Question from Shelley Y.: Hi Rick. I read your article about adding USB 3.0 ports to a PC and I was wondering if they can be added to a Mac too?
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My computer is an older Mac Pro MC560LL/A and it only has USB 2.0 ports. I’d really like to be able to use a USB 3.0 hard drive with this computer.
Inateck Pci-e Card KT4004USB Expansion for Mac Pro Excellent solution to USB ports for Mac pro The KT4004 PCI- E express card adds 4 USB 3.0 Ports to. Aug 09, 2018 I've upgraded my Mac Pro with the Sonnet Allegro PCI-E USB 3.1 Type C expansion card. How does it perform with a Samsung T5 external SSD? Mac Pro 4.1, 5.1 and 7.1 NVMe Raid Card.
My question is can I add some USB 3.0 ports to my Mac Pro?
Rick’s answer:Yes, you sure can Shelley, and it’s very easy to do. What’s more, it won’t cost you very much to do it.
All you have to do is purchase a USB 3.0 expansion card and install it in an empty expansion slot. Just make sure you buy a card that’s designed to work with a Mac Pro instead of a PC.
But before we go any further, are you aware that USB 3.0 is backward compatible with USB 2.0?
That means you could always just plug a USB 3.0 external hard drive into one of your Mac’s USB 2.0 ports if you wanted to and it’ll work just fine. But there’s a downside to doing that: The drive will transfer data back and forth with the computer at the much slower USB 2.0 speed, essentially negating the advantage of using a fast USB 3.0 drive.
For that reason I recommend going ahead and adding some USB 3.0 ports to your computer as originally planned so you can take advantage of the much faster USB 3.0 speed. I only told you about the backward compatibility because I want you to be aware of all of your options.
I did a little research and discovered that there are several USB 3.0 expansion cards available for Mac Pros. This one from Inateck (#ad) plugs into an empty PCI-E slot and it will add 4 USB 3.0 ports to your computer.
And by the way, you also have the option to skip USB 3.0 and add some USB-C 3.1 ports to your Mac Pro instead by installing this card (#ad) from Ableconn.
As you can see, you should have no trouble at all adding USB 3.0 or even USB-C 3.1 ports to your Mac Pro Shelley. Good luck!
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Hi there,
As the proud owner of a Mac ro 4,1 (upgraded to 5,1 and with 2 X Xeon Hexa-Core X5670 CPU's) I 'suffer' from one limitation.
And that is the now old and really slow USB 2.0.
I would like to add a PCI USB 3.1 card and I've spotted the ASUS USB 3.1 PCI Card.
Of course, that card is given as compatible only with Windows.. Versaport asio driver for mac.
But I have seen some reports from people claiming to have inserted this card into their Mac and having successfully used it with several devices.
It seems that these reports are under 'Yosemite'.
I was wondering if they are still good with El Capitan..
I inserted the card into the Mac.
It seems to be recognized by the Mac Pro.
Indeed looking at the System Infos, under 'PCI' give 'USB Extension card'.
BUT :
- no USB stick I insert mounts ;
- no USB drive I hook up mounts ;
- my mouse doesn't even power up ;
- the keyboard doesn't function..
So I was wondering if :
- El Capitan has got rid of the earlier USB 3.1 support in Yosemite ?
- Or if my card can be defect in any way ?
- If this behavior can be due to the upgrades I performed (Mac 4,1 => 5,1 + 8-Core CPU => 12 Core CPU) ?
If anyone would be able to help me out, I'd be eternally grateful :-)
If needed, card can be sent back to seller..
Regards.
FRED
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