USB 3 device being shown as USB 2 in Haswell iMac

[yjchua95]

G'day y'all.

I just got myself a USB 3.0 Archgon MH 3507HUB and was hoping to obtain transfer speeds of around 90-105 MB/s.

However, I only got speeds of roughly 30MB/s.

A quick check in System Information showed that the hub was being detected as a USB 2 device, although the product is specced with USB 3.

I use a Haswell iMac with USB 3.0 ports.

Attached is a screenshot.

Is there a possibility that I've been had?

 

[gnasher729]

Plug the drive directly into the iMac, not the hub.

Edit: Just noticed, it is not just a hub but a hub with a built-in drive. In that case, my cunning plan won't work :-(

 

[yjchua95]

Plug the drive directly into the iMac, not the hub.

Edit: Just noticed, it is not just a hub but a hub with a built-in drive. In that case, my cunning plan won't work :-(

Yea, it's a hub with a SATA connector to put a 3.5" or 2.5" hard drive into it. The hub itself also contains 3 USB 3 ports.

Here's the hub: http://www.archgon.com/Web_en/MH-3507-II.html

 

[JustMartin]

Can you take out the drive and just have the hub plugged in? What does it say, then? And try adding a USB 3 device to the hub as well. I wonder if it's something odd with the drive dragging the hub down to USB2

 

[yjchua95]

Can you take out the drive and just have the hub plugged in? What does it say, then? And try adding a USB 3 device to the hub as well. I wonder if it's something odd with the drive dragging the hub down to USB2

With nothing in the hub, it's still being identified as USB 2.0. Even with a Buffalo HD-PA1.0TU3 external drive connected to it, it still states USB 2.0.

I already contacted the vendor about this, and they say they'll ship me a replacement.

 

[Bear]

This doesn't look like your issue, but I thought I'd point it out just in case. In Using USB 3 devices on Mac computers FAQ it states:

How do I get the best performance from the USB 3 ports?
The first device you plug in will configure the port, so always connect USB 3 capable hubs or devices first.

So if a USB controller in a Mac sees a non USB 3.0 device first, data transfer speeds will be capped at USB 2.0 speeds. iMacs have 2 USB controllers.

After some more thought, if it saw the keyboard first, that would limit the bus speed. Try plugging your disk into a different USB port on the iMac.