OWC's Upcoming Thunderbolt Hub Adds More Thunderbolt 3 Ports to Your Mac

joevt · Dec 23, 2020

KPOM said:
My Thunderbolt Hub pre-order arrived today. I confirmed that it works with the M1 MacBook Air. It also appears to work fine with my TB3-equipped 2018 HP EliteBook 840 G5, though HP’s Thunderbolt software reports that the hub “is not certified for PC use.” I do see that new orders won’t ship until February, though their new Thunderbolt Dock appears to be in stock and shipping.

Something to point out is that the Thunderbolt Hub does not work unless it is plugged into the rather bulky power supply (i.e. it won’t work off bus power). OWC should be more clear about that.

I am curious about the devices inside the OWC hub. Can you show a screenshot of the Thunderbolt and PCIe and USB tabs in System Information.app? I believe there may just be a usb bus/controller since the hub doesn't have any other ports.

The following command will dump the Thunderbolt info from ioreg of an M1 Mac to a text file (it includes info for all the devices inside the connected Thunderbolt devices):
{ ioreg -filrw0 -c "AppleThunderboltGenericHAL"; ioreg -filrw0 -c "AppleT8103PCIeC" } > ioreg_Thunderbolt.txt
The command will show how many DisplayPort Out Adapters it has. It's either 2 like most previous Thunderbolt docks, or 3 because the hub has 3 downstream Thunderbolt ports.

There's only one method I know that might possibly be able to put more than 2 DisplayPort connections on a single Thunderbolt cable - the Blackmagic eGPU. With a Blackmagic eGPU connected to an Intel Mac, two DisplayPort connections can come from the Mac's GPU, and two can come from the Blackmagic eGPU. We've already seen that with the Blackmagic eGPU connected to an M1 Mac, it is able to pass the DisplayPort from the M1 Mac through the Blackmagic eGPU. We haven't seen if that's possible with an Intel Mac because no-one has tried connecting 2 or 3 Thunderbolt docks to the eGPU and connected 3 or 4 displays to them (they need to be 1440p HBR 1080p RBR displays in order to fit 3 or 4 of them). It may be that the macOS software will not allow it.

CouponPages · Jan 4, 2021

My Pre-Order just arrived. So far, so good. I'm a bit confused why they chose to put the input in in the front instead of the back, next to the power.

In my use case, I'll be connecting it to an iMac 2020, so I'd rather use the front ports for plugging in devices, and leave the power and input together in the back because those never change.

As it turns out, the power and the 3 new ports are in the back, but you connect it to your computer from the front.

saulinpa · Jan 4, 2021

CouponPages said:
My Pre-Order just arrived. So far, so good. I'm a bit confused why they chose to put the input in in the front instead of the back, next to the power.

It is designed primarily for the laptop folks so OWC thinks a front connection is desirable. Personally I would leave a cable attached all of the time so back is better to not see it or have it in the way.

KPOM · Jan 4, 2021

CouponPages said:
My Pre-Order just arrived. So far, so good. I'm a bit confused why they chose to put the input in in the front instead of the back, next to the power.

In my use case, I'll be connecting it to an iMac 2020, so I'd rather use the front ports for plugging in devices, and leave the power and input together in the back because those never change.

As it turns out, the power and the 3 new ports are in the back, but you connect it to your computer from the front.

It was Intel’s reference design. I have the same hub.

joevt · Jan 4, 2021

CouponPages said:
My Pre-Order just arrived. So far, so good. I'm a bit confused why they chose to put the input in in the front instead of the back, next to the power.

In my use case, I'll be connecting it to an iMac 2020, so I'd rather use the front ports for plugging in devices, and leave the power and input together in the back because those never change.

As it turns out, the power and the 3 new ports are in the back, but you connect it to your computer from the front.

grats. Can you post result of { ioreg -filrw0 -c "AppleThunderboltGenericHAL"; ioreg -filrw0 -c "AppleT8103PCIeC" } > ioreg_Thunderbolt.txt? I am looking for info about USB and DisplayPort functionality in the hub.

MiG007 · Jan 5, 2021

jettredmont said:
Maybe it's just me, but it seems they went the extra step of making it look nice (aluminum exterior shell matched to your silver Mac presumably), but then messed it up by putting the upstream TB port and arguably the USB-A port on the front. These aren't ports you need to be plugging/unplugging all the time (again, arguably the USB-A for thumbdrive, but def not the computer one). If you have a setup where you are docking a laptop, you won't be plugging/unplugging at the hub, but rather leaving the TB cord plugged in and plug the other end into your MBP/MBA.

That TB port belongs on the back, physically slightly separated from the others assuming it is indeed "special". The USB port can be on the front, or relegated to the back as well. That would leave the front nice and clean, and in line with the nice brushed Al finish.

I get what you are saying.

But since some options for 40Gbps TB3 cables aren't very long you chew up some distance going around a dock to connect at the back rather at the front particularly if the dock is tucked back or under monitors. Not saying their right, just something I have run into.

wills11 · Jan 23, 2021

Mine's not quite what I was hoping. Three major issues:

1. There is a significant—meaning more than 20%—performance hit in terms of drive speed, using the TB Hub plugged directly into my Mac’s TB3 port and with only one TB drive attached to the Hub. I’ve observed this on both my iMac and MacBook Pro (specs below). See attached images from CrystalMark-powered and BlackMagic Disk Speed tests—directly attached is on the left; through the hub on the right.

