Third party thunderbolt 4 cables not working with Mac Studio

I've tried multiple thunderbolt 4 cables from Amazon to connect my external RAIDs, some work some don't. They all spec out (on Amazon) as the correct cable but they just don't make the connection.


What should I be looking for? Very confused.


Thanks

Posted on Oct 3, 2023 6:18 PM

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Posted on Oct 3, 2023 7:59 PM

Try ordering the cable(s) directly from OWC?

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-4-cables

Plus you should be using the rear Thunderbolt Ports on the Mac Studio (Max)


Mac Studio - Technical Specifications - Apple


On front (M2 Max):

  • Two USB-C ports (up to 10Gb/s)
  • SDXC card slot (UHS-II)

On front (M2 Ultra):

  • Two Thunderbolt 4 ports (up to 40Gb/s)
  • SDXC card slot (UHS-II)
9 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Oct 3, 2023 7:59 PM in response to moonspinner123

Try ordering the cable(s) directly from OWC?

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-4-cables

Plus you should be using the rear Thunderbolt Ports on the Mac Studio (Max)


Mac Studio - Technical Specifications - Apple


On front (M2 Max):

  • Two USB-C ports (up to 10Gb/s)
  • SDXC card slot (UHS-II)

On front (M2 Ultra):

  • Two Thunderbolt 4 ports (up to 40Gb/s)
  • SDXC card slot (UHS-II)

Oct 4, 2023 7:33 AM in response to moonspinner123

The ThunderBolt symbol on each end of the cable is your assurance that the cables were tested and meet the accepted thunderBolt standard, BUT:


Cables for high-speed displays need to be SHORTER than 0.8 meters for Apple cables, shorter than 0.5 meters for brand-X cables.


HIGH SPEED data cable length limits are the same. If you MUST have longer cables, they must be ACTIVE cables, and the price goes from a typical about US$40 to about US$250.

Oct 4, 2023 9:07 AM in response to moonspinner123

just some interesting background about thunderBolt:


Originally, it was going to be a fiber-optic ONLY system. But while they were still evaluating it the lab, prices for fiber optic were not coming down fast enough, and fiddling with the interface (including shortening cable lengths) showed that its COULD be supported over copper.


So copper ThunderBolt is what got released, and fiber-optic versions of Thunderbolt are available, but have not yet descended to 'consumer' level prices.


A side note is that Fiber-optic Ethernet-equivalent cables HAVE gone way down in price, putting them within consumer reach. At this writing you still use a double fiber for ordinary uses, one for transmit data and one for receive data.

Third party thunderbolt 4 cables not working with Mac Studio

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