maybe you can improve things by using a different cable or by connecting the Acasis to a Thunderbolt dock or hub.

Does the Acasis have its own power supply or not?

Correct, it's not a thunderbolt display but a regular one I was connecting with the USB-C - display port cable.

Different cables made no difference but moving the display to HDMI allowed the Acasis to be connected as thunderbolt.

Like I mentioned in my previous post I have ordered a thunderbolt dock (OWC) so I am hoping that this solves the issue and allows me to use both the display and one or two other devices (including the Acasis enclosure) via Thunderbolt.

 

[Whalehead99]

OP, did you get your OWC thunderbolt dock? I have a Mac Mini M2Pro. I have 4 TB4 ports, and with all 4 filled, my ACASIS external drive drops to USB 3.1. When I disconnect one of my external monitors (I have 2 running on USBC cables on 2 of the TB ports, and 1 on the HDMI adapter). My fourth port is connected to a TB capable NAS. I tried switching cables, switching ports (with the NAS), and could not get the ACASIS to show up as a TB connection. When I pulled one of the USBC cables to a monitor, viola! the external ACASIS drive is now showing up as a TB connection.

So, I want to know if a TB Hub will help solve my dilemma - will it run both my TB to displayPort monitors... and/or will it allow both my TB4 external drives to be attached on one TB4 connection to the hub.

Which hub did you get?

 

[Adora]

I am also confused with my Display connection types.

There is

1 x USB C (full-featured, no PD)
1 x DisplayPort (1.4)
1 x HDMI Port 2.0
1x HDMI Port 2.1 (console support)
1 x USB B (for KVM Data)
2x USB 3.2 (5Gbps/15W)
1 x 3.5 mm Audio Out

The USB-C cable is also labeled "full featured", the HDMI cable is 2.1, my Docks only support 2.0 and only one of both TB4 docks has a DisplayPort, what seems to be also 1.4.

But this USB-C connection is working like DisplayPort 1.4 on my M3 iMac and maybe HDMI 2.1 on my M2 Pro MacBook Pro.

It is definitely not Thunderbolt but only works with Thunderbolt 3 or 4 on the other side. I don't see it in System Information, in the USB or Thunderbolt section if I use the USB-C cable.

And in the Display section it always doubles the resolution I use, if I am not using the native resolution, what I normally not do because it's just 27".

It's now connected by DisplayPort on a TB4 dock. But it's looking the same, when I use USB-C to Thunderbolt.

In the USB-Section is this, although I am using DisplayPort now. I think you can control the light on the back with Windows software. But the USB-C cable didn't show more, HDMI I don't know, my Docks only support 60Hz there and the MBP supports the same higher frame rates but is not supposed to be used with that display, so I didn't look through everything.

What is this "full featured" USB-C to TB4 connection? Is this the new version of miniDisplayPort? And why does it only work with TB when it isn't TB on the display side?


I also use many external drives in TB4 enclosures without external power. Never one of those was ever shown as a USB drive when connected to a TB port. And not a single time one of those ejected by itself. My boot drive is in a TB4 enclosure without external power and never lost connection for a single time.

I don't use USB drives anymore for more than a short connection for maybe backing up something. But they never keep a permanent connection, even if they have external power.