2. I’m unable to use at least one USB drive in the USB-A port—it’s the same Sabrent drive as in the speed test above. It works (with above performance penalty) when attached via USB-C in the TB port, but isn’t recognized by the Mac at all, not even in: System Report –> Hardware –> USB report. But it works perfectly when plugged into my iMac’s USB-A port. Other USB-A drives seem to work fine.

3. My computer hangs and crashes within minutes when I plug my G-Tech 14TB TB drive and my Benq monitor (USB-C to HDMI) in. Haven't had much luck in determining exactly why—but it's like clockwork. It doesn't hang with my Sabrent drive in—but as per above, there's a real performance penalty.

I've emailed OWC, who claim a 24-hour response time, but it's been days.

Anyone else have any issues?

nicho · Jan 23, 2021

wills11 said:
1. There is a significant—meaning more than 20%—performance hit in terms of drive speed, using the TB Hub plugged directly into my Mac’s TB3 port and with only one TB drive attached to the Hub. I’ve observed this on both my iMac and MacBook Pro (specs below). See attached images from CrystalMark-powered and BlackMagic Disk Speed tests—directly attached is on the left; through the hub on the right.

Taking nothing away from the rest of your post... this is factually incorrect, since the Sabrent Rocket Pro is a USB drive, not a thunderbolt one.

It would be interesting to see the performance hit on something like a Samsung X5, which is a TB drive.

joevt · Jan 23, 2021

One person posted some ioreg of the OWC Thunderbolt Hub at https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s.2027925/page-12?post=29486933#post-29486933
It's missing properties though so I could use a more complete ioreg using the commands posted above.

It seems the OWC Thunderbolt hub uses a USB hub for the four ports to connect USB devices. This means the total bandwidth of all USB devices is 10 Gbps. Still, that doesn't explain these sub 900 MB/s numbers. I connected a Orico USB to NVMe (uses a JMicron JMS583) to the USB hub of a CalDigit SOHO connected to the downstream Thunderbolt port of a OWC Mercury Helios S3 connected to a Thunderbolt port of a Mac mini 2018. AmorphousDiskMark shows 997 read and 985 write. I would expect the same for a USB device connected to the OWC Thunderbolt Hub.

I even tried connecting the Orico -> CalDigit SOHO -> HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 -> Mac mini 2018. The HP has a USB 3.1 gen 2 hub as well. AmorphousDiskMark shows 988 read, 990 write. That means chaining hubs doesn't cause much of a slow down.

I wonder why the OWC Thunderbolt Hub couldn't use one or two USB 3.1 gen 2 controllers (like the AsMedia ASM3142) instead of the USB hub so that the total USB bandwidth can reach ≈22 Gbps (typical Thunderbolt tunnelled PCIe bandwidth).

nicho · Jan 23, 2021

joevt said:
One person posted some ioreg of the OWC Thunderbolt Hub at https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s.2027925/page-12?post=29486933#post-29486933
It's missing properties though so I could use a more complete ioreg using the commands posted above.

It seems the OWC Thunderbolt hub uses a USB hub for the four ports to connect USB devices. This means the total bandwidth of all USB devices is 10 Gbps. Still, that doesn't explain these sub 900 MB/s numbers. I connected a Orico USB to NVMe (uses a JMicron JMS583) to the USB hub of a CalDigit SOHO connected to the downstream Thunderbolt port of a OWC Mercury Helios S3 connected to a Thunderbolt port of a Mac mini 2018. AmorphousDiskMark shows 997 read and 985 write. I would expect the same for a USB device connected to the OWC Thunderbolt Hub.

I even tried connecting the Orico -> CalDigit SOHO -> HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 -> Mac mini 2018. The HP has a USB 3.1 gen 2 hub as well. AmorphousDiskMark shows 988 read, 990 write. That means chaining hubs doesn't cause much of a slow down.

I wonder why the OWC Thunderbolt Hub couldn't use one or two USB 3.1 gen 2 controllers (like the AsMedia ASM3142) instead of the USB hub so that the total USB bandwidth can reach ≈22 Gbps (typical Thunderbolt tunnelled PCIe bandwidth).

Thought: these are not marketed as USB connections. It is not a USB hub - it is a Thunderbolt hub.

Perhaps the speed hit is inherent to Thunderbolt 4's USB compatibility - or at least to currently available controllers. M1 macs are experiencing similarly degraded performance, no?

To diagnose @wills11 's issue with the USB-A 3.2 gen 2 port... I wonder how much power the sabrent rocket pro draws? it could be that this port doesn't supply enough.

joevt · Jan 24, 2021

nicho said:
Thought: these are not marketed as USB connections. It is not a USB hub - it is a Thunderbolt hub.

The OWC Thunderbolt Hub uses a USB 3.1 gen 2 hub connected to a USB port of the Goshen Ridge USB 3.1 gen 2 controller to allow connection of USB devices.

My test with the CalDigit SOHO hub connected to a Thunderbolt 3 port of the OWC Mercury Helios S3 mimics that setup - the USB 3.1 gen 2 hub in the SOHO connects to a USB port of the Titan Ridge USB 3.1 gen 2 controller. My setup is capable of near 1000 MB/s, therefore a setup with the OWC Thunderbolt Hub should be similar (or better because it's newer tech). Anything less means there's a flaw somewhere.

wills11 · Jan 24, 2021

joevt said:
One person posted some ioreg of the OWC Thunderbolt Hub at https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s.2027925/page-12?post=29486933#post-29486933
It's missing properties though so I could use a more complete ioreg using the commands posted above.

