Does the thunderbolt adapter speed up transfer speeds on Time Capsule?

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Level 1

16 points

Does the thunderbolt adapter speed up transfer speeds on Time Capsule?

Hi all,

I am looking to remove all the files from my Time Capsule to my MacBook Pro Retina 2014 model (It has 2 thunderbolt 2 ports)

I have currently a ethernet to Usb 2.0 adapter and I tested with one file approx. 1GB and it was **** slow!

I am wondering if I buy the thunderbolt to ethernet adapter would that increase the transfer rate as I am unsure on the specifics of how fast the internal HDD can transfer.

Any help would be great!

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 30, 2019 10:02 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Bob Timmons

Community+ 2024

Level 10

160,292 points

Jun 30, 2019 10:28 AM in response to kilohotel

A USB 2.0 Adapter will have a maximum speed of 100 Mbps

A Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter will usually come in at 350-400 Mbps

So, general rule of thumb is that the Thunderbolt adapter will be 3-4 times faster than the USB adapter

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Answer 2

Jun 30, 2019 3:39 PM in response to kilohotel

An AC wireless computer placed near the AC wireless Time Capsule and performing at full 5ghz speed should give you the same speed as ethernet.. Time Capsule has a limited transfer speed of around 40MByte/s on a good day. Of course if you are talking about the older N wireless model then it will be difficult .. although at 450Mbps top speed translated to MB/s the wireless on the earlier models will still be faster than 100Mbps ethernet.

Ethernet is always the best though.. and well worth having thunderbolt to ethernet dongle available for when wireless is less than ideal.. i.e. 98% of the time.

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