Hard drive connection which is best?

[KevinAPearson]

I'm getting my first Mac Mini (2020) in a couple of weeks.
I have 3 WD 8TB external USB 3.0 Hard Disks that I want to connect.
I'm trying to work out if there is any "Best" way to connect the drives to my Mac Mini.
I have 3x usb-c to usb 3.0 adaptors I could use to attach them all to a separate USB-C slot or I could get a USB-C hub with multiple USB 3.0 connectors and use only one USB-c slot on the Mac Mini.
I'd like to save the two USB 3 slots for the odd memory stick etc.
My question is: is there a "Best" way to connect the drives for read/write speed?
Also if I use a hub to connect all 3 drives to one USB-c slot will there be a danger of overheating the hub?

EDIT: I will probably get a multi bay setup eventually but money is now a bit short having just bought a Mac Mini 🙂

 

[nicho]

I'm getting my first Mac Mini (2020) in a couple of weeks.
I have 3 WD 8TB external USB 3.0 Hard Disks that I want to connect.
I'm trying to work out if there is any "Best" way to connect the drives to my Mac Mini.
I have 3x usb-c to usb 3.0 adaptors I could use to attach them all to a separate USB-C slot or I could get a USB-C hub with multiple USB 3.0 connectors and use only one USB-c slot on the Mac Mini.
I'd like to save the two USB 3 slots for the odd memory stick etc.
My question is: is there a "Best" way to connect the drives for read/write speed?
Also if I use a hub to connect all 3 drives to one USB-c slot will there be a danger of overheating the hub?

With three separate rotating drives, you'd be hard pushed to max the bandwidth of a single USB 3 port if you went down the route of using a USB hub. Connect one with multiple USB-A ports to one USB-C port, plug your hard drives into it, and that's about it.

 

[KevinAPearson]

Thanks for the advice. I'll check the couch for loose change and buy a USB 3 hub 🙂