Comments on: USB 3.0 Brings a New(ish) Plug

By: John G

John G — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:36:02 +0000

Thanks very much Chris, I appreciate the reply.

By: OWC Chris S.

OWC Chris S. — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:12:03 +0000

While I haven’t personally tested said devices with the new machines,nthe USB 3.0 specifications do include backward-compatibility. The plugs still fit and make the appropriate connections (the USB 3.0 port has a couple of other connections that just won’t make contact) and the device should then work as it would with previous USB ports.

If Apple is supporting those items in Lion & Mountain Lion, it would be a safe guess that they should work as expected.

By: John G

John G — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 16:27:19 +0000

Chris, Merry Christmas!

I was hoping you could clarify something. I have a lot of “legacy” (real hardware) MIDI gear including a pair of Emagic AMT8 MIDI interfaces, which I believe at best are USB 1.1 spec. I was planning on buying a new Mac Mini to be my new dedicated music sequencing/recording computer, but with the new Minis having only USB 3.0 ports, I want to make sure I can plug the AMT8 MIDI interfaces into the Mac Mini’s 3.0 USB ports via a “regular” USB cable (is there any difference between 1.0/1.1/2.0 cables?) Will the 3.0 connection still support 1.0/1.1 devices? Your info seems to suggest that it will, but I wanted to be sure.

I’ve read that Apple still supports the Emagic MIDI interfaces with a driver in Lion and Mountain Lion, but that was prior to the new USB 3.0 iMacs and Minis coming out. I’d like to make sure “it’s all going to be OK” before I buy a Mac Mini.

Any additional info would be much appreciated.

Happy holidays!

By: OWC Michael

OWC Michael — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:46:03 +0000

We do carry several Thunderbolt products including the LaCie Thunderbolt to eSATA Hub you speak of. Our own brand Thunderbolt products are forthcoming - the first to be released by end of Summer with several more following before the end of the year.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:25:42 +0000

please leave a firewire 800 port on there as all apples virtually all since the imac and powermac g3 have the faster firewire port which is faster in use than usb 1 and 2 and depending on the hard drive not much slower (SATA 2.5 drive) than usb 3. Only a few macs sold in the last 2 months have usb 3, but virtually all except macbook/air have firewire. this is why apple makes a firwire dongle for macbook air and retina models they now most mac users who have had macs have a few firewire drives to, and they are great for booting even old macs and for target disk mode to transfer files from a new mac retina or mac air to an old one. on your combo drive and enclosures.
thanks on thunderbolt mac to a thunderbolt mac, (thunderbolt has only been on macs for about a year.
Dont forget firewire!

By: Wayne Stewart

Wayne Stewart — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:20:47 +0000

I anxiously await the arrival of thunderbolt to your product lines. Is it a cost or an engineering difficulty?
In the meantime LaCie offer a thunderbolt to esata gadget that works well. I have two of your big quad raid boxes attached that way! Mercury Qx2?
This is a good solution for thunderbolt equipped macs without USB 3.

By: James Katt

James Katt — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 19:33:36 +0000

I am impatiently waiting for OWC to update its Mercury Elite Pro Mini Quad-Interface to have a USB 3.0 port.

The Combo-Port model won’t work well with older Macs since you need an ExpressCard USB 3.0 or eSata to connect at the fastest speeds, otherwise, it connects at the slower USB 2.0 speeds.

At the very least, the Combo-Port model should have had USB 3.0 PLUS Fireware 800, not eSata. This way, older Macs AND newer Macs can connect at a fast speed.

By: MacRat

MacRat — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:29:57 +0000

Very nice overview.

You guys should put a version of this USB overview on your site linked from the External Drives page as a reference.

By: MaX

MaX — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:58:35 +0000

Great article. Now, bring it to all your external hard disks effectively replacing all the USB 2 ports. Only USB 3 (and Thunderbolt) as Apple as done! Do not forget two Thunderbolt ports to daisy-chain devices. Thanks!