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With these Thunderbolt 3 USB-C Ports, how do you deal with USB Drives? Any recommendations for USB-C

What do you do with USB drives on the new Macbooks?

  • Buy USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 USB Drives and Use Adapter on Other Machines/Laptops

    Votes: 5 45.5%

  • Buy regular USB Drives and use Adapter to USB-C on your USB-C Port Macbook

    Votes: 6 54.5%
  • Total voters
    11
Starfyre

Starfyre

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 7, 2010
2,905
1,136
With no normal widely adopted USB ports today, how do you deal with USB drives nowadays? Do you buy normal USB drives and use an adapter to plug into your Macbook Pro? Or do you get a USB-C USB Drive and use an adapter to plug it into all other legacy USB ports on your other machines? Does anyone have recommendations for slim/sleek USB-C USB drives?

Note: Referring to Flash Drives!
 
Last edited:
How about options that take use of existing gear which most will have? And how about including Thunderbolt 3 since USB-C is not limited to USB drives?!

I bought the correct cables for my stuff at home and a USB-A adapter I have in my bag. If I were to buy anything new then obviously it is going to have USB-C since that is going to be compatible with just about anything the coming years.
 
I have all of those solutions. For my MacBook Pro, I have a 512GB SSD USB-C Samsung T3 drive that I use for Mac docs and Time Machine backups. For times when I need to move files between multiple machines on drives, I have three of the "combo" USB drives (32GB, 64GB, 128GB) that have USC-C on one side and USB-A on the other. And I have lots of USB A 3.0 & 2.0 drives that I use a USB-C to USB-A HUB with ethernet adapter. Also, I built a PC that has USC-C/TB3 capability so that helps as well.
 
I just use appropriate cables (USB-C to USB-Micro-B or USB-A to USB-Micro-C). No need to use any adapters at all. For thumb drives, we have some that have both a type A and type C connector.

And frankly, the question does not make much sense since there is no such thing a "regular USB drive". Almost no external USB drive directly uses a Type-A connector, its often some sort of micro Type-B or stuff like that. To connect a USB drive to a USB port on a computer, all you need is an appropriate USB cable. It doesn't matter whether we are talking about USB A, B or C or a variation thereof.
 
Starfyre said:
With no normal widely adopted USB ports today, how do you deal with USB drives nowadays? Do you buy normal USB drives and use an adapter to plug into your Macbook Pro? Or do you get a USB-C USB Drive and use an adapter to plug it into all other legacy USB ports on your other machines? Does anyone have recommendations for slim/sleek USB-C USB drives?
Click to expand...

For a slim external SSD drive look at the Samsung T3. USB-C connector and fast (500 MB/sec) (USB 3.1)

For USB sticks, you will likely need an adapter cable or hub.
 
I have a dongle for USB drives. To be honest, having been forced to be challenged with USB drives, I've used them less and found better alternatives to moving data.
 
I have a westen digital drive and just bought the USB-C cable for it for some 10.00. The cable is Micro-A (I think) to USB-C.

And with the AirPort Extreme base station and back to my Mac, I have never had to plug it in.
 
So simple
 

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I have 1 apples "dongle" permanently attatched to usb stuff i use often, those adaptors was cheap when they had the usb-c sale
 
I second the recommendation for Samsung's T3 SSD -- very small and lightweight, very fast! It comes with a USB-C - USB-A cable, but I also have the G-Drive USB-C portable drive which comes with both the USB-C to USB-A cable AND the USB-C to USB-C cable, so this provides great flexibility for my computers, including the MacBook with its sole USB-C port. The USB-C to USB-C cable works great with the Samsung T3. The T3 comes in various capacities from 256 GB to 2 TB.

The small size of the T3 makes it almost as convenient as a flash drive. I also have a very small Sandisk flash drive with USB-A connector on one end and USB-C connector on the other, so that it can be used with any machine depending upon the ports.
 
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