Resolved external 3.1 gen 2 drives for 2019 imac

[fisherking]

yikes. just got my first desktop mac (the 21" imac), love it (replaces a 2015 macbook pro). i got a usb c g-drive for backup, and... the mac didn't see it; turns out it's a 3.1 gen 1 drive, and the new imacs need a usb 3.1 gen 2 drive; not many out there (outside of expensive SSDs, which is overkill for me).

any thoughts?

i found this: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B078TPC...olid=130F9X11JSK92&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

but, surprisingly, nothing (yet) from seagate, or lacie... etc. perhaps more (non-ssd) drives coming soon?

 

[jerwin]

usb 3.1 gen 1 is 5 Gb/s
usb 3.1 gen 2 is 10 Gb/s

But a spinning hard drive is unlikely to use more than 2 Gb/s. Most of them are probably in the 1 Gb/s to 1.5 Gb/s range. So the additional speed of a USB-3.1 gen 2 isn't necessary.

(I haven't shopped for hard drives in a long time. There might be some super fast hybrid drive out there capable of saturating USB 3.1 gen1 under ideal conditions. Unlikely, though. )

 

[fisherking]

usb 3.1 gen 1 is 5 Gb/s
usb 3.1 gen 2 is 10 Gb/s

But a spinning hard drive is unlikely to use more than 2 Gb/s. Most of them are probably in the 1 Gb/s to 1.5 Gb/s range. So the additional speed of a USB-3.1 gen 2 isn't necessary.

(I haven't shopped for hard drives in a long time. There might be some super fast hybrid drive out there capable of saturating USB 3.1 gen1 under ideal conditions. Unlikely, though. )

i know about the speed differences; the problem is, the g-drive i bought isn't being recognized by the imac (it's fine on my 2016 12" macbook); apple's minimum spec for the new imac is gen 2, this drive is gen 1.

anyway, am hoping we'll see (traditional) hard drives from seagate et al. soon (i need space over speed, ultimately)...

 

[SaSaSushi]

i know about the speed differences; the problem is, the g-drive i bought isn't being recognized by the imac (it's fine on my 2016 12" macbook); apple's minimum spec for the new imac is gen 2, this drive is gen 1.

Just to let you know the 2017 and later iMac supports up to USB 3.1 Gen 2 (backwards compatibility for Gen 1). I have one of each device attached to my own 2017 iMac at present.

There must be some other reason for the compatibility problem you had with the G-drive.

 

[fisherking]

Just to let you know the 2017 and later iMac supports up to USB 3.1 Gen 2 (backwards compatibility for Gen 1). I have one of each device attached to my own 2017 iMac at present.

There must be some other reason for the compatibility problem you had with the G-drive.

no, the 2019 requires 3.1 gen 2:

Two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports with support for:

• DisplayPort
• Thunderbolt (up to 40Gb/s)
• USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)

EDIT: or? i'm wrong, and i need to perhaps format the external APFS?....???????

EDIT EDIT: am confused; the drive doesn't show in disk utility (so i can't reformat it)...

 

[SaSaSushi]

EDIT EDIT: am confused; the drive doesn't show in disk utility (so i can't reformat it)...

Is it not appearing at all when you choose View > Show All Devices? I ask because I usually set Disk Utility to show only volumes.

 

[mikehalloran]

There’s a lot you and others who have replied need to learn. If the drive requires 3.1, your iMac won’t see it unless connected via USB C. Macs don’t support 3.1 through the 3.0 port. There are PCs that support USB 3.1 but no Macs except as I’ve already mentioned.

If the drive is backward compatible to 3.0, then there’s another issue. Consult the mfr’s info. You may require an adapter.

Spinning hard drives cannot do 1G, 1.5G or anything near. The fastest support 300mBs unless multiple units in the correct RAID array. A SATA III bus supports 6G transfer but the fastest SATA III SSD supports speeds well under 1/10 that and the fastest spinner less than 1/2 that (most are far slower).

The fastest external, non-RAID you can buy is the Samsung X5. It is rated around 3.1 GBs over TB3. Only a RAID array can approach the 40GBs speeds of the TB3 connection.

 

[jerwin]

The fastest support 300mBs

That's 300 MB/s. Or-- about 2.4 Gb/s over a serial bus.

(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64b/66b_encoding#Technologies_that_use_128b/1xxb_encoding for more details)

 

[fisherking]

am not expecting amazing speeds, it IS a hard drive, not an SSD. and i'm plugging it into the thunderbolt port. i

i have a lot of usb devices (music kybd, audio interface, usb speakers, etc); was hoping to use the thunderbolt ports for an external drive, and a backup drive.

and no, the device does not show up anywhere (in sys info>thunderbolt, or disk utility)....

 

[Fishrrman]

"i got a usb c g-drive for backup, and... the mac didn't see it; turns out it's a 3.1 gen 1 drive, and the new imacs need a usb 3.1 gen 2 drive"

This is wrong.

All your older USB drives should continue to work.

I'm using USB2 (that's, "TWO") drives on my 2018 Mac Mini (which also has thunderbolt3, USB3.1 gen. 1 & 2).
Even my old, OLD USB1 ("ONE") flash drives will work.

If the drives you have aren't mounting, then something else is the problem -- NOT "gen 1" or "gen 2".

 

[fisherking]

"i got a usb c g-drive for backup, and... the mac didn't see it; turns out it's a 3.1 gen 1 drive, and the new imacs need a usb 3.1 gen 2 drive"

This is wrong.

All your older USB drives should continue to work.

I'm using USB2 (that's, "TWO") drives on my 2018 Mac Mini (which also has thunderbolt3, USB3.1 gen. 1 & 2).
Even my old, OLD USB1 ("ONE") flash drives will work.

If the drives you have aren't mounting, then something else is the problem -- NOT "gen 1" or "gen 2".

the drive was not showing up in the thunderbolt port; it worked fine in the usb port (important to read thru a thread before posting a response).

HOWEVER, i reset the SMC on my imac, and now... drive IS now working; so, problem solved √

 

[crapthings]

i've bought a usb 3.1 gen2 hub, but osx tells me its 3.1.gen1.