What are some of the best peripherals - external USB hubs for Mac Studio?

[machenryr]

I know I can search. I'm sure this has been covered a lot. I'm sure there's sticky that I haven't found. But I just got a Mac Studio M4 Max. Long time Mac Pro user. I still have my 2019 7,1 and two 2010MPs. My 7,1 was maxed out with PCIe cards - mainly SSD and USB cards. But a few other music related cards. I also had the Flex drive thing and a bunch of HD arrays. I'm at kind of a loss for what are the best peripherals to get. I bought two 7 port Sabrent thunderbolt hubs, with four USB-C and only three 3.0. I'm going to need a lot more than that. I suppose it's safe to plug in my older 3,0 hubs into the Sabrent Hub. I've had some unexpected crashes or weirdnesses with USB peripherals. Not sure yet whether it's the device it's self or arguments between protocols.

So after all that, what are some of the best peripherals for the new silicon Macs? And what should be avoided? And is there a sticky?

 

[PaulD-UK]

Searching for ‘the Flex drive thing’ and ‘7 port Sabrent thunderbolt hub… and only three 3.0’ doesn’t bring up anything even vaguely useful… 😐

As a rule Apple silicon works far more reliably with Thunderbolt peripherals -
TB3 or TB5 self powered enclosures for SSDs,
USB4 bus powered enclosures for up to 2 (maximum) SSDs.
And TB3 multi port docks for USB-C/USB-A USB 3.x devices.

TB4 hubs are excellent for connecting multiple (2) displays or extra TB3 enclosures/peripherals.

Connecting USB-C or USB-A cable adapters for USB 3.x peripherals directly to the Mac’s TB5 ports can be, as you describe, unexpected or weird…

 

[machenryr]

Searching for ‘the Flex drive thing’ and ‘7 port Sabrent thunderbolt hub… and only three 3.0’ doesn’t bring up anything even vaguely useful… 😐

As a rule Apple silicon works far more reliably with Thunderbolt peripherals -
TB3 or TB5 self powered enclosures for SSDs,
USB4 bus powered enclosures for up to 2 (maximum) SSDs.
And TB3 multi port docks for USB-C/USB-A USB 3.x devices.

TB4 hubs are excellent for connecting multiple (2) displays or extra TB3 enclosures/peripherals.

Connecting USB-C or USB-A cable adapters for USB 3.x peripherals directly to the Mac’s TB5 ports can be, as you describe, unexpected or weird…

Thank you. Yeah, the search function. I'm, rebuilding studio and am under the gun, so I'm just I'm pulling my non existent hair out. So thought it was best to not tempt fate by getting a 10 port hub, but rather two 7; (4 USBc and 3 3.0 as I said). Have you noticed a weirdnesses plugging an older C/3 hub into a TB plugged directly into the Mac?

 

[PaulD-UK]

By far the most trouble free connection for USB 3.x peripherals is to connect them to a TB3 dock.
The dock then deals with controlling the peripherals.

TB4/5 docks work differently and are not as effective - they pass through USB control back to the Mac, which doesn’t prevent the problem behaviours.