It seems the OWC Thunderbolt hub uses a USB hub for the four ports to connect USB devices. This means the total bandwidth of all USB devices is 10 Gbps. Still, that doesn't explain these sub 900 MB/s numbers. I connected a Orico USB to NVMe (uses a JMicron JMS583) to the USB hub of a CalDigit SOHO connected to the downstream Thunderbolt port of a OWC Mercury Helios S3 connected to a Thunderbolt port of a Mac mini 2018. AmorphousDiskMark shows 997 read and 985 write. I would expect the same for a USB device connected to the OWC Thunderbolt Hub.

I even tried connecting the Orico -> CalDigit SOHO -> HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 -> Mac mini 2018. The HP has a USB 3.1 gen 2 hub as well. AmorphousDiskMark shows 988 read, 990 write. That means chaining hubs doesn't cause much of a slow down.

I wonder why the OWC Thunderbolt Hub couldn't use one or two USB 3.1 gen 2 controllers (like the AsMedia ASM3142) instead of the USB hub so that the total USB bandwidth can reach ≈22 Gbps (typical Thunderbolt tunnelled PCIe bandwidth).

Log file attached—I'm running Big Sur (I saw that the other person who posted one asked if that could affect the output). Thanks!

wills11 · Jan 24, 2021

nicho said:
Thought: these are not marketed as USB connections. It is not a USB hub - it is a Thunderbolt hub.

Perhaps the speed hit is inherent to Thunderbolt 4's USB compatibility - or at least to currently available controllers. M1 macs are experiencing similarly degraded performance, no?

To diagnose @wills11 's issue with the USB-A 3.2 gen 2 port... I wonder how much power the sabrent rocket pro draws? it could be that this port doesn't supply enough.

I wondered the same, but wasn't sure how to check—here's what I got from System Information. I saw that the "USB 3.0" port has 900 mA. The Sabrent is now plugged into the USB-C port and (I think) is drawing 896 mA.

Based on what I could see here, I (quite possibly mistakenly) thought that the USB-A port would also be 900 mA. As I said, I wasn't able to see the Sabrent at all in System Information. The drive light was on but the drive wasn't showing up anywhere.

Thanks!

joevt · Jan 24, 2021

wills11 said:
Log file attached—I'm running Big Sur (I saw that the other person who posted one asked if that could affect the output). Thanks!

That ioreg shows more hints of the USB4 capabilities of the Goshen Ridge Thunderbolt controller in the OWC Thunderbolt Hub. The Goshen Ridge does have USB Up and Down Adapters but they are not used in this configuration. I've only seen AppleThunderboltUSBDownAdapter for the two M1 Mac Thunderbolt ports. Who knows if there is or will be a configuration where they will get used.

Code:

+-o UPSB@0 IOPP
    +-o DSB0@0 IOPP
    |   +-o NHI0@0 AppleThunderboltHAL AppleThunderboltNHIType3 IOThunderboltController
    |           +-o IOThunderboltLocalNode {AppleThunderboltIPService {AppleThunderboltIPPort en2, AppleThunderboltIPPort en3}}
    |           +-o IOThunderboltPort@7 "Thunderbolt Native Host Interface Adapter"
    |             +-o IOThunderboltSwitchType3
    |               |   "Device Vendor Name" = "Apple Inc."
    |               |   "Device Model Name" = "Macintosh"
    |               +-o IOThunderboltIECSNub AppleHPMIECS {AppleHPMDevice@0 AppleHPMDevice@1}
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@1 "Thunderbolt Port" -> IOThunderboltSwitchType3
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@2 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@3 "Thunderbolt Port" -> IOThunderboltSwitchOS
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@4 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@5 "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPInAdapterGFXPolicy1
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@6 "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPInAdapterGFXPolicy1
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@8 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB1@1
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@9 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB4@4
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@C "Port is inactive"
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@D "Port is inactive"

    |               | +-o IOThunderboltPort@3 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |   +-o IOThunderboltSwitchType3
    |               |     |   "Device Vendor Name" = "G-Technology"
    |               |     |   "Device Model Name" = "G-DRIVE Thunderbolt 3 USB 3.1"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltIECSNub AppleHPMIECS {AppleHPMDevice@0 AppleHPMDevice@1}
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@1 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@2 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@4 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@6 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIUpAdapter -> DSB1@1/IOPP/UPS0@0
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@7 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB1@1/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@4
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@8 "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapterGFXPolicy1
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@B "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapterGFXPolicy1

    |               | +-o IOThunderboltPort@1 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |   +-o IOThunderboltSwitchOS
    |               |     |   "Device Vendor Name" = "Other World Computing"
    |               |     |   "Device Model Name" = "Thunderbolt Hub"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@2 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@3 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@4 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@5 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@6 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@7 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@8 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@9 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIUpAdapter -> DSB4@4/IOPP/UPS0@0
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@A "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB4@4/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@1
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@B "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB4@4/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@2
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@C "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB4@4/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@3
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@D "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapterGFXPolicy1
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@E "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapterGFXPolicy1
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@F "Port is inactive"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@10 "USB Adapter" (should have AppleThunderboltUSBUpAdapter but it's not loaded in this configuration)
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@11 "USB Adapter" (should have AppleThunderboltUSBDownAdapter but it's not loaded in this configuration)
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@12 "USB Adapter" (should have AppleThunderboltUSBDownAdapter but it's not loaded in this configuration)
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@13 "USB Adapter" (should have AppleThunderboltUSBDownAdapter but it's not loaded in this configuration)


