USB C Hub - Enough Power To Run Portable Hard Drives?

[desertman]

I might be buying a 2018 MacBook Pro which has only USB C ports. With my current 2013 MacBook Pro I'm using a powered USB 3 hub for all my external devices, including 2 portable hard drives. That works well, for the hard drives supposedly because the hub is powered anbd delivering enough power to the drives.

Now I'm looking at USB C hubs - and all of them seem to be without external power supply. Is that normal with USB C? Are USB C port so powerful that the hubs do not need to be powered themselves?

Greetings, and take care.

desertman

 

[adib]

Many USB-C hubs includes a passthrough for USB-C power. They typically siphon some energy from the laptop's power supply. I have a UGreen 8-in-1 "portable dock" (hub, displays, network, card readers) that garnishes ~10W from the power supply.

 

[glenthompson]

Got one for my wife’s iMac and ran into power issues with some devices. Spinning drive didn’t have enough power and wouldn’t charge her iPad. Turns out the iMac usb-c only provides 15 watts of power. Try to see how much power the MBP port supplies and go from there.

 

[justashooter]

There are externally powered USB-C hubs out there, just search for "powered USB-C hubs". But if you are not adding any USB-C devices I would just get a USB-C to USB-A adapter, such as thus https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJ1M2AM/A/usb-c-to-usb-adapter or https://www.bestbuy.com/site/kanex-usb-type-c-to-usb-adapter-white/5586820.p?skuId=5586820 and continue to use the hub you have.