Can I use thunderbolt 2 port for external HD?

[leahkat]

I've used all the USB ports on my iMac(late 2015). I've been unplugging and switching 3 external drives in and out of one USB port but that's getting old. I have 2 unused Thunderbolt 2 ports... Is there a way to use the thunderbolt 2 ports for USB3 backup drives?

 

[InuNacho]

You'll need a Thunderbolt 1 or 2 dock. I run a USB 3 hard drive through a Belkin Thunderbolt 1 dock and it works perfectly.

 

[leahkat]

Thank you for the reply. Having a hard time finding a Thunderbolt 1 or 2 dock. They all seem to be TB3. I don't suppose there's an adapter for TB2 to TB3.?

 

[Fishrrman]

I -think- you can use a tbolt3 dock with a tbolt2 computer by using Apple's "thunderbolt2 to thunderbolt3" adapter.

But... all this is more trouble and $$$ than it's worth.

Why don't you get a good USB3 POWERED hub, and use that?

 

[sublunar]

I -think- you can use a tbolt3 dock with a tbolt2 computer by using Apple's "thunderbolt2 to thunderbolt3" adapter.

But... all this is more trouble and $$$ than it's worth.

Why don't you get a good USB3 POWERED hub, and use that?

That's what I was in the middle of typing up. Thunderbolt 2 is becoming rarer and is commensurately more expensive relative to the equipment it's being plugged into so a USB3 powered hub is probably the better solution if it's just occasional backup that's desired.

Also, take a look at the backup drives being used. Are they old and low capacity? Maybe consolidating onto a single larger USB3 drive is worth considering and use the other drives as off site backups?

 

[leahkat]

Thanks for the alternate solution. The external hard drives are 1-WD My book Studio 1TB, 2-WD My Passport 2TB, 1- Seagate 2TB. The MyBookStudio is the oldest. Two of these I'm accessing regularly albeit annoyingly as I have to unplug the HD I work from to plug in the HD with Time Machine a couple times a day or so for backups. The other two I access less frequently for work and personal file storage. Would a USB3 Powered Hub be slow for the HDs I'm using frequently?
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The apple thunderbolt adapter goes the wrong way unless I'm not seeing one.?

 

[sublunar]

Thanks for the alternate solution. The external hard drives are 1-WD My book Studio 1TB, 2-WD My Passport 2TB, 1- Seagate 2TB. The MyBookStudio is the oldest. Two of these I'm accessing regularly albeit annoyingly as I have to unplug the HD I work from to plug in the HD with Time Machine a couple times a day or so for backups. The other two I access less frequently for work and personal file storage. Would a USB3 Powered Hub be slow for the HDs I'm using frequently?

If it's just backup then a powered hub should be fine. If not all drives are in use at the same time you should be ok with just that.

I was just thinking there are 4Tb portable hard drives on the market now quite cheap. Data can be copied to them to alleviate the issue leaving the original drives as potentially offsite backup.

 

[leahkat]

Thanks so much for the advice!