Hello,
Does anyone have any recommendations for a hub with SSD for a Mac mini M4? I want one with multi ports and an in-built drive. I've seen one by a company called Raycue, anyone have experience of these? Are they reliable?
Also what's the difference between a normal SSD and NVME?
Thanks
Kind Regards
Dave
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Mac mini, macOS 15.1
mandarcy wrote:
Aah I see so NVMe is just the connection bus? Those hubs I've seen connect to the Mac via a port on the back (Thunderbolt?) so I guess you wouldn't get the full speed of NVMe anyway would you?
It depends on the particulars of the case. There are some M.2 PCIe NVMe SSDs whose theoretical maximum speed exceeds what Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and USB4 40 Gbps can support. But connecting external NVMe SSDs by one of those three methods will usually get you speeds similar to what internal ones were for a long time.
Thunderbolt 5 can offer twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3 and 4 – if both the Mac and the drive support it.
Macs do not support USB 3.2 Gen 2x2. Drives using it will fall back to (at most) USB 3.1 Gen 2 speed on a Mac.
Even a USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2) / NVMe SSD might be about
when it came to sequential access speed.
It has five but there not all the same type, I do have quite a few things to plug in (I use my Mac for music recording as well as my work) plus I've lost one already because my keyboard is wired. I do still have my Apple Pro wireless keyboard from my old Mac Pro but it won't connect.
Kind Regards
Dave
Thanks Ian, so I guess my question is answered now. If I get a power-strip style hub for extra ports, and for more storage get a regular USB 3 external SSD such as a Toshiba Canvio, I should be sorted?
Kind Regards
David
Oh I thought they had an SSD version of it. I already have several Canvio HDDs, they've been pretty reliable but I would like SSDs now for speed as I do find HDDs a bit slow saving large/multiple files to. Yes I feel the same about more than one drive to be honest, I don't really feel safe having my files exist on only one drive. Would you have any recommendations for a 2TB external SSD?
Kind Regards
Dave
I have also got a Crucial 1TB NVMe in a Thunderbolt enclosure.
The only downside is the cost . . . the NVMe was about the same as the SSD mentioned but the enclosures are extremely more expensive.
Whilst you can get USB enclosures for under £10 most Thunderbolt enclosures are around £100 . . . I was lucky to get one for £70.
It's extremely fast . . . faster than the internal SSD and it looks great on the Black Magic Disk Speed Test but it isn't any better in day to day editing than my USB SSD.
I know it's faster but was it worth it? Probably not!
I bought this cheap hub for
230 ₹ ( $2.6 )
https://amzn.in/d/8ylLHQq
My wirless mouse stops working if I connect a pendrive in usb 3.0.
Can u recommend any better hub ( type c to type 3.0 ports ) which work both storage devices and wireless mouse ( wifi based mouse)
I bought the 40Gbps RayCue Hub for my Mac Mini M4, and it’s been mostly great! The speed is up to 3300Mb/s, especially for tasks like video editing or large file transfers. The design fits seamlessly with my Mac Mini, and it’s very reliable for SSD performance,but It has fewer USB ports and lacks HDMI or card reader support, which the 10Gbps version offers.
Hi Ian,
Thanks so much, that's very helpful. I really liked the form factor of those hubs, neat and tidy but I need reliability over neatness as it's partly for my work. Thanks for the warning about power, that never occurred to me. Do you have any recommendations? Ideally I want 2TB storage (at least) and some extra ports, thanks.
Kind Regards
Dave
you can get usb-c to usb-a adaptors pretty cheap though, so if it's just that you have older usb-a stuff then you may not need a hub at all
Aah I see so NVMe is just the connection bus? Those hubs I've seen connect to the Mac via a port on the back (Thunderbolt?) so I guess you wouldn't get the full speed of NVMe anyway would you?
That looks great, many thanks.
Kind Regards
Dave
Thanks for the advice Ian, that was very helpful 👍
Beware, the Satechi hub will severely hamper your Wifi and Bluetooth.
Best hub with SSD for Mac mini M4 Raycue and NVMe vs SSD
