Thunderbolt to USB 3.1/Ethernet adapter

[iluvmacs99]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and had just signed up on to this forum to ask a quick question of sort.

I own a 2011 Mac Mini Core i5 2.5Ghz with 240Gb SSD + 64Gb SSD for video editing, 8Gb ram and a 500Gb firewire drive plus a back up USB 2 RAID 5 for storage. Right now, I'm quite happy editing and rendering on this mac, but I'm maxed out on scratch hard drive space. The only port I hadn't used is the Thunderbolt port. A few years back, I thought anything Thunderbolt was too expensive, so I stuck with USB 2. But USB 2 transfer rates are just too slow compared to my Macbook Air which do have 2 USB 3 ports. Basically, I pull 4k, 1080p and 720p footage from the SD cards and copy them to my USB 3 drive array using my Macbook Air and then I unplug the drive array to reattach it to my Mac Mini to be copied to iMovie. The copying process from USB 2.0 to native SSD is SLOW, but once on SSD, everything is fast. But once I've completed a movie and then transcoding it back to a device format and copying it back through USB 2 and I'm back to a slow process again.

I think I found the solution and that is to buy a Thunderbolt to USB 3 adapter made by Star Tech or Kanex, but I'm not too sure how good is this adapter with the Mac Mini 5,1. Does anyone have any experience with the Kanex/Star Tech Thunderbolt to USB 3 adapter?

Thank you!

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I've not used that adapter... but a quick search indicates it's around $90, which seems like a heck of a lot of money to sink into an 8-year-old computer. How about just using a Thunderbolt cable to connect the Macbook Air directly to the Mini, and copy the files that way?

 

[chrfr]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and had just signed up on to this forum to ask a quick question of sort.

I own a 2011 Mac Mini Core i5 2.5Ghz with 240Gb SSD + 64Gb SSD for video editing, 8Gb ram and a 500Gb firewire drive plus a back up USB 2 RAID 5 for storage. Right now, I'm quite happy editing and rendering on this mac, but I'm maxed out on scratch hard drive space. The only port I hadn't used is the Thunderbolt port. A few years back, I thought anything Thunderbolt was too expensive, so I stuck with USB 2. But USB 2 transfer rates are just too slow compared to my Macbook Air which do have 2 USB 3 ports. Basically, I pull 4k, 1080p and 720p footage from the SD cards and copy them to my USB 3 drive array using my Macbook Air and then I unplug the drive array to reattach it to my Mac Mini to be copied to iMovie. The copying process from USB 2.0 to native SSD is SLOW, but once on SSD, everything is fast. But once I've completed a movie and then transcoding it back to a device format and copying it back through USB 2 and I'm back to a slow process again.

I think I found the solution and that is to buy a Thunderbolt to USB 3 adapter made by Star Tech or Kanex, but I'm not too sure how good is this adapter with the Mac Mini 5,1. Does anyone have any experience with the Kanex/Star Tech Thunderbolt to USB 3 adapter?

Thank you!

A Thunderbolt 1 or 2 dock is expensive but offers a lot of connectivity options. Something like this would work: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Thunderbolt/Dock/OWC/Thunderbolt2-Dock/
You may also be able to find these used for less money. Caldigit makes good products and they had a Thunderbolt 1 dock which they haven't made for a few years. Your computer can use a Thunderbolt 1 or 2 device, it just won't get the extra speed from the Thunderbolt 2 ports.

 

[iluvmacs99]

I've not used that adapter... but a quick search indicates it's around $90, which seems like a heck of a lot of money to sink into an 8-year-old computer. How about just using a Thunderbolt cable to connect the Macbook Air directly to the Mini, and copy the files that way?

You are right and to be honest, I also don't really want to sink in anymore money on my 8 year old Mac Mini computer with the old version of Thunderbolt, when the new Mac Mini has the newer TB3 ports that supports the newer TB3 accessories and it also has 2 USB 3 ports. I never thought about connecting the 2 computers together via Thunderbolt and copying files using Target Disk mode if this is what you are alluding to? The Thunderbolt cables are definitely a much cheaper route, plus if I do get a new Mac Mini 2018 in a few years time once the new 64bit OS (past Mojave) settles down as my upgrade from my old Mini, then I can buy the USB-C TB3 adapter Apple sells to connect to the TB1/2 cable I'm planning to buy so I can eventually setup my older Mac Mini 5,1 in Target Disk mode to allow the Mac Mini 2018 to copy files from? Does my train of thought sounds right? I would be keeping the older Mini as a legacy hub for my older software and hardware which I have and won't run on the newer OS past Mojave.

 

[Fishrrman]

You'd do better to hunt down a 2012 Mini with an i7.
USB3, tbolt2 -- for probably not all that much money.

