Active powered USB-C Hub for iPad Pro

[ssimlai]

Hi,



I’m facing a peculiar problem using external SSDs with my 3rd Gen. iPad Pro 12.9.



Scenario 1:



The iPad Pro is able to detect a SanDisk Extreme Portable Pro 1TB SSD almost instantly, when directly connected to it. In comparison, the iPad detects with considerable delay, a SanDisk Extreme Portable 2TB SSD connected directly to it. This by itself tells me that perhaps the iPad isn’t really able to provide all the current necessary to boot up the drive.



Besides, when working with the drive especially for long hours, there’s no way to charge the iPad.



Scenario 2:



I have a Honeywell bus powered hub featuring an 85 W PD port, a USB-C port and a USB-A port. I connected the Apple supplied 20 watt iPad power adaptor to the PD port for pass through charging, while attaching the 2TB SSD to the USB C port.



However, this time the 2TB SSD didn’t show up AT ALL, while there was no problem detecting the 1TB SSD.



I replicated Scenario 2 with my Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+, and though the tab detected the 2TB drive using the exFAT app and Total Commander File Manager, it wouldn’t show up on the default Files Manager app. With the 1TB SSD, no such issue was faced.



Opinion:



I’m unaware of how much is the power consumption of each of those drives.



I’m no expert but it appears that the hub is using up much of the power from the adaptor with hardly anything left for powering the 2TB SSD.



Hence, I think I might need an Active Powered USB-C Hub for my purpose. Also, in addition, I might be attaching a 1 TB SSD and an USB stick.



I have examined some Active Hubs like Startech, Atolla, Sabrent, TP-Link etc, but not sure which one would fit the iPad. Except startech, it appears that the other ones are generic for PC / MAC.



Any views or suggestions please?

 

[sparksd]

I use this USB-C hub with my M1 12.9 and it works great with multiple drives attached and provides pass-through power to the iPad -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087QZVQJX

Anker makes excellent products and has other models available.

 

[ssimlai]

I use this USB-C hub with my M1 12.9 and it works great with multiple drives attached and provides pass-through power to the iPad -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087QZVQJX

Anker makes excellent products and has other models available.

Thanks for quick response. What rating is your power adaptor please?

 

[okkibs]

The iPad Pros provide enough current for connecting multiple SSDs at once, about 1.6A with 5V. The issue won't be with power, and likely switching out the hub won't fix it either. Can you plug the drives into a Mac and check the system profiler? Windows would work too. Or perhaps Google can provide the info: My assumption is that these two SSDs use different chipsets. It is common that external drive manufacturers use a couple different chipsets even within the same series. The 2TB SSD probably just uses a bad one.

That series is very similar to the SN550, which makes sense given that Sandisk is merely a WD brand now so the tech inside is all WD. And the one SN550 I had I ended up returning due to weird issues, not being discovered with multiple external enclosures on a Macbook.

I'd just replace that 2TB drive with something else, preferably you'd find out what controllers your two SSDs use and also look up if there are any recommendations for iPads.

 

[ssimlai]

The iPad Pros provide enough current for connecting multiple SSDs at once, about 1.6A with 5V. The issue won't be with power, and likely switching out the hub won't fix it either. Can you plug the drives into a Mac and check the system profiler? Windows would work too. Or perhaps Google can provide the info: My assumption is that these two SSDs use different chipsets. It is common that external drive manufacturers use a couple different chipsets even within the same series. The 2TB SSD probably just uses a bad one.

That series is very similar to the SN550, which makes sense given that Sandisk is merely a WD brand now so the tech inside is all WD. And the one SN550 I had I ended up returning due to weird issues, not being discovered with multiple external enclosures on a Macbook.

I'd just replace that 2TB drive with something else, preferably you'd find out what controllers your two SSDs use and also look up if there are any recommendations for iPads.

I looked for the specs. The only difference I could find between the two is the Pro version 1 TB has higher transfer speed of 2 GBPS while the non Peo version 2TB has a transfer rate 550 MBPS. Both use NVMe chip.

 

[ssimlai]

Hi I tried once again connecting the 2B Extreme SSD to my Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ via the Honeywell Hub, and this time it worked well without efforts, though the power requirement of the Samsung is only 10 watts.

I connected the 2TB Extreme SSD this time directly to the iPad and it again worked. But when I routed it via the Honeywell hub, it didn’t show up. I think this is not to do with the SSD at all because it does work. It could be that since the power requirement of iPad is way higher than Samsung Galaxy tab S7, that, coupled with the power requirement of the hub itself demands much greater power, which is why the SSD doesn’t show up. Anyone with a good solution please?

 

[ssimlai]

I just interchanged the 2TB non-Pro cable with the 1TB Pro cable. It’s all working fine except that the Samsung Tab seems to have paused charging.