Keyboard / Peripheral switch shared (no video) recommendation between two Mac's

[edubfromktown]

Hi,

I've been experimenting with different keyboard/peripheral and external drive sharing (between two system) solutions and have had mixed results. Don't care about video as I use a CalDigit TS3+ and plug in to use multiple displays if needed. I'm sharing things between Studio Base Max and M3 Pro 14" MBP.

My goal is to be able to hit a switch to share: keyboard, mouse, APC UPS battery comms and also occasionally mount external 14 GB (powered) or slightly more frequent flash storage. Note: none of the external storage remains mounted when I switch to the other system.

I was having decent success with a UGREEN device other than when I attached external SanDisk Extreme or WD 14 GB Easy Store. The external storage would unmount on its own within a short period of time and the mouse got sluggish/whacky.

Next up is the IOGEAR 2-port Switch (GUS42C) that has USB-C 85W pass through.

Anyone else have a recommendation for a non-display sharing USB-A / USB-C peripheral sharing swtich for 2 Mac systems that behaves reliably when external storage is briefly powered up to backup or copy files?

 

[ChrisA]

Most people would be using networking to share devices. Although to speed is less.

 

[edubfromktown]

The IOGEAR device works perfectly.

It has PD 3.0 100W max power capabilities. 85W max on USB-C switch port 1 which can be attached to a laptop if you want to charge while connected. I have my 14" MBP on there with no external power source connected. USB-C switch port 2 is attached to my Studio Base Max. Both USB-C ports attached to the two computers are TB3 compatible.

The IOGEAR device enables me to easily switch between two different Macs and use the same (wired) keyboard, mouse, APC UPS communications and external storage device (that I only mount occasionally for data sharing and backups and control power with Kasa Smart wifi plugs).

Different use case than some... I don't have a need for swapping displays so full KVM is overkill in this case.