what to buy for Thunderbolt iMac (late 2015)

[ribbo1939]

Hi all,
My iMac (Retina 5k, 27 inc, late 2015 - has a spare thunderbolt 2 port. What I would like to do is use an external SSD as a backup . I get the impression that I can't do that as t/b2 doesn't have power and that
I would need to obtain a powered SSD.
All I have found are USB-C external SSDs but can't connect to my iMac.
Has anyone any useful ideas and tips please?

Alan

 

[mroy16]

A USB external drive (HDD or SSD) is plenty for a backup drive. There's no need to go to TB bandwidth.

 

[monokakata]

A 2.5" SSD in an external enclosure won't require external power, whether it's TB* or USB3. I have SSDs in both kinds of enclosures and they worked as expected with my old late 2014 5k iMac, and even today work great with a TB2 Macbook Pro.

On the connectivity front, there are many USB-A --> USB C cables. I mean literally a single cable. Not a dongle. I have several and they work as expected.

 

[ribbo1939]

A 2.5" SSD in an external enclosure won't require external power, whether it's TB* or USB3. I have SSDs in both kinds of enclosures and they worked as expected with my old late 2014 5k iMac, and even today work great with a TB2 Macbook Pro.

On the connectivity front, there are many USB-A --> USB C cables. I mean literally a single cable. Not a dongle. I have several and they work as expected.

Hi,
My SSDs (2 of them) are in their enclosures which are USB-c connected. I have tried a T/B 2 to TB/3 adapter using a USB-c cable but nothing connects. When I connect to the iMac via usb3 cable they work brilliantly, I was hoping I could utilise the spare TB2 port on my iMac. The other TB2 port is being used to run a TB 2 dock which also has a spare TB2 port but still am unable to use the adapter there.

 

[monokakata]

Hi,
My SSDs (2 of them) are in their enclosures which are USB-c connected. I have tried a T/B 2 to TB/3 adapter using a USB-c cable but nothing connects. When I connect to the iMac via usb3 cable they work brilliantly, I was hoping I could utilise the spare TB2 port on my iMac. The other TB2 port is being used to run a TB 2 dock which also has a spare TB2 port but still am unable to use the adapter there.

Sorry, I was unclear. What I should have said was that I have a couple of SSDs in USB3 enclosures and they worked great with USB3 type A ports on my old iMac. And I have one enclosure that's TB2 and it worked fine in the old iMac and also with the new iMac, using a TB3/TB2 adapter.

I'm pretty sure there's no way to go from TB2 to USB-c.