 

[iluvmacs99]

A Thunderbolt 1 or 2 dock is expensive but offers a lot of connectivity options. Something like this would work: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Thunderbolt/Dock/OWC/Thunderbolt2-Dock/
You may also be able to find these used for less money. Caldigit makes good products and they had a Thunderbolt 1 dock which they haven't made for a few years. Your computer can use a Thunderbolt 1 or 2 device, it just won't get the extra speed from the Thunderbolt 2 ports.

Wow, that price is a bit more than I am willing to spend since I will be planning to upgrade to a newer Mac Mini 2018 in a few years time which uses TB3 and is much faster. But I'll definitely look around for used docks in my local Mac shop -- they usually get a lot of unusual used Mac related stuff they bought from video/music production companies when they upgrade. In fact, I might make a trip down there this weekend to see if they have a used TB1/2 dock and a used TB1/2 cable. Thank you for sharing this dock -- I certainly wouldn't know they exist!

You'd do better to hunt down a 2012 Mini with an i7.
USB3, tbolt2 -- for probably not all that much money.

I was thinking about that as well, but with the introduction of the newer Mac Mini 2018, especially the Core i3 model which is what I am planning to upgrade towards, I am a little hesitant spending the money I have saved now on the 2012 model when the 2018 model has a new processor and TB3. Eventually, the Core i3 will be married to a TB3 eGPU for one my photo AI apps that supports this for much faster rendering. So right now, I'm hunting for a cheaper solution that I could get by for at least 2 more years before I replace my old Mini with the Core i3.

 

[chrfr]

Wow, that price is a bit more than I am willing to spend since I will be planning to upgrade to a newer Mac Mini 2018 in a few years time which uses TB3 and is much faster. But I'll definitely look around for used docks in my local Mac shop -- they usually get a lot of unusual used Mac related stuff they bought from video/music production companies when they upgrade. In fact, I might make a trip down there this weekend to see if they have a used TB1/2 dock and a used TB1/2 cable. Thank you for sharing this dock -- I certainly wouldn't know they exist!

You could also buy a Thunderbolt 3 dock, which would also require a Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter to work with the older Mac, but it'd be fully compatible with the new Mini as well.

 

[Sarpanch]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and had just signed up on to this forum to ask a quick question of sort.

I own a 2011 Mac Mini Core i5 2.5Ghz with 240Gb SSD + 64Gb SSD for video editing, 8Gb ram and a 500Gb firewire drive plus a back up USB 2 RAID 5 for storage. Right now, I'm quite happy editing and rendering on this mac, but I'm maxed out on scratch hard drive space. The only port I hadn't used is the Thunderbolt port. A few years back, I thought anything Thunderbolt was too expensive, so I stuck with USB 2. But USB 2 transfer rates are just too slow compared to my Macbook Air which do have 2 USB 3 ports. Basically, I pull 4k, 1080p and 720p footage from the SD cards and copy them to my USB 3 drive array using my Macbook Air and then I unplug the drive array to reattach it to my Mac Mini to be copied to iMovie. The copying process from USB 2.0 to native SSD is SLOW, but once on SSD, everything is fast. But once I've completed a movie and then transcoding it back to a device format and copying it back through USB 2 and I'm back to a slow process again.

I think I found the solution and that is to buy a Thunderbolt to USB 3 adapter made by Star Tech or Kanex, but I'm not too sure how good is this adapter with the Mac Mini 5,1. Does anyone have any experience with the Kanex/Star Tech Thunderbolt to USB 3 adapter?

Thank you!

See if you can get a used Lacie Thunderbolt external drive. These drives are easy to open up and you can replace the internal HDD with a new SSD. This will give you the fastest speeds possible. These drives have USB3 as well.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I never thought about connecting the 2 computers together via Thunderbolt and copying files using Target Disk mode if this is what you are alluding to?

Target Disk Mode is an option, but you can actually just use Thunderbolt Bridge to set up a private network between the two and you don't have to reboot either computer into Target Disk Mode. See this section of the macOS help, this is for Mojave which obviously you don't have on your 2011 Mini but it's been pretty much the same for many versions.
[doublepost=1554936099][/doublepost]

You'd do better to hunt down a 2012 Mini with an i7.
USB3, tbolt2 -- for probably not all that much money.

Still TB1 in a 2012. It'd be a 2014 Mini to get TB2.

 

[iluvmacs99]

Target Disk Mode is an option, but you can actually just use Thunderbolt Bridge to set up a private network between the two and you don't have to reboot either computer into Target Disk Mode. See this section of the macOS help, this is for Mojave which obviously you don't have on your 2011 Mini but it's been pretty much the same for many versions.
[doublepost=1554936099][/doublepost]
Still TB1 in a 2012. It'd be a 2014 Mini to get TB2.

I'll investigate the Thunderbolt bridge option; anything to allow me transfer big files easier from my Mini back to MBA and vice versa. Thank you.