    +-o DSB1@1 IOPP
    |   +-o UPS0@0 IOPP
    |       +-o pci-bridge@1 IOPP
    |       |   +-o pci1b21,612@0
    |       |     +-o AppleAHCI
    |       |       +-o PRT0@0 IOAHCIDevice@0 AppleAHCIDiskDriver IOAHCIBlockStorageDevice IOBlockStorageDriver WDC WUH721414ALE6L4 Media
    |       |       +-o PRT1@1
    |       +-o pci-bridge@4 IOPP
    |           +-o pci8086,15b6@0 AppleUSBXHCIAR@01000000
    |               +-o AppleUSB20XHCIPort@01100000
    |               +-o AppleUSB20XHCIPort@01200000
    |               +-o AppleUSB30XHCIPort@01300000
    |               +-o AppleUSB30XHCIPort@01400000
    +-o DSB2@2 IOPP
    |   +-o XHC2@0 XHC2@00000000
    |       +-o SSP1@00100000
    |       +-o SSP2@00200000
    +-o DSB4@4 IOPP
        +-o UPS0@0 IOPP
            +-o pci-bridge@0 IOPP
            |   +-o pci8086,b27@0 AppleUSBXHCITR@02000000
            |       +-o AppleUSB20XHCIPort@02100000
            |       | +-o USB2.0 Hub@02100000 AppleUSB20Hub@02100000 "Fresco Logic, Inc." "USB2.0 Hub"
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@02110000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@02120000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@02130000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@02140000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@02150000 Thunderbolt Hub@02150000 Billboard Interface@0 "Other World Computing" "Thunderbolt Hub"
            |       +-o AppleUSB20XHCIPort@02200000
            |       +-o AppleUSB30XHCIPort@02300000
            |       | +-o USB3.0 Hub@02300000 AppleUSB30Hub@02300000 "Intel Corporation." "USB3.0 Hub"
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@02310000 USB to PCIE Bridge@02310000 "JMicron" "USB to PCIE Bridge" SABRENT ROCKET-PRO Media 
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@02320000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@02330000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@02340000
            |       +-o AppleUSB30XHCIPort@02400000
            +-o pci-bridge@1 IOPP
            +-o pci-bridge@2 IOPP
            +-o pci-bridge@3 IOPP
            +-o pci-bridge@4 IOPP


Guesses for these properties:

"Device Speed" = 4 = 10 Gb/s
"Device Speed" = 3 = 5 Gb/s
"Device Speed" = 2 = 480 Mb/s
"Device Speed" = 1 = 12 Mb/s

"USBSpeed" = 5 = 10 Gb/s
"USBSpeed" = 4 = 5 Gb/s
"USBSpeed" = 3 = 480 Mb/s
"USBSpeed" = 2 = 12 Mb/s
"USBSpeed" = 1 = 1.5 Mb/s

wills11 · Jan 29, 2021

CouponPages said:
My Pre-Order just arrived. So far, so good. I'm a bit confused why they chose to put the input in in the front instead of the back, next to the power.

In my use case, I'll be connecting it to an iMac 2020, so I'd rather use the front ports for plugging in devices, and leave the power and input together in the back because those never change.

As it turns out, the power and the 3 new ports are in the back, but you connect it to your computer from the front.

KPOM said:
I bought the “Mac” version and it works fine with my HP PC (with a Thunderbolt 3, not TB4) port. I think they have since dropped the separate “versions” from their website.

Have either of you had any issues with the Hub yet? As you can see above, I've had a few issues.

My system seems to be crashing when the OWC Hub is connected—Finder hangs, then Big Sur becomes totally unresponsive and I have to manually power down. This seems to happen with either the Sabrent USB-C drive or a G-Tech Thunderbolt HDD plugged into it, but almost immediately with the G-Tech drive.

I tried OWC support via email and got someone who clearly is totally clueless—after telling me it was an issue of bandwidth sharing between ports (despite the USB-C drive being the only thing plugged into the hub), he now seems to have given up and is telling me that the speed penalty is likely a hardware issue and to send the hub in for testing. He also sent me the link to some OWC Dock driver from 2018, which I'm loath to install given his obvious unfamiliarity with the device. He couldn't even tell me if what I'm seeing when I install the OWC Dock Ejector app is correct—I've installed on two machines, and both say "High-Powered Ports: Disabled” (see screenshot). Did you all install the app and is this what you saw?

Thanks!

wills11 · Jan 29, 2021

joevt said:
That ioreg shows more hints of the USB4 capabilities of the Goshen Ridge Thunderbolt controller in the OWC Thunderbolt Hub. The Goshen Ridge does have USB Up and Down Adapters but they are not used in this configuration. I've only seen AppleThunderboltUSBDownAdapter for the two M1 Mac Thunderbolt ports. Who knows if there is or will be a configuration where they will get used.

