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Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter Not Working??

This was from an old thread...


I have a OWC dual enclosure with TB2 and USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports. Time Machine runs on the HDD and I had used the SSD as a boot disk on my '15 iMac.


Replaced the iMac with a Mac Mini M2, connected the enclosure using the same cable to the Apple TB2--> TB3 adaptor, plugged adaptor into port on MM and reformatted both disks (not the TM backup right away).


Using the enclosure's TB2 port, everything worked well for a week or so and then the disks started ejecting, usually when display sleeping, but not always. Fast forward, spoke with Apple Support many times, tried all different settings, etc. The next step is for them to send to Engineering.


On a whim, found a USB 3.1 to USB-A cable and plugged into the enclosure and the MM. So far, no ejections (couple of days).


Is the Apple adaptor faulty or not engineered for what it says it should do? I would think if engineering issue, it would not have worked from the git go.

Mac mini, macOS 15.0

Posted on Sep 27, 2024 8:47 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 27, 2024 9:29 AM

There is no gain in using the enclosures Thunderbolt 2 connection over using it's USB 3.1 connection.


Reason being, is that a USB 3.1 connection is plenty fast enough for the SATA 500MB/s SSD that enclosure accepts.


Just make sure that you have a USB 3.1 cable or adapter and cable, instead of a USB 2.0 cable or adapter and cable.

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 27, 2024 9:29 AM in response to Marc Schreiber

There is no gain in using the enclosures Thunderbolt 2 connection over using it's USB 3.1 connection.


Reason being, is that a USB 3.1 connection is plenty fast enough for the SATA 500MB/s SSD that enclosure accepts.


Just make sure that you have a USB 3.1 cable or adapter and cable, instead of a USB 2.0 cable or adapter and cable.

Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter Not Working??

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