Using USB-C adapters to connect G drives to Mac Studio M4

You can connect all three of your G-Drives to your Mac Studio using USB-A to USB-C adapters, if needed. However, depending on your drives and available ports, you may not need adapters or a hub at all.

Your options

• USB-A to USB-C adapters: Useful if your G-Drives have USB-A cables and you want to connect them to the Mac Studio’s USB-C ports.

• USB-C hub: A hub with at least three USB-A ports can connect all three drives through one USB-C port.

Do you need a powered hub?

That depends on your drives:

• Desktop G-Drives with their own power supplies: A powered hub is generally unnecessary for powering the drives themselves. A good-quality, unpowered hub may be sufficient.

• Portable G-Drives powered through USB: A powered hub can help provide adequate, stable power when running all three drives together.

• Mixed setup: The need for a powered hub depends on the power requirements of the portable drives and other connected devices.

Remember that a hub’s power supply does not replace the individual power adapters required by desktop G-Drives.

A note about ports and speed

Apple’s Mac Studio (2025) specifications list four Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports and two USB-A ports on the back. The M4 Max model also has two USB-C ports on the front. This means you can connect some drives directly and use adapters or a hub for the remainder.

Apple’s official specifications are available here:

• Mac Studio (2025) — Technical Specifications

• Apple Support — Identify the ports on your Mac

Your drives will operate at the speeds supported by the drives, cables, adapters and hub. A hub also shares its available bandwidth among connected devices.

My recommendation: If all three G-Drives are desktop models with their own power supplies, start with direct connections wherever possible. Add a quality USB-C hub if you need more ports; you probably don’t need a powered hub just to run the drives.

What model are your G-Drives...?

USB-A drives can plug into the M4 Mac Studio's rear TB/USB-C ports or front USB-C ports using USB-C to USB-A adapters.

Just be aware, that un-powered Uni hub will not be able to supply enough power to more than 2 or maybe 3 portable bus powered drives at the same time.

For completeness, it is important to note that connecting multiple drives to one USB port might slow them down in obscure cases where you needed to access those drives at exactly the same time.

We generally do not use multiple drives at exactly the same time on a Mac. But one obscure use case is copying drive-to-drive.

• If connected to different ports, reads and write could overlap, and each would typically proceed as fast as the drive would allow.

•If connected to the same USB port, reads and writes would be using the same pool of USB bandwidth, and the total time might be far longer than expected.

You are welcome

🦉-53