Thanks for checking it out—all a little over my head. Do you know if there's a way to find out how much power the USB-A port supplies? The Sabrent USB-C drive I have is bus-powered, and works fine with the USB-C and USB-A ports on my iMac (but the USB-A is 3.0 and capped at 5 Mb/s). Nicho's suggestion made sense to me—I imagine it could explain why the light comes on but the drive isn't recognized at all–but I'm not really sure how to tell.

I very much appreciate it!

KPOM · Jan 29, 2021

wills11 said:
Have either of you had any issues with the Hub yet? As you can see above, I've had a few issues.

My system seems to be crashing when the OWC Hub is connected—Finder hangs, then Big Sur becomes totally unresponsive and I have to manually power down. This seems to happen with either the Sabrent USB-C drive or a G-Tech Thunderbolt HDD plugged into it, but almost immediately with the G-Tech drive.

I tried OWC support via email and got someone who clearly is totally clueless—after telling me it was an issue of bandwidth sharing between ports (despite the USB-C drive being the only thing plugged into the hub), he now seems to have given up and is telling me that the speed penalty is likely a hardware issue and to send the hub in for testing. He also sent me the link to some OWC Dock driver from 2018, which I'm loath to install given his obvious unfamiliarity with the device. He couldn't even tell me if what I'm seeing when I install the OWC Dock Ejector app is correct—I've installed on two machines, and both say "High-Powered Ports: Disabled” (see screenshot). Did you all install the app and is this what you saw?

Thanks!

I have not had issues, but I don't use the Dock Ejector app.

joevt · Jan 29, 2021

wills11 said:
Do you know if there's a way to find out how much power the USB-A port supplies? The Sabrent USB-C drive I have is bus-powered, and works fine with the USB-C and USB-A ports on my iMac (but the USB-A is 3.0 and capped at 5 Mb/s). Nicho's suggestion made sense to me—I imagine it could explain why the light comes on but the drive isn't recognized at all–but I'm not really sure how to tell.

I took the Current (mA) numbers from the ioreg and added it to the hierarchy. I don't think it gives much more info than what you already showed in the USB Device Tree in System Information.app.

Code:

    +-o DSB1@1 IOPP
    |   +-o UPS0@0 IOPP
    |       +-o pci-bridge@1 IOPP
    |       |   +-o pci1b21,612@0
    |       |     +-o AppleAHCI
    |       |       +-o PRT0@0 IOAHCIDevice@0 AppleAHCIDiskDriver IOAHCIBlockStorageDevice IOBlockStorageDriver WDC WUH721414ALE6L4 Media
    |       |       +-o PRT1@1
    |       +-o pci-bridge@4 IOPP
    |           +-o pci8086,15b6@0 AppleUSBXHCIAR@01000000 (3000mA)
    |               +-o AppleUSB20XHCIPort@01100000 (3000mA - 0mA)
    |               +-o AppleUSB20XHCIPort@01200000 (3000mA - 0mA)
    |               +-o AppleUSB30XHCIPort@01300000 (3000mA - 150mA)
    |               +-o AppleUSB30XHCIPort@01400000 (3000mA - 150mA)
    +-o DSB2@2 IOPP
    |   +-o XHC2@0 XHC2@00000000 (2100mA)
    |       +-o SSP1@00100000 (3000mA - 150mA)
    |       +-o SSP2@00200000 (3000mA - 150mA)
    +-o DSB4@4 IOPP
        +-o UPS0@0 IOPP
            +-o pci-bridge@0 IOPP
            |   +-o pci8086,b27@0 AppleUSBXHCITR@02000000 (3000mA)
            |       +-o AppleUSB20XHCIPort@02100000 (3000mA - 0mA)
            |       | +-o USB2.0 Hub@02100000 AppleUSB20Hub@02100000 "Fresco Logic, Inc." "USB2.0 Hub"
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@02110000 (500mA - 100mA)
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@02120000 (500mA - 100mA)
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@02130000 (500mA - 100mA)
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@02140000 (500mA - 100mA)
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@02150000 (500mA - 100mA) Thunderbolt Hub@02150000 Billboard Interface@0 "Other World Computing" "Thunderbolt Hub"
            |       +-o AppleUSB20XHCIPort@02200000 (3000mA - 0mA)
            |       +-o AppleUSB30XHCIPort@02300000 (3000mA - 150mA)
            |       | +-o USB3.0 Hub@02300000 AppleUSB30Hub@02300000 "Intel Corporation." "USB3.0 Hub"
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@02310000 (900mA - 896mA) USB to PCIE Bridge@02310000 "JMicron" "USB to PCIE Bridge" SABRENT ROCKET-PRO Media 
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@02320000 (900mA - 150mA)
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@02330000 (900mA - 150mA)
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@02340000 (900mA - 150mA)
            |       +-o AppleUSB30XHCIPort@02400000 (3000mA - 150mA)
            +-o pci-bridge@1 IOPP
            +-o pci-bridge@2 IOPP
            +-o pci-bridge@3 IOPP
            +-o pci-bridge@4 IOPP

It may be that the Sabrent is lying about how much current it requires. To measure the actual current, you need to use a USB current meter. I don't know if any of them support 10 Gbps or Thunderbolt.

