I have a four bay enclosure (hard drives) with two Thunderbolt 2 connections. The T2 connections are the only ones on the enclosure. It is connected to my 2017 iMac Thunderbolt 3 port via an adapter cable. The 4 drives inside are each 6TB spinning 3.5" drives. I have a dock but it has no T2 connector. I would like to connect my enclosure to my iMac via a USB3 port but it appears there are no such cables. Am I correct in my belief that one cannot connect an enclosure with a Thunderbolt 2 port into an iMac USB 3 port?
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Firewire2 enclosure connected to USB3 port on iMac
- Thread starter santa
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USB 3 ports are USB only.
If you had a newer Mac with USB-C ports, those also connect with Thunderbolt 3, but not your USB3 ports.
Is there some problem with connecting that T2 enclosure to one of your iMac's T3 ports? Is that not working? Ultimately, even a TB3 connection would be limited to TB2 speeds because your drive enclosure would be limited to TB2.
If you had a newer Mac with USB-C ports, those also connect with Thunderbolt 3, but not your USB3 ports.
Is there some problem with connecting that T2 enclosure to one of your iMac's T3 ports? Is that not working? Ultimately, even a TB3 connection would be limited to TB2 speeds because your drive enclosure would be limited to TB2.
My Thunderbolt 3 is in the form of USB-C. There are two USB-C connections that are Thunderbolt 3. The T2 enclosure connects to one of the USB-C Thunderbolt 3 connections with an adapter but because it is T2 it "wastes" that port and I'd like to get another T3 based hard drive an connect the T2 enclosure to one of my USB 3 ports but apparently that's not possible. I was hoping somebody might tell me I was wrong and there was some adapter or means by which I could use the Thunderbolt 2 enclosure connected to a USB 3 port. Apparently if I want to free up that T3 port I'll have to buy a different T3 enclosure with two T3 ports so I can chain something off it. Thanks for the input.
You can't connect your existing drive to USB, which means that you have a choice of 2 TB3 ports to use that enclosure.
Your USB-C ports on the iMac also provide TB3 to devices that support that. Storage drives often have a second TB port, so maybe your new TB3 drive would also have a second port where you can chain your existing TB2 drive (with the adapter that you already have for that). Sometimes -- that chain doesn't work, but if it does, that would answer your question. Or, get a USB-C drive, instead of TB3. That would give you the choice, just by changing cables on that new drive, to use either the iMac's USB-C or USB3 connections. That's another idea, unless you need ultimate speed on the new drive, and need that TB3 connection for an external SSD, for example. Or, you can use an external drive using USB with the dock that you have (?)
Lots of possible combinations there, I bet.
Your USB-C ports on the iMac also provide TB3 to devices that support that. Storage drives often have a second TB port, so maybe your new TB3 drive would also have a second port where you can chain your existing TB2 drive (with the adapter that you already have for that). Sometimes -- that chain doesn't work, but if it does, that would answer your question. Or, get a USB-C drive, instead of TB3. That would give you the choice, just by changing cables on that new drive, to use either the iMac's USB-C or USB3 connections. That's another idea, unless you need ultimate speed on the new drive, and need that TB3 connection for an external SSD, for example. Or, you can use an external drive using USB with the dock that you have (?)
Lots of possible combinations there, I bet.
You can't connect firewire to a 2017 iMac without using a "2-dongle solution":
- firewire-to-thunderbolt2 adapter
- thunderbolt2-to-thunderbolt3 adapter
This would connect to the USBc port.
There's no way to connect to a USB3 (i.e., USBa form factor) port.
None of this is worth it.
IF the firewire enclosure can be easily opened, take the drive inside OUT OF it, and then use either a USBc external enclosure or a USB3/SATA docking station to connect the drive.
- firewire-to-thunderbolt2 adapter
- thunderbolt2-to-thunderbolt3 adapter
This would connect to the USBc port.
There's no way to connect to a USB3 (i.e., USBa form factor) port.
None of this is worth it.
IF the firewire enclosure can be easily opened, take the drive inside OUT OF it, and then use either a USBc external enclosure or a USB3/SATA docking station to connect the drive.
The OP only mentioned Firewire2 in the thread title, but OP posts only talk about Thunderbolt and USB.
I suspect that OP is not using Firewire at all.
Also, Firewire2 is meaningless (and probably a "red herring" in this thread), but Thunderbolt 2 is more likely -- so OP merely mis-typed on the title.
I suspect that OP is not using Firewire at all.
Also, Firewire2 is meaningless (and probably a "red herring" in this thread), but Thunderbolt 2 is more likely -- so OP merely mis-typed on the title.
