I bought the CalDigit TS3 for my M2 Mac Mini with the idea of connecting several SSDs and HDDs. I connected 2 SSDs and 2 HDDs, but only had the SSDs turned on. Both were acting as TM drives (one for my MBA and one for the MM). Once connected, I never disconnected or otherwise fiddled with the cables or drives. Obviously, for TM backup purposes, the drives need to be always connected, so this is what I did, connected, and left them be. It's only been a few days, and today I come to the mini to see one of the SSD's (a 1TB Crucial) that was for the mini's TM, gone from the desktop. I looked at the Disk Utility - it's nowhere to be found. I disconnected and connected the SSD - nothing, used a different cable (a brand new Thunderbolt 4 from CalDigit) - nothing. I plugged the SSD into a different USB-C port on the TS3, it worked immediately. I tried a different SSD (Samsung 4TB) in the port and nothing, the port is dead. I re-started the mini just to see if the port would come back to life - nope.
The port in question is the USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 data only. Dead as a doornail. Very disappointed. I only connected a SSD once and never touched it again, never ejected the drive or anything. The SSD just sat there, the TM backed up a few times and the port died after a few days. Given how quickly the port failed, I have doubts about the whole TS3 unit. I'm sending it back to Amazon for a refund.
Now I'm in the market for another hub or dock. I originally bought the TS3 rather than the TS4, because it had slightly better reviews. Now that the TS3 port died, I don't trust the even worse reviewd TS4. However, looking at my set up, I realize that I actually don't need the various bells and whistles of the hub. I don't need HDMI, card readers, optical sound (the other reason I got the TS3, but ended up not using it), and so on. I just need a good number of Thunderbolt 3/4 and USB-C type A ports, with enough power to carry some passive drive enclosures. Preliminarily I'm looking at the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub, it has 4 TB ports and 4 USB-C type A, which I think I can work with. Of course it's CalDigit, which has me spooked a bit after the TS3 experience. The problem I'm seeing is that most of the other hubs/docks from CalDigit and other brands have equally poor if not worse reviews.
Looks like this whole TB/USB-C hub/dock business is pretty funky when it comes to reliability. I'm thinking I'll give the Element Hub a try and if that also cr@ps out, I might just give up on the whole hub/dock accessory. It's possible to just live with connecting and disconnecting the SSD/HDD externals directly to the mini, because while I have a bunch, I don't really need to have all connected at the same time - the max number when I might need connected at the same time would be 5, which I can probably swing with just a simple Anker/Ugreen/Aukey hub hooked up for the moment (funny, I've used those simple hubs with zero problems for quite some time).
Bottom line, I'll try the Element Hub, and then I give up on that whole category - they seem super unreliable: not fit for mission critical work, like TM backups and in case you're downloading/uploading something overnight and have this dreck fail on you. If the Element Hub doesn't work out, I'l just stick to the mini ports with occasional pinch hitting from the simple hubs that have so far proved far more reliable. YMMV.
The port in question is the USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 data only. Dead as a doornail. Very disappointed. I only connected a SSD once and never touched it again, never ejected the drive or anything. The SSD just sat there, the TM backed up a few times and the port died after a few days. Given how quickly the port failed, I have doubts about the whole TS3 unit. I'm sending it back to Amazon for a refund.
Now I'm in the market for another hub or dock. I originally bought the TS3 rather than the TS4, because it had slightly better reviews. Now that the TS3 port died, I don't trust the even worse reviewd TS4. However, looking at my set up, I realize that I actually don't need the various bells and whistles of the hub. I don't need HDMI, card readers, optical sound (the other reason I got the TS3, but ended up not using it), and so on. I just need a good number of Thunderbolt 3/4 and USB-C type A ports, with enough power to carry some passive drive enclosures. Preliminarily I'm looking at the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub, it has 4 TB ports and 4 USB-C type A, which I think I can work with. Of course it's CalDigit, which has me spooked a bit after the TS3 experience. The problem I'm seeing is that most of the other hubs/docks from CalDigit and other brands have equally poor if not worse reviews.
Looks like this whole TB/USB-C hub/dock business is pretty funky when it comes to reliability. I'm thinking I'll give the Element Hub a try and if that also cr@ps out, I might just give up on the whole hub/dock accessory. It's possible to just live with connecting and disconnecting the SSD/HDD externals directly to the mini, because while I have a bunch, I don't really need to have all connected at the same time - the max number when I might need connected at the same time would be 5, which I can probably swing with just a simple Anker/Ugreen/Aukey hub hooked up for the moment (funny, I've used those simple hubs with zero problems for quite some time).
Bottom line, I'll try the Element Hub, and then I give up on that whole category - they seem super unreliable: not fit for mission critical work, like TM backups and in case you're downloading/uploading something overnight and have this dreck fail on you. If the Element Hub doesn't work out, I'l just stick to the mini ports with occasional pinch hitting from the simple hubs that have so far proved far more reliable. YMMV.