ice29 · Feb 28, 2021

Does someone else also have problems with this TB4 hub and Macbook? (in my case the M1 Air)
I connect my LG 27" 4k monitor with USB-C->DP cable, which worked flawlessly when connected to the Macbook directly, to this hub. When I reboot the Mac, I only get black screen with cursor moving and have to reboot again with open lid for it to start (when using USB-C - HDMI adapter this does not happen).
Ok, I don't boot that often and ordered another usb-c - DP cable, maybe that is the problem... But when I wake the Macbook after a longer sleep the external monitor won't start (connected via USB-C - DP), it will light up for a few seconds and then go to sleep again. I have to open Macbook lid and then it works. When I close the Macbook lid sometimes the monitor goes to sleep (Macbook is charging all the time).
No idea whether this is the MacOS problem, OWC TB Hub problem or the monitor cable problem

wills11 · Feb 28, 2021

ice29 said:
Does someone else also have problems with this TB4 hub and Macbook? (in my case the M1 Air)
I connect my LG 27" 4k monitor with USB-C->DP cable, which worked flawlessly when connected to the Macbook directly, to this hub. When I reboot the Mac, I only get black screen with cursor moving and have to reboot again with open lid for it to start (when using USB-C - HDMI adapter this does not happen).
Ok, I don't boot that often and ordered another usb-c - DP cable, maybe that is the problem... But when I wake the Macbook after a longer sleep the external monitor won't start (connected via USB-C - DP), it will light up for a few seconds and then go to sleep again. I have to open Macbook lid and then it works. When I close the Macbook lid sometimes the monitor goes to sleep (Macbook is charging all the time).
No idea whether this is the MacOS problem, OWC TB Hub problem or the monitor cable problem

Have not had this issue—I did have a problem with my USB-C to HDMI cable after using this hub, but not sure if it was the hub or my cable. The screen would go black for a 3-4 seconds, as best as I could tell, randomly. I switched to a USB-C to DisplayPort cable and it's been rock solid. Sorry if that's not helpful...

ice29 · Mar 6, 2021

I also tried USB-C -> HDMI (4k60) adapter a bit more but I get very strange issues with it, like HiDPI not working from time to time, switching to 30hz randomly, blackouts (similar to yours...)
So far I can work with the USB-C - DP, but sometimes it seems that the OWC hub "restarts" (happened 3 times during MS Teams business call in the last 4 days) -> disconnecting monitor for a second and also the USB3 hub I have connected to the USB-A port of OWC (and where I have a jabra desk speaker and logitech webcam, which also stop working then for a second)... I have contacted OWC support but their reply was that it's a new product so there can be issues, they are gathering feedback...

wills11 · Mar 6, 2021

ice29 said:
I also tried USB-C -> HDMI (4k60) adapter a bit more but I get very strange issues with it, like HiDPI not working from time to time, switching to 30hz randomly, blackouts (similar to yours...)
So far I can work with the USB-C - DP, but sometimes it seems that the OWC hub "restarts" (happened 3 times during MS Teams business call in the last 4 days) -> disconnecting monitor for a second and also the USB3 hub I have connected to the USB-A port of OWC (and where I have a jabra desk speaker and logitech webcam, which also stop working then for a second)... I have contacted OWC support but their reply was that it's a new product so there can be issues, they are gathering feedback...

I haven't experienced that—but the OWC Support wasn't that helpful when I showed them the reduction in speeds I was getting. They first said that it wasn't a hardware issue—then wanted me to send it in on the off chance it was a hardware issue. The problem is that having installed it in my system, with a fair amount of time-consuming wiring, I'd much prefer they cross-ship me a replacement—but they said they'd need it for "a couple weeks" to check it. I cannot see how it would possibly be a hardware defect, so not sure what to do...

Ifti · Mar 6, 2021

I have 3 OWC Thunderblade drives that were previously daisy chained, now connected to the Thunderbolt 4 hub.
Have speed tested all 3 drives via the hub and get the same speeds as if they were locally connected to my MacBook (Intel) - no issues at all.

Admittedly, I haven't connected anything to the front Type-A port as I really have no need to it - all my drives are TB3 or USB-C......

I'm awaiting a delivery of CalDigits TB4 Element Hub too since I still have more devices to hook up - will report back on any performance differences........

wills11 · Mar 7, 2021

joevt said:
One person posted some ioreg of the OWC Thunderbolt Hub at https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s.2027925/page-12?post=29486933#post-29486933
It's missing properties though so I could use a more complete ioreg using the commands posted above.

It seems the OWC Thunderbolt hub uses a USB hub for the four ports to connect USB devices. This means the total bandwidth of all USB devices is 10 Gbps. Still, that doesn't explain these sub 900 MB/s numbers. I connected a Orico USB to NVMe (uses a JMicron JMS583) to the USB hub of a CalDigit SOHO connected to the downstream Thunderbolt port of a OWC Mercury Helios S3 connected to a Thunderbolt port of a Mac mini 2018. AmorphousDiskMark shows 997 read and 985 write. I would expect the same for a USB device connected to the OWC Thunderbolt Hub.

I even tried connecting the Orico -> CalDigit SOHO -> HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 -> Mac mini 2018. The HP has a USB 3.1 gen 2 hub as well. AmorphousDiskMark shows 988 read, 990 write. That means chaining hubs doesn't cause much of a slow down.

