Force Thunderbolt 3 on iMac Pro for external ssd

[pshufd]

I have an iMac Pro (though this would apply to 2017, 2019, 2020 iMacs as well) with a USB4/Thunderbolt 4 enclosure and a USB4/Thunderbolt 4 (and lower) cable. When I connect the external SSD to the iMac Pro, it switches to USB 3 mode whereas I want Thunderbolt 3 mode.

When I connect it with the Thunderbolt 4 cable to my Mac Studio, it connects via Thunderbolt. When I connect via a USB 4 cable, it connects via USB.

What can I do to get it to connect via Thunderbolt 3 to the iMac Pro?

 

[PaulD-UK]

SSD Enclosure type?
If it’s the OWC 1M2 (that you posted about last Sunday), OWC have said that it doesn’t support TB3 mode on Intel Macs.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/owc-express-1m2-versus-maiwo-40gbps-m-2-nvme.2441898/post-33589246

MacOS version matters for other enclosures, with Intel Macs. It has to be fairly recent, I think Ventura+.

Edit:
I just tested my Quiizlab USB4 enclosure on my iMac Pro, and everything shows up as it should, although the TB3 Write performance is only at the level of PCIe 3x2 channels...
Good enough. 😀

 

[pshufd]

SSD Enclosure type?
If it’s the OWC 1M2 (that you posted about last Sunday), OWC have said that it doesn’t support TB3 mode on Intel Macs.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/owc-express-1m2-versus-maiwo-40gbps-m-2-nvme.2441898/post-33589246

MacOS version matters for other enclosures, with Intel Macs. It has to be fairly recent, I think Ventura+.

Okay, that helps a lot. I'll just leave the 1M2 on my Studio.