Mac Mini M4 Not Detecting Thunderbolt 3 to 2 Adapter

For what it is worth, I have a Mac mini M4 Pro. I connect to my Promise Pegasus2 R4(TB2) via an Apple TB 3 to TB2 adapter. Everything works just fine.

A couple of points:

1. Apple does not list the M4 Mac Mini as being compatible with the Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 adapter cable. No power is transferred across this cable.
2. Contact Akitio about their stated compatibility with the M4 Mac mini.

VikingOSX wrote:

A couple of points:

Apple does not list the M4 Mac Mini as being compatible with the Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 adapter cable1.

I would hope that is simply due to failure to update the description, and not due to a lack of compatibility.

No power is transferred across this cable.

That's a well-known limitation. The thing apparently supplies just enough power to allow daisy-chaining with a now-discontinued Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire 800 adapter – but as far as any sort of device that relies upon significant amounts of bus power, forget it!

Not exactly the same problem, but close: I have a T3 SanDisk G-Drive Pro that I have been using via its USB-C port with an older Mac. I just received my M4 MacMini and was looking forward to a performance boost by using the Thunderbolt 3 ports that are also featured on this external drive. The M4 MacMini does recognize the drive when I use the USB-C port, but does not recognize the drive when I try to use either one of the two T3 ports. The results I get are:

1) A window pops up stating that the external T3 Accessory can't be used, and that I should connect it to a Thunderbolt port on this Mac. (Almost like the MacMini doesn't know it has Thunderbolt 4 ports.)

2) It does not show up in Disk Utilities at all, when connect to the T3 ports on the external hard drive.

A final note: I also purchased an OWC NVME external T4 drive (Envoy Sidecar), that is recognized by the MacMini, but, it shows up in Disk Utilities as a USB device. I don't know if that means anything, but, there it is.

If that is an Apple Cinema Display, it is not a Thunderbolt 2 device and will not work if plugged into the Thunderbolt 2 side of an Apple Thunderbolt 3-to-2 adapter.

Thunderbolt 1 & 2 use the Mini DisplayPort connector, and Thunderbolt 1 & 2 ports on old Macs can double as Mini DisplayPorts. The adapter, though, doesn’t know how to pull the trick of making its TB2 port look like a Mini DisplayPort. It only translates Thunderbolt.

Thus, while you would want it if you were booking up a 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display, what you would want for a Cinema Display is a third-party USB-C (male) to Mini DisplayPort (female) adapter.