I wonder why the OWC Thunderbolt Hub couldn't use one or two USB 3.1 gen 2 controllers (like the AsMedia ASM3142) instead of the USB hub so that the total USB bandwidth can reach ≈22 Gbps (typical Thunderbolt tunnelled PCIe bandwidth).

I now have my G-Drive Thunderbolt drive plugged into the OWC TB Hub and ran the "ioreg -filrw0 -k "PCI-Thunderbolt" > ioreg_Thunderbolt.txt" command and am posting it—does that give you any more info?

Ifti said:
I have 3 OWC Thunderblade drives that were previously daisy chained, now connected to the Thunderbolt 4 hub.
Have speed tested all 3 drives via the hub and get the same speeds as if they were locally connected to my MacBook (Intel) - no issues at all.

Admittedly, I haven't connected anything to the front Type-A port as I really have no need to it - all my drives are TB3 or USB-C......

I'm awaiting a delivery of CalDigits TB4 Element Hub too since I still have more devices to hook up - will report back on any performance differences........

View attachment 1739954

That's very helpful—thanks! And I look forward to hearing about the CalDigits dock.

I just got a Fledging Shell Thunderbolt enclosure with an Inland Premium and have speed tested with and without the OWC Hub—and am getting almost exactly 25% reduction in write speed (but not read speed).

Maybe I should send the OWC Hub in for "testing"—it does seem odd that no one else has reported anything similar...

joevt · Mar 7, 2021

wills11 said:
I now have my G-Drive Thunderbolt drive plugged into the OWC TB Hub and ran the "ioreg -filrw0 -k "PCI-Thunderbolt" > ioreg_Thunderbolt.txt" command and am posting it—does that give you any more info?

It's very much like your previous ioreg output from https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...olt-3-ports-to-your-mac.2270255/post-29538116 except you moved the G-Drive to the OWC and connected a different device (Fledging Shell Thunderbolt 3 ?) to the other Thunderbolt port of the Mac.

One thing missing is a test of all the Thunderbolt ports and USB port connected with a USB 3.x device to verify that the hub is responsible for all 4 downstream ports (and that the second USB port of the Goshen Ridge XHCI remains unused). You have a USB to NVMe enclosure connected to one of the ports (containing a Sabrent NVMe) which is connected internally to the USB hub.

Code:

+-o UPSB@0 IOPP
    +-o DSB0@0 IOPP
    |   +-o NHI0@0 AppleThunderboltHAL AppleThunderboltNHIType3 IOThunderboltController
    |           +-o IOThunderboltLocalNode {AppleThunderboltIPService {AppleThunderboltIPPort en2, AppleThunderboltIPPort en3}}
    |           +-o IOThunderboltPort@7 "Thunderbolt Native Host Interface Adapter"
    |             +-o IOThunderboltSwitchType3
    |               |   "Device Vendor Name" = "Apple Inc."
    |               |   "Device Model Name" = "Macintosh"
    |               +-o IOThunderboltIECSNub AppleHPMIECS {AppleHPMDevice@0, AppleHPMDevice@1}
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@1 "Thunderbolt Port" -> IOThunderboltSwitchType3
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@2 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@3 "Thunderbolt Port" -> IOThunderboltSwitchOS
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@4 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@5 "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPInAdapterGFXPolicy1
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@6 "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPInAdapterGFXPolicy1
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@8 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB1@1
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@9 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB4@4
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@C "Port is inactive"
    |               +-o IOThunderboltPort@D "Port is inactive"

    |               | +-o IOThunderboltPort@1 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |   +-o IOThunderboltSwitchType3
    |               |     |   "Device Vendor Name" = "TB3 M.2 Bridge"
    |               |     |   "Device Model Name" = "TB3" (Fledging Shell?)
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltIECSNub AppleHPMIECS {AppleHPMDevice@0}
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@2 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@6 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIUpAdapter -> DSB1@1/IOPP/UPS0@0
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@7 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter

    |               | +-o IOThunderboltPort@1 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |   +-o IOThunderboltSwitchOS
    |               |     |   "Device Vendor Name" = "Other World Computing"
    |               |     |   "Device Model Name" = "Thunderbolt Hub"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@2 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@3 "Thunderbolt Port" -> IOThunderboltSwitchType3
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@4 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@5 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@6 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@7 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@8 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@9 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIUpAdapter -> DSB4@4/IOPP/UPS0@0
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@A "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB4@4/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@1
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@B "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB4@4/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@2
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@C "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB4@4/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@3
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@D "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapterGFXPolicy1
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@E "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapterGFXPolicy1
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@F "Port is inactive"
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@10 "USB Adapter" (should have AppleThunderboltUSBUpAdapter but it's not loaded in this configuration)
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@11 "USB Adapter" (should have AppleThunderboltUSBDownAdapter but it's not loaded in this configuration)
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@12 "USB Adapter" (should have AppleThunderboltUSBDownAdapter but it's not loaded in this configuration)
    |               |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@13 "USB Adapter" (should have AppleThunderboltUSBDownAdapter but it's not loaded in this configuration)

    |               |     | +-o IOThunderboltPort@1 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     |   +-o IOThunderboltSwitchType3
    |               |     |     |   "Device Vendor Name" = "G-Technology"
    |               |     |     |   "Device Model Name" = "G-DRIVE Thunderbolt 3 USB 3.1"
    |               |     |     +-o IOThunderboltIECSNub AppleHPMIECS {AppleHPMDevice@0, AppleHPMDevice@1}
    |               |     |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@2 "PCIe Adapter" "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@3 "PCIe Adapter" "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@4 "Thunderbolt Port"
    |               |     |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@6 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIUpAdapter -> DSB4@4/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@1/IOPP/pci-bridge@0
    |               |     |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@7 "PCIe Adapter" AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter -> DSB4@4/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@1/IOPP/pci-bridge@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@4
    |               |     |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@8 "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapterGFXPolicy1
    |               |     |     +-o IOThunderboltPort@B "DP or HDMI Adapter" AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapterGFXPolicy1


