Connecting Older External Drives to new Mac Studio

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Level 1

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Connecting Older External Drives to new Mac Studio

I'm, finally, retiring my Mac Pro 3.5 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5 (late model 2013) and have purchased a new Mac Studio M4 Max chip with 14‑core. I'm running 3 external 4TB GDrives on the old Mac Pro. Those drives are Thunderbolt 1 and USB 3.0 compatible. My question is, what's the best way to connect those 3 drives to the new Mac Studio keeping in mind that I'm not concerned with the loss of transfer speed if an adapter cable is an option? Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025)

Posted on Nov 27, 2025 12:34 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Charles Palenz

Level 3

502 points

Dec 2, 2025 5:57 PM in response to Wiking45

When going to OS-26 Tahoe, my external HD was reconnected using USB and works just fine. It has USB and firewire options. You can get Apple's Thunderbolt 2 to 3 converter, model A1790 for around $50 which uses the same Mini DisplayPort connector as thunderbolt 1, but why spend the money with a good USB solution. And you have three drives, you may want to purchase a USB hub if you don't already have, and one USB to USB-C adapter.

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Answer 2

Nov 27, 2025 12:52 PM in response to Wiking45

A USB-C to USB-A adapter will work.

A Thunderbolt adapter may also work, but (formHDDs) will be more spend for not much benefit past USB.

If you’re keeping these drives and the Mac, you can set the Mac as a file server, and as a Time Machine server.

I’d run DriveDx on these first though, and see if the project is even worth the investment.

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Answer 3

Wiking45 Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 28, 2025 7:18 AM in response to Wiking45

Thank you both for the help!! Figured the USB-C to USB-A adapter was most likely the easiest route but just wanted to be certain. Wanted a way to connect the older drives until I purchase current drives that take advantage of the newer slots. That being said, I'm on the hunt for three 4TB "desktop" externals for the Mac Studio. These drives will run 24/7 and I'm not looking for anything that is portable, so ones with an internal fan most likely. Can you recommend any that would work? Thanks again for the help!!

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Answer 4

Nov 28, 2025 9:19 AM in response to Wiking45

I usually use much larger-capacity HDDs, and preferably either arrays or NAS. 12 TB and larger NAS-grade drives, usually.

There are some small portable NAS options too, though those are usually NVMe or maybe SSDs, and not rotating-rust HDDs.

Some background and goals for this current and potential replacement gear might help, as there may be alternatives unconsidered or unrecognized.

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Answer 5

Wiking45 Author

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Dec 1, 2025 8:28 AM in response to MrHoffman

One of the drives is a dedicated work drive, housing all my current projects. The other two drives are for my time machine backups of that work drive. I alternate backups between those 2 drives as you can never be too safe ;)

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Answer 6

Dec 1, 2025 8:34 AM in response to Wiking45

<< I alternate backups between those 2 drives as you can never be too safe ;). >>

if you simply add two Time Machine drives at the same time, MacOS will automatically alternate. Every-other backup goes to every-other drive, without any intervention on your part.

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Time Machine copies files to the drive(s) at low priority in the background, attempting to take advantage of 'awake but not too busy' times. Because of the way it does this, do not pay extra for a time machine drive that is FAST.

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Answer 7

Wiking45 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 3, 2025 1:46 PM in response to Charles Palenz

Thanks Charles. Will most likely go with the USB hub. Not too excited to use Tahoe, though. Thanks for the help!

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Answer 8

Nov 27, 2025 1:12 PM in response to Wiking45

There are many ways to go between USB-C (USB 3) and USB-A (USB 3).

You can, for instance, find cheap powered USB-A hubs that plug into a USB-C port (with or without the help of an adapter) and that provide four or more USB-A (USB 3.0) ports.

Apple has a USB-C to USB adapter that consumes one USB-C port to give you one USB-A port, and there are a lot of other options.

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