I am unable to connect an external hard drive to a USB C/Thunderbolt 3 docking station on a 2020 M1 Mac Mini. I've tried two hard drives, one of which has it's own power source, which connect when directly attached to the Thunderbolt port but do not through the docking station. From what I gather online, my Finder settings are correct.
Any thoughts on what is wrong?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Mac mini, macOS 14.5
invisiblehand wrote:
Oh ... I misinterpreted the meaning of the plug.
Easy to do.
When I switch to the other USB C port, I get the following error. I suppose that means I need to find a hub with a thunderbolt port. Thanks.
Correct, that is a USB-C dock.
Unfortunately true ThunderBolt Dock's cost 4 to 10 times more than that USB-C Dock.
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-hub
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/docks/owc-thunderbolt-3-dock
For more OWC Thunderbolt Docks, see > https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/docks
It looks like the PD port on the Card Reader side of that Dock is for charging only.
Test your external drives plugged into either the USB 3.0 or USB-C ports.
Plus because that Dock is bus powered (without external power supply) it will most likely only support one or at best two external drives at the same time.
Just to wrap this up ... thanks to your clarifying points, I found a combination that worked. One of the drives needed a thunderbolt port. I connected that directly to the Mini. The other drive could connect to the active USB-C port on the dock.
Thank you to everyone that responded.
The docking station HDMI and USB ports work. I assume that means that the tethered cable connecting the docking station to Mac Mini is working.
For completeness ...
(1) The cables connecting the drives to the USB C ports work when directly connected to the Mac.
(2) I can connect another periphery to the docking station USB C port -- in this case a video camera -- which powers the camera and successfully records a test message.
Oh ... I misinterpreted the meaning of the plug.
When I switch to the other USB C port, I get the following error. I suppose that means I need to find a hub with a thunderbolt port. Thanks.
👍 You're welcome.
Is your cable from Doc to Mac checked as OK? The TB cable you are using may not be working correctly.
unable to connect an external drive to a dock/hub
