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User profile for user: UD1992
UD1992 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Connectivity Thunderbolt iMac 2013 to Thunderbolt 3 Device

Hi


To try and speed up my iMac, I bought an external SSD with the idea of making it my boot disk as I read in a number of places that this does the trick. Alternative is buying a new machine but I don't really want to do that.


I've had to connect using USB because the Thunderbolt port on my Mac is different to the Thunderbolt 3 cable on the device, and cloning it a same speed as to a HDD, so I don't know whether it will actually improve thing,hs tough obviouly I won't know till it's finished. (More than 4 hours to clone 232 Gb so far.


Is there an adaptor I can use? The Apple adaptor I found seems to be the reverse, i.e. to an older device from a new port ad needs Sierra. When I installed that I had problems with some SW, so I rolled back to El Capitan and have been running 10.11.6 since.


If not, a faster alternative to USB, e.g. Ethernet? (Time Machine is currently linked to my Ethernet port and is much faster than it was using WiFi, but I could use USB for that and free up the port.)


Thanks in advance


David

iMac 27", OS X 10.11

Posted on May 14, 2020 2:54 PM

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User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
245,459 points

Posted on May 14, 2020 3:17 PM

David, doesn't look like there's a way from 10.11.6 unless you build an adapter, or...


While a dongle exactly as above does not exist, there is an interesting workaround. The Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter you mention has some limited ability here. While the Apple adapter does work as a generic 3 to 2 adapter, it can only go from 2 to 3 if the peripheral on the other side is a native Thunderbolt 3 device. For example, this adapter works for connecting a LG UltraFine 5K Display to a Thunderbolt 2 Mac. However, it won't work with the 2016 21.5" LG UltraFine 4K Display since that monitor is USB-C only and not a Thunderbolt 3 device. It will work with the 2019 23.5" LG UltraFine 4K Display since that monitor has Thunderbolt 3.


UPDATE:

It appears that at some point one of the newer patches to macOS High Sierra has tweaks to its Thunderbolt driver stack that makes the Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter function pretty well as both a 3 to 2 adapter AND a 2 to 3 adapter. The original version of this post mentioned that it did not work, that information is now out of date and I have updated the post accordingly.


https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/278078/is-thunderbolt-2-to-thunderbolt-3-type-c-possible

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User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
245,459 points

May 14, 2020 3:17 PM in response to UD1992

David, doesn't look like there's a way from 10.11.6 unless you build an adapter, or...


While a dongle exactly as above does not exist, there is an interesting workaround. The Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter you mention has some limited ability here. While the Apple adapter does work as a generic 3 to 2 adapter, it can only go from 2 to 3 if the peripheral on the other side is a native Thunderbolt 3 device. For example, this adapter works for connecting a LG UltraFine 5K Display to a Thunderbolt 2 Mac. However, it won't work with the 2016 21.5" LG UltraFine 4K Display since that monitor is USB-C only and not a Thunderbolt 3 device. It will work with the 2019 23.5" LG UltraFine 4K Display since that monitor has Thunderbolt 3.


UPDATE:

It appears that at some point one of the newer patches to macOS High Sierra has tweaks to its Thunderbolt driver stack that makes the Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter function pretty well as both a 3 to 2 adapter AND a 2 to 3 adapter. The original version of this post mentioned that it did not work, that information is now out of date and I have updated the post accordingly.


https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/278078/is-thunderbolt-2-to-thunderbolt-3-type-c-possible

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User profile for user: UD1992
UD1992 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

May 15, 2020 7:08 AM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

When you say "Thunderbolt 2", does that also mean Thunderbolt 1? Which is what I guess I have as there's no "2" to be seen in either System info or on the port. So, by buying the adaptor and the cable it would work as required? Would there be a marked difference in speed?


Currently, I'm quite pleased with the speed booting from the SSD via USB. It really is a lot quicker and I'll see how things go for a while, although there are some issues. Office demands Serial Numbers and then fails to recognise them! I can work around that because I have a Windoze version installed in my Win 10 VM which now zips along fast enough that I can seriously think about working on it rather than just using it for games as currently. Which begs all sorts of questions, like why have you got a Mac then?!

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Connectivity Thunderbolt iMac 2013 to Thunderbolt 3 Device

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