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I have an iMac 27 inch late 2013 it has Thunderbolt 2. I cannot find a thunderbolt 2 hard drive. I had to buy a thunderbolt 3 drive. How do I connect this Thunderbolt 3 drive to my Thunderbolt 2 computer to make it at least as fast as thunderbolt 2?
iMac 27", macOS 10.13
No hard drives are actually faster than USB 3, so don't need Thunderbolt. SSD can be faster.
If the drive is really Thunderbolt 3 (lightning bolt icon at the connector), not just USB-C, and has a female Thunderbolt 3 port, not a permanently attached cable, then the Apple Thunderbolt adapter may work.
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-to-thunderbolt-2-adapter
Plug the adapter into the drive. You will also need a Thunderbolt 2 cable from the adapter to the computer.
No hard drives are actually faster than USB 3, so don't need Thunderbolt. SSD can be faster.
If the drive is really Thunderbolt 3 (lightning bolt icon at the connector), not just USB-C, and has a female Thunderbolt 3 port, not a permanently attached cable, then the Apple Thunderbolt adapter may work.
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-to-thunderbolt-2-adapter
Plug the adapter into the drive. You will also need a Thunderbolt 2 cable from the adapter to the computer.
Thank you! I have this in my cart but was hesitant to buy it because I wasn't sure if it would make the data transfer any faster since my computer port is the slower one at Thunderbolt 2. The drive is actual thunderbolt 3 with the icon on it . Thanks for your help!
Thunderbolt 2 computer to Thunderbolt 3 hard drive connection
