Would a USB-C to Thunderbolt 1 adapter increase external SSD speed at all for video editing?

[basketballbrian]

I've got a Mid 2012 retina Macbook pro with Thunderbolt 1 ports and USB 3.0 ports.

I do a lot of 4k video editing off a SanDisk SSD with a 550MB/s max speed. The drive has a USB-C connector. Right now I've got it hooked up with the included USB-C to A adaptor. Would getting some sort of USB-C to Thunderbolt 1 adaptor make my hard drive perform any faster?

I'm not even sure if they make such a cable, I've looked on amazon and see plenty of USB-c to thunderbolt 2 cables but no C to thunderbolt 1. I see some USB-C to mini-display port, but not sure if that would help the speed at all

Thanks!

 

[chrfr]

I've got a Mid 2012 retina Macbook pro with Thunderbolt 1 ports and USB 3.0 ports.

I do a lot of 4k video editing off a SanDisk SSD with a 550MB/s max speed. The drive has a USB-C connector. Right now I've got it hooked up with the included USB-C to A adaptor. Would getting some sort of USB-C to Thunderbolt 1 adaptor make my hard drive perform any faster?

I'm not even sure if they make such a cable, I've looked on amazon and see plenty of USB-c to thunderbolt 2 cables but no C to thunderbolt 1. I see some USB-C to mini-display port, but not sure if that would help the speed at all

Thanks!

You'd need an (expensive) Thunderbolt 3 dock with USB-C ports on it and a Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter for this, and in the end you wouldn't see any performance improvement, so just keep using the USB cable.
The speed of your SSD fits in the USB 3 performance range just fine.

 

[jaytv111]

I've got a Mid 2012 retina Macbook pro with Thunderbolt 1 ports and USB 3.0 ports.

I do a lot of 4k video editing off a SanDisk SSD with a 550MB/s max speed. The drive has a USB-C connector. Right now I've got it hooked up with the included USB-C to A adaptor. Would getting some sort of USB-C to Thunderbolt 1 adaptor make my hard drive perform any faster?

I'm not even sure if they make such a cable, I've looked on amazon and see plenty of USB-c to thunderbolt 2 cables but no C to thunderbolt 1. I see some USB-C to mini-display port, but not sure if that would help the speed at all

Thanks!

USB-C to miniDP does not work because that only transports video and not USB data. You also cannot use the Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter with this SSD because that requires Thunderbolt protocol and this SSD is USB protocol only, despite the fact that the adapter has a type-C plug on one side.

I believe you should see about ~400 MB/s over USB 3.0 and 3.1 gen 1, that's why I typically see on an SSD that can go faster. Over USB 3.1 gen 2 (10 Gb/s) interface you can see the full speed of the SSD, up to about 1 GB/s for other faster SSDs, this one is limited to 550 MB/s.

You may be able to use a Thunderbolt 3 dock through the TB3 to TB2 adapter, although I don't know if it's all compatible with TB1. Anyways I don't think it would be worth it for a small increase in speed (400 to 550), and I think the cost is pretty high, figure about $300 for a dock and the Apple adapter is $49 and you need a TB2 cable, Apple's 2.0m cable is $39.

 

[Juicy Box]

What speeds are you currently getting over USB3? You can test using Black Magic Disk Test, it is free on the Mac App Store.

Also, what type of internal drive are you using?

Would getting some sort of USB-C to Thunderbolt 1 adaptor make my hard drive perform any faster?

You'd need an (expensive) Thunderbolt 3 dock with USB-C ports on it and a Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter for this

You may be able to use a Thunderbolt 3 dock through the TB3 to TB2 adapter, although I don't know if it's all compatible with TB1.

I currently am using a TB3 Samsung X5 on my Late 2012 iMac that has TB1.

To do this, I am using a TB1/2 cable to the Apple bi-directional TB2>TB3 adapter to a TB3 dock to the X5 using a TB3 cable.

There seems to be a bit of overhead with the dock, but I am still able to get a little over 800MBps write speeds and almost 900MBps read speeds.

Keep in mind that this is with a NVMe, which is much faster than the drive you have which is SATA III.

If you went through the trouble to get the TB3 dock, Apple adapter, and TB2 cable, I doubt you would see too much of an increase with USBc with a SATA, maybe some.

If you wanted to see a significant speed increase, you would be better off getting a new drive, such as a NVMe, in addition to the dock, adapter, and cable.

Maybe using an internal SSD would see an improvement. I get about 460MBps write and 520MBps read speeds on my internal third-party SATA III SSD boot drive on my Late 2011 MBP.

Using USB3 on another Mac, I get about 100MBps less write/read speeds using an SATA III SSD over USB3.

 

[kohlson]

here seems to be a bit of overhead with the dock, but I am still able to get a little over 800MBps write speeds and almost 900MBps read speeds.

For reference, my late 2013 15-MBP gets that performance with its internal SSD. I edit 4K no problem.

I agree with what's been posted earlier. The Sandisk drive is essentially a SATA-III price with a USB wrapper. NVMe SSDs with appropriate interface can boost disk performance.

I read an article that I believe said that when trying to connect TB1/2 to MBP, only Apple cable worked. 3rd party cables were unidirectional.

 

[Juicy Box]

For reference, my late 2013 15-MBP gets that performance with its internal SSD. I edit 4K no problem.

The 2013 Macs started using the faster SSDs in them.

The Late 2012 iMac internal drives wouldn't see speeds anywhere near 900MBps unless the two internal drives were set up as a RAID0. I thought about doing that, and I still might one day, but right now the external NVMe with the extra equipment is adequate.

I suspect the OP's 2012 MBP is similar, and the only way to see speeds of 900MBps using the internal drives is to do a RAID0.

I read an article that I believe said that when trying to connect TB1/2 to MBP, only Apple cable worked.

Yes, I believe only Apple makes a bi-directional TB3>TB2 adapter, but even that alone will not work unless the drive that is being connected has its own power supply.

Apple's bi-directional adapter doesn't provide power on the bus, which is why in addition to the bi-directional adapter, using a powered TB3 dock seems to be the best way to get it to work.