Other Thunderbolt, USB 3.x & Early Intel Macs

[Amethyst1]

My understanding is that the adapter was primarily intended for those with newer Macs who had old TB peripherals.

As @TheShortTimer said, Apple‘s adapter is actually bidirectional (others are not!) and you can use TB3 peripherals on TB1/TB2 Macs, provided you’re running a version of macOS that’s compatible with the peripheral.

I'm not sure if the Mini would recognise a TB3 connection which postdated it.

For TB3, the official minimum is Sierra but Akitio reported using TB3 devices with El Capitan. Mavericks and Yosemite don’t seem to play nice with them.

All those I have seen are TB3 or USB-C.

The TB1/2 <> TB3 adapter won’t allow connecting USB-C devices — only TB3 ones. Using a TB3 dock has the nice side effect of also providing a 10 Gbps USB-C port (with DP Alt Mode) disguised as the second TB3 port.

In this thread, @Amethyst1 and I connected our respective MacBooks to TB3 eGPU enclosures that postdated our machines using the Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter.

Just saying my enclosures are all TB2, rigged — but not designed — to run eGPUs.

It's just a shame that the adapter has become so expensive.

Yeah, they’re going for like 30 bucks here now. Compared to the TB-to-FW thingy it’s still cheap though…

 

[weckart]

I can assure you from personal experience that it's bi-directional and intended to also connect older Macs to newer TB hardware.

In this thread, @Amethyst1 and I connected our respective MacBooks to TB3 eGPU enclosures that postdated our machines using the Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter. I use TB3 docks via the adapter on TB1 Macs. It's just a shame that the adapter has become so expensive. I purchased my first one brand new from Amazon for £18 in 2021 and the price has soared since.

Which dock(s) brands do you have in mind?

They are all pretty much generic ones using 3 or 4 reference designs under a panoply of brand names. Something like this:



They look to be much of a muchness feature wise - some offer storage, usually SATA. I shall do the usual due diligence before plumping for one but at least it should have a fighting chance of actually working.

And, yes. Another example of Apple's getting bored of a peripheral before demand has dried up. I had better get one at £30 before it goes the way of the FW dongles.

 

[Amethyst1]

They look to be much of a muchness feature wise - some offer storage, usually SATA.

I had a look at one of these generic £100-ish docks on Amazon.co.uk — the one I checked connects using USB-C (not Thunderbolt 3!), so a USB-A to USB-C cable is sufficient (the NVMe and SATA drives have to sit behind a USB bridge) — but you won’t get any display output from it (USB-C with DP Alt Mode is required for that).

 

[TheShortTimer]

They are all pretty much generic ones using 3 or 4 reference designs under a panoply of brand names. Something like this:

View attachment 2434262

They look to be much of a muchness feature wise - some offer storage, usually SATA. I shall do the usual due diligence before plumping for one but at least it should have a fighting chance of actually working.

I can see the aesthetic appeal matched up with a Mini.

And, yes. Another example of Apple's getting bored of a peripheral before demand has dried up. I had better get one at £30 before it goes the way of the FW dongles.

Yeah, they’re going for like 30 bucks here now. Compared to the TB-to-FW thingy it’s still cheap though…

Last year I got another one, from eBay instead of Amazon. It cost me £25 - opened but new. A relative bargain compared to other listings but I begrudgingly handed over the money. I wonder why the Chinese traders haven't been able to duplicate the adapter with third-party offerings like they have with TB2 cables etc.

Just saying my enclosures are all TB2, rigged — but not designed — to run eGPUs.

Okay, only I achieved TB1 to TB3 eGPU enclosure success. (With your guidance, of course.)

 

[Amethyst1]

I can see the aesthetic appeal matched up with a Mini.

And with one of these, I can pretend I have a Trash can

Okay, only I achieved TB1 to TB3 eGPU enclosure success. (With your guidance, of course.)

Yeah… using kryptonite per my guidance which caused all kinds of issues on the 2011 MBP (But we figured it out eventually.)

 

[TheShortTimer]

And with one of these, I can pretend I have a Trash can

Wow! Nice but you can have the real thing for £60 more.

Yeah… using kryptonite per my guidance which caused all kinds of issues on the 2011 MBP (But we figured it out eventually.)

We did indeed, with glorious results on a computer that was designed for extremely lightweight tasks.

