Connecting more than two USB-C devices to an iMac

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Connecting more than two USB-C devices to an iMac

My iMac (2017) bought a few months ago has only two USB-c ports. One uses a USB-C drive I had to purchase for photos etc, one runs an external monitor via the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter. I also have two firewire drives which I use for back up with the appropriate connectors plugged into a USB-C port.

As you can see I have need of 3 USB-C ports but only have two so have to unplug my external monitor whenever I want to back up onto my firewire drives. Is there any adaptor that will solve this very annoying problem.

Thanks.

iMac 27" 5K, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 27, 2019 4:21 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Malcolm J. Rayfield

Level 7

23,095 points

Jul 1, 2019 1:22 PM in response to Michael Hambly

Those USB-C ports support Thunderbolt-3, so if you get a hub, make sure it's Thunderbolt-3, not just USB-C. Thunderbolt-3 docks can support multiple devices and displays from one computer port. Some docks include FireWire.

If you get Thunderbolt-3 drives with two ports, you can daisy chain multiple devices to one computer port.

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Answer 2

Jun 27, 2019 9:37 PM in response to Michael Hambly

You can get USB hubs which all connect to a single port on your computer. I have one that has 10 ports. USB-C are going to cost a bit more but the USB-2 ones are fairly inexpensive (mine was $35? 2 years ago) if you don't need USB3 speed.

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Answer 3

Jul 1, 2019 10:13 AM in response to Michael Hambly

I'm not overly familiar with that model. Doesn't it have Thunderbolt ports too?

You're luck you got two. Look at the MacBook with only one port. You can't charge it and use anything else at the same time unless you start making it look like mating octopi.

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Answer 4

Jul 25, 2019 2:44 AM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

Thanks Malcom for your advice, alas I already bought a d2 Professional 4 TB which only has one port. I really like Apple products and have use them since the Apple II but boy can they be maddening when it comes to interfaces, minimum internal memory, dropping DVDs etc.

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Answer 5

Jul 1, 2019 8:40 AM in response to Limnos

Thanks, I'm actually backing up at the minute via one of the USB ports but much slower. It's hard to understand why Apple don't put more than 2 USB-C ports in the iMacs, they're not cheap computers!

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Connecting more than two USB-C devices to an iMac

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