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USB Port expansion on 2018 mini

radiohead007 said:
feeling limited with 2 USB ports, and that to rear facing.. anyone considering or have tried using a thunderbolt or usb-c dock to hook in, like this one?

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3DK12PSG

It’s geared for laptops, wondering if this will suffice or other mini oriented options out there.
Click to expand...
You could also just buy some inexpensive USB-C to USB-A adapters. They're typically under $10.
 
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OP wrote:
"feeling limited with 2 USB ports..."

The 2018 Mac Mini has 6 (SIX) "USB ports".
2 of them are USB-a, and the 4 others can be used as USB-c.
Just get the right cables (or adapters).

Having said that... I'll probably use at least 1 or 2 of the USB-c ports for "low speed USB items", such as my USB keyboard and external DVD/CD/Bluray drive.

I'll reserve the legacy USB-a ports for (cough, choke) "more important" connections... ;)
 
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Fishrrman said:
(...) Having said that... I'll probably use at least 1 or 2 of the USB-c ports for "low speed USB items", such as my USB keyboard and external DVD/CD/Bluray drive. I'll reserve the legacy USB-a ports for (cough, choke) "more important" connections... ;)
Click to expand...
Why use the USB-C for low speed USB items? wouldn't it make more sense the other way around? (USB-A for the slow items, and USB-C for the fast ones).
 
I'm using this Macally USB-C to USB-3 I picked up from Amazon for $18.00. Here

I stuck it down with a bit of double sided tape facing the front which makes it much handier.

Yea, it's a little Ghetto looking but at this point in my life I'm all about Function over Form. Just the opposite of Apple.:cool:

IMG_4944.JPG
 
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I have two inexpensive hubs. One is an A and the other a C. I was expecting the C to be faster since it said it was 3.0 compatible but when I plugged drives into it they were have the speed of the the other 3.0 hub. Glad Black Magic disk tool is able to help decide which is the best configuration.
 
I just bought an external enclosure (Tooq TQE-2533B) for an SSD drive (Crucial MX500 1000GB), and it has a USB-C connection with a USB-C to USB-A cable, and an adapter (USB-A to USB-C).

If I connect it with the USB-A into a USB 3.0 hub, into the USB-C, the speed is slower (the read is a lot slower!) than connection the external drive directly into the USB-C!

USB-C to the USB 3 Hub (USB-A):
W: 404MB/s
R: 420MB/s

USB-C to USB-C:
W: 450MB/s
R: 506MB/s

So, it does really help to use the USB-C (in my case at least), compared to the USB-A (but it could also be my USB hub, but that's another test I would have to do with a different hub, that I don't have).
 
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What about a hub that connects to the USB-C port of the mini and besides having fast USB-A ports, also has a fast SD-card slot that can easily read/write at 300MB/s?
 
radiohead007 said:
feeling limited with 2 USB ports, and that to rear facing.. anyone considering or have tried using a thunderbolt or usb-c dock to hook in, like this one?

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3DK12PSG

It’s geared for laptops, wondering if this will suffice or other mini oriented options out there.
Click to expand...
The monitor that plugged to your Mac mini may have USB ports for up and down stream, which will help .
 
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enri1357 said:
Do you mean using this adapter to connect directly with the USB 3 device you have, or this adapter will make the USB 3 Hub run at 5Gbps speed as it should? I have an old Transend Hub and also marked as 2.0 in Mojave
Click to expand...
There is no way to convert a USB 2.0 device to make it perform at 3.0 speed. These adapters allow the use of USB 3.0 devices with USB-C ports at USB 3.0 speed. They’ll also allow USB 2.0 devices to work at USB 2.0 speed with USB-C ports.
 
chrfr said:
There is no way to convert a USB 2.0 device to make it perform at 3.0 speed. These adapters allow the use of USB 3.0 devices with USB-C ports at USB 3.0 speed. They’ll also allow USB 2.0 devices to work at USB 2.0 speed with USB-C ports.
Click to expand...
The hub I have originally is a NEC chip USB 3 hub. It just strangely not recognized as USB 3. Instead, it was recognized as USB 2.0 in System Profiler
 
enri1357 said:
The hub I have originally is a NEC chip USB 3 hub. It just strangely not recognized as USB 3. Instead, it was recognized as USB 2.0 in System Profiler
Click to expand...
It could be the cable or adapter you’re using. You'll have to test.
 
Dr. Stealth said:
I'm using this Macally USB-C to USB-3 I picked up from Amazon for $18.00. Here

I stuck it down with a bit of double sided tape facing the front which makes it much handier.

Yea, it's a little Ghetto looking but at this point in my life I'm all about Function over Form. Just the opposite of Apple.:cool:

View attachment 807090
Click to expand...
Somewhere, Jony Ive’s chest just tightened a little bit.
 
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