 

[Amethyst1]

Bringing something up again that cropped up in this thread regarding the TC's single USB 3.0 controller:

Another MR member posted about this and pointed out that

...the USB ports all share like 1 internal lane so the bandwidth is crippled. Try importing a big batch of photos from a usb sd reader while working off files on a USB external drive and everything grinds to a trickle.

This means that if the user wants to enjoy decent results then only one USB storage device can be connected and used at a time.

The CalDigit TS3 Plus, HighPoint RocketStor 6324U (TB2) and RocketStor 6661A-4USB (TB3) have multiple USB controllers, solving this problem.

Another matter...

The Asus TB3 card has arrived. First experiment (replicating this) is successful: it does DP > USB-C DP Alt Mode conversion in ghost mode.

I’ve only confirmed USB-C DP Alt Mode works so far (the Wacom Link Plus does the same thing). We need TB video output — that will be tested once my TB3 dock arrives.

My HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 has finally arrived but even though the LED on its lid lights up once it's connected to the TB3 card (using its non-detachable TB3/power combo cable), I'm not getting any image out of it when using either of the two DisplayPorts or a CableMatters 201046 USB-C to DisplayPort adapter daisy-chained to its USB-C DP Alt Mode port. My HP Z27q isn't even detected in macOS, but the CableMatters' LED lights up FWIW.

My thoughts:

• The Asus TB3 card isn't doing DP > DP-over-TB conversion in this setup, causing the Dock to fallback to USB-C mode and HBR2×2, which the HP Z27q doesn't like.
• Daisy-chaining the CableMatters to the downstream TB3 port doesn't work either (no sign of life at all, suggesting the Dock is, indeed, in USB-C fallback mode). or
• The problem is with both the DP and the USB-C DP Alt Mode port being sourced from an internal MST hub. or
• The TB3 card and/or Dock are defective or "somehow" incompatible with each other.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Bringing something up again that cropped up in this thread regarding the TC's single USB 3.0 controller:



The CalDigit TS3 Plus, HighPoint RocketStor 6324U (TB2) and RocketStor 6661A-4USB (TB3) have multiple USB controllers, solving this problem.

Thanks for those examples.

They're all quite pricey though. It might be cheaper (but no doubt arduous) to find a used TB enclosure and equip it with a PCIe USB 3.x card that has multiple controllers.

Another matter...



My HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 has finally arrived but even though the LED on its lid lights up once it's connected to the TB3 card (using its non-detachable TB3/power combo cable), I'm not getting any image out of it when using either of the two DisplayPorts or a CableMatters 201046 USB-C to DisplayPort adapter daisy-chained to its USB-C DP Alt Mode port. My HP Z27q isn't even detected in macOS, but the CableMatters' LED lights up FWIW.

My thoughts:

• The Asus TB3 card isn't doing DP > DP-over-TB conversion in this setup, causing the Dock to fallback to USB-C mode and HBR2×2, which the HP Z27q doesn't like.
• Daisy-chaining the CableMatters to the downstream TB3 port doesn't work either (no sign of life at all, suggesting the Dock is, indeed, in USB-C fallback mode). or
• The problem is with both the DP and the USB-C DP Alt Mode port being sourced from an internal MST hub. or
• The TB3 card and/or Dock are defective or "somehow" incompatible with each other.

IIRC I couldn't obtain an image either - even within the daisy-chained scenario. What about a firmware update, as was suggested to me earlier in this thread? I imagine you've probably already applied that but nothing else comes to mind.

 

[Amethyst1]

It might be cheaper (but no doubt arduous) to find a used TB enclosure and equip it with a PCIe USB 3.x card that has multiple controllers.

Or just hook up your two Belkin TB docks and the Kanex adapter to the three TB buses and get multiple USB controllers that way. Messy but free.

What about a firmware update, as was suggested to me earlier in this thread? I imagine you've probably already applied that but nothing else comes to mind.

I haven’t because I don’t have any TB3 systems, nor the TB2-to-TB3 adapter (yet).

 

[TheShortTimer]

Or just hook up your two Belkin TB docks and the Kanex adapter to the three TB buses and get multiple USB controllers that way. Messy but free.

I can't fault that logic!

I haven’t because I don’t have any TB3 systems, nor the TB2-to-TB3 adapter (yet).

 

[Amethyst1]

I can't fault that logic!