Question re: speed. Although the iPad Pro gen 1 had USB3 (5Gbps) over Lightning, iPhones are still USB2 (480Mbps), right? In which case it might not be faster, in terms of transfer speed from the iPhone to the drive, to use SSDs over USB thumb (flash) drives? Of course it'll still be faster to unload SSDs onto Macs / iPad Pros.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 13 Pro Connecting an SSD to iPhone 13 Pro is an absolute nightmare
- Thread starter slplss
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I’m just spitballing here, so if I’m wrong this sentence serves as the disclaimer.
So I just read this article. It’s full of ads, so I’ll box quite the important part below the link.
thomas.vanhoutte.be
That article says even with a powered adapter (like what you’re using actually), that the maximum supplied power is 500mAh. Kind of a weird measurement for them to use for this use case. What we need to know is how many watts. That will get us closer to answering this question, I think.
Can someone else chime in in regards to the output (wattage) of that lightning/USB adapter?
This article says that a similar SSD (I don’t know if it’s the same one as you OP) can draw as much as 7W (though these types of devices can work with lower outputs, down to a minimum i assume).
So I just read this article. It’s full of ads, so I’ll box quite the important part below the link.
External drive on iOS 13: This Accessory requires too much power
With the newest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 13, you can now easily connect external hard drives (e.g. USB thumbdrive, keyboard, mouse) and manage files directly from your iPad or iPhone. If you are using an adapter cable to connect a USB hard drive to your iOS device, you may...
That article says even with a powered adapter (like what you’re using actually), that the maximum supplied power is 500mAh. Kind of a weird measurement for them to use for this use case. What we need to know is how many watts. That will get us closer to answering this question, I think.
Can someone else chime in in regards to the output (wattage) of that lightning/USB adapter?
This article says that a similar SSD (I don’t know if it’s the same one as you OP) can draw as much as 7W (though these types of devices can work with lower outputs, down to a minimum i assume).
Yes, all iPhones are stuck at USB 2.0 speeds. So you can definitely get flash drives that read and write at 100 MB/s and you get up to 60 MB/s with USB 2.0 (real world 40-50 MB/s).
I already tried that 😔. From your previous comment, it would make a perfect sense that the SSD draws too much power and not even the Camera adapter would help it. But as Snørrbjørg showed it works for him with the same SSD and it worked for me, for a while. Most plausible scenario at the moment is that the Camera adapter broke. I read somehwhere the the current Lighting Camera to to USB 3.0 adapter not only supports Pass Through Charging, but also powers the devices connected to the USB-3 port.
I'll hopefully get the final answer when the new Camera adapter and Samsung T7 SSD arrives.
Oh, I must have missed that. I didn’t realize the SSD worked for the other fellow.
I really hope the new adapter and SSD works. Best of luck to you friend.
Enjoy your vacation!!You've done multi-gigabyte uploads on hotel wifi? Sure. I guess you've been blessed with some pretty great wifi connections in your hotels.
IHG hotels mostly due to work and me using their rewards. But in all seriousness when I do take pictures, I have found them in iCloud by the next morning when going to sleep.
Update: It was the Sandisk SSD, both of them. For some reason, they don't work for me anymore on iPhone (3 initial successful connections out of maybe 200 tries in total). Ok Sandisk, never again.
Samsung T7: not so rugged, but nice metal chasis, two short USB-A-C USB-C-C cables in the package (unlike the SanDisk provided USBC-A adapter I lost couple of times), a nice, blinking blue led light turns solid indicating the drive is powered. Most importantly: it works every single time, no matter the cable and its rotation, and the alignment of stars. As soon as I power on the brick (doesn't even need the USB-C PD ports, Qi USB-A does suffice), the T7 drive lights on and pops up in Files.
Interesting note: unlike Sandisk that tries to (unsuccessfully) connect with the power bank disconnected, the Samsung T7 drive stays off (no LED light), leaving no unsufficient power pop ups. I think this is how it should work. Cancelling my Camera adapter replacement order.
BTW I tried connecting the SanDisk SSDs with the Samsung provided cables. Nope.
Wish I could change my title: Connecting a SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD to iPhone 13 is a nightmare.
Still, having to carry two cables, one power bank and camera adapter just to do that.. is very annoying.
Samsung T7: not so rugged, but nice metal chasis, two short USB-A-C USB-C-C cables in the package (unlike the SanDisk provided USBC-A adapter I lost couple of times), a nice, blinking blue led light turns solid indicating the drive is powered. Most importantly: it works every single time, no matter the cable and its rotation, and the alignment of stars. As soon as I power on the brick (doesn't even need the USB-C PD ports, Qi USB-A does suffice), the T7 drive lights on and pops up in Files.
Interesting note: unlike Sandisk that tries to (unsuccessfully) connect with the power bank disconnected, the Samsung T7 drive stays off (no LED light), leaving no unsufficient power pop ups. I think this is how it should work. Cancelling my Camera adapter replacement order.
BTW I tried connecting the SanDisk SSDs with the Samsung provided cables. Nope.
Wish I could change my title: Connecting a SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD to iPhone 13 is a nightmare.
Still, having to carry two cables, one power bank and camera adapter just to do that.. is very annoying.
Last edited:
i have that exact SanDisk SSD for my 12 pro Max. works well enough for me.perhaps you got a faulty phone/ssd?
Not every hotel has broadband wifi like that. In some situations you can barely get an email out becuase you and every other guest are sharing some DSL line over an overtaxed router. And even setting that aside for a minute, there's a massive difference between syncing a day's photos (maybe 500 MB if you've been shooting all day) and a day's high-end video, which could easily be 10x as much data.
Which is where a laptop comes in handy, not an external SSD. If you are that kind of user, it likely means you have supplementary equipment like a laptop to pull those videos.
Samsung T7 works with everything, SanDisk works with everything except iPhone. It is a mystery.
I’ll be out somewhere on the road in au for 3 weeks, so laptop is out of the question. I‘m considering iPad but with this setup it won’t be necessary.
What about a flash drive? I mean, those don't have the high power requirements an SSD does.
I don’t know, are there any good 1TB USB-C flash drives? Ever since external SSDs became a standard, I stopped using them.