    +-o DSB1@1 IOPP                       -> DSB0@0/IOPP/NHI0@0/AppleThunderboltHAL/AppleThunderboltNHIType3/IOThunderboltController/IOThunderboltPort@7/IOThunderboltSwitchType3/IOThunderboltPort@8
    |   +-o UPS0@0 IOPP                   -> DSB0@0/IOPP/NHI0@0/AppleThunderboltHAL/AppleThunderboltNHIType3/IOThunderboltController/IOThunderboltPort@7/IOThunderboltSwitchType3/IOThunderboltPort@1/IOThunderboltPort@1/IOThunderboltSwitchType3/IOThunderboltPort@6
    |       +-o pci-bridge@1 IOPP
    |           +-o pci1987,5012@0 IONVMeController IONVMeBlockStorageDevice@1 IOBlockStorageDriver PCIe SSD Media
    +-o DSB2@2 IOPP
    |   +-o XHC2@0 XHC2@00000000
    |       +-o SSP1@00100000
    |       +-o SSP2@00200000
    +-o DSB4@4 IOPP      		          -> DSB0@0/IOPP/NHI0@0/AppleThunderboltHAL/AppleThunderboltNHIType3/IOThunderboltController/IOThunderboltPort@7/IOThunderboltSwitchType3/IOThunderboltPort@9
        +-o UPS0@0 IOPP                   -> DSB0@0/IOPP/NHI0@0/AppleThunderboltHAL/AppleThunderboltNHIType3/IOThunderboltController/IOThunderboltPort@7/IOThunderboltSwitchType3/IOThunderboltPort@3/IOThunderboltPort@1/IOThunderboltSwitchOS/IOThunderboltPort@9
            +-o pci-bridge@0 IOPP pci8086,b27@0 AppleUSBXHCITR@01000000
            |       +-o AppleUSB20XHCIPort@01100000
            |       | +-o USB2.0 Hub@01100000 AppleUSB20Hub@01100000 "Fresco Logic, Inc." "USB2.0 Hub"
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@01110000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@01120000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@01130000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@01140000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@01150000 Thunderbolt Hub@01150000 Billboard Interface@0 "Other World Computing" "Thunderbolt Hub"
            |       +-o AppleUSB20XHCIPort@01200000
            |       +-o AppleUSB30XHCIPort@01300000 USB3.0 Hub@01300000 AppleUSB30Hub@01300000 "Intel Corporation." "USB3.0 Hub"
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@01310000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@01320000
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@01330000 USB to PCIE Bridge@01330000 "JMicron" "USB to PCIE Bridge" SABRENT ROCKET-PRO Media
            |       |   | +-o AppleUSB30HubPort@01340000
            |       +-o AppleUSB30XHCIPort@01400000
            +-o pci-bridge@1 IOPP         -> DSB0@0/IOPP/NHI0@0/AppleThunderboltHAL/AppleThunderboltNHIType3/IOThunderboltController/IOThunderboltPort@7/IOThunderboltSwitchType3/IOThunderboltPort@3/IOThunderboltPort@1/IOThunderboltSwitchOS/IOThunderboltPort@A
            |   +-o pci-bridge@0 IOPP     -> DSB0@0/IOPP/NHI0@0/AppleThunderboltHAL/AppleThunderboltNHIType3/IOThunderboltController/IOThunderboltPort@7/IOThunderboltSwitchType3/IOThunderboltPort@3/IOThunderboltPort@1/IOThunderboltSwitchOS/IOThunderboltPort@3/IOThunderboltPort@1/IOThunderboltSwitchType3/IOThunderboltPort@6
            |       +-o pci-bridge@1 IOPP
            |       |   +-o pci1b21,612@0 AppleAHCI
            |       |       +-o PRT0@0 IOAHCIDevice@0 AppleAHCIDiskDriver IOAHCIBlockStorageDevice IOBlockStorageDriver WDC WUH721414ALE6L4 Media
            |       |       +-o PRT1@1
            |       +-o pci-bridge@4 IOPP -> DSB0@0/IOPP/NHI0@0/AppleThunderboltHAL/AppleThunderboltNHIType3/IOThunderboltController/IOThunderboltPort@7/IOThunderboltSwitchType3/IOThunderboltPort@3/IOThunderboltPort@1/IOThunderboltSwitchOS/IOThunderboltPort@3/IOThunderboltPort@1/IOThunderboltSwitchType3/IOThunderboltPort@7
            +-o pci-bridge@2 IOPP
            +-o pci-bridge@3 IOPP
            +-o pci-bridge@4 IOPP

OWC's Upcoming Thunderbolt Hub Adds More Thunderbolt 3 Ports to Your Mac

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