Hello,
Does anyone have any recommendations for a hub with SSD for a Mac mini M4? I want one with multi ports and an in-built drive. I've seen one by a company called Raycue, anyone have experience of these? Are they reliable?
Also what's the difference between a normal SSD and NVME?
Thanks
Kind Regards
Dave
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Mac mini, macOS 15.1
Beware, the Satechi hub will severely hamper your Wifi and Bluetooth.
Hi Ian,
Thanks so much, that's very helpful. I really liked the form factor of those hubs, neat and tidy but I need reliability over neatness as it's partly for my work. Thanks for the warning about power, that never occurred to me. Do you have any recommendations? Ideally I want 2TB storage (at least) and some extra ports, thanks.
Kind Regards
Dave
It has five but there not all the same type, I do have quite a few things to plug in (I use my Mac for music recording as well as my work) plus I've lost one already because my keyboard is wired. I do still have my Apple Pro wireless keyboard from my old Mac Pro but it won't connect.
Kind Regards
Dave
Just saw the announcement for one today that looks promising: https://satechi.net/landing/new-stand-and-hub-m4-mac-mini
Does anyone besides me not like the power button on the bottom back side of the enclosure? It can be a pain to reach under and around my monitors and pick up the enclosure to power on.
Too bad Apple didn't put a fingerprint reader/on buttom on the top front corner......
Yes I've seen that one too. What really initially attracted me to these hubs is the neat form factor including what I want which fast storage and a variety of extra inputs. However I'm put off now them after what Ian R Brown said about not being powered and making them temperamental. I use my Mac for work and also for my hobby (music recording with Logic Pro) hence why I need storage and extra inputs, but I cannot have drives suddenly ejecting and potentially losing work.
Canvio's are the old spinning HDDs but they are very good and very cheap. I have 2 of them together with some Seagates.
The 4TB version works out cheapest but I feel it's like putting all your eggs in one basket so I would prefer a couple of 2TB one's even though it costs a bit more.
As Dirty Harry said, you have to decide whether you feel lucky!
You will also need an SD card reader to plug into the power strip.
Incidentally I have no personal experience of unpowered Satechi type hubs ejecting disks but I have read about it in the reviews and also in these forums.
Oh I thought they had an SSD version of it. I already have several Canvio HDDs, they've been pretty reliable but I would like SSDs now for speed as I do find HDDs a bit slow saving large/multiple files to. Yes I feel the same about more than one drive to be honest, I don't really feel safe having my files exist on only one drive. Would you have any recommendations for a 2TB external SSD?
Kind Regards
Dave
I bought this cheap hub for
230 ₹ ( $2.6 )
https://amzn.in/d/8ylLHQq
My wirless mouse stops working if I connect a pendrive in usb 3.0.
Can u recommend any better hub ( type c to type 3.0 ports ) which work both storage devices and wireless mouse ( wifi based mouse)
Aah I see so NVMe is just the connection bus? Those hubs I've seen connect to the Mac via a port on the back (Thunderbolt?) so I guess you wouldn't get the full speed of NVMe anyway would you?
That looks great, many thanks.
Kind Regards
Dave
Thanks for the advice Ian, that was very helpful 👍
Thanks Ian, so I guess my question is answered now. If I get a power-strip style hub for extra ports, and for more storage get a regular USB 3 external SSD such as a Toshiba Canvio, I should be sorted?
Kind Regards
David
Best hub with SSD for Mac mini M4 Raycue and NVMe vs SSD
