Question PC Thunderbolt 2 External Drive with Thunderbolt 4 Mobo

[killayuzz]

Hi Everyone

I recently upgraded my workstation and am now using the ASUS ProArt Z690-CREATOR WIFI mobo. Sorry for the noob question here but I can't find a definitive answer.

The thunderbolt port on this board is type 4 but an external drive I have been using for an ongoing project is thunderbolt 2.

I have been reading conflicting reports about whether the apple T2 to T3 apple adapter would work for me in a Windows 10 environment. Do I really need to upgrade the entire 12TB thunderbolt 2 drive to a thunderbolt 4 equivalent (which would be prohibitively expensive right now)... ?

I realise of course that the T2 drive would always be T2 speed and wouldn't be any faster when connected to a T4 port, but I just want my mobo to be able to connect to the T2 drive, albeit at T2 speed.

Any advice much appreciated.

Regards,

Simon

ASUS ProArt Z690-CREATOR WIFI
Intel Core i9 12900K s1700
128GB Corsair Vengeance 5600MHz DDR5
Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12GB

 

[Eximo]

Thunderbolt is fully backwards compatible. If you already have it what is stopping you from plugging it in and trying it?

You mention Apple adapters. Is this an Apple drive?

 

[killayuzz]

Thunderbolt is fully backwards compatible. If you already have it what is stopping you from plugging it in and trying it?

You mention Apple adapters. Is this an Apple drive?

Thanks for the reply. I don't have the adapter yet. As it's an apple product it's not cheap so I don't want to buy it if it isn't going to work. The drive is formatted for PC and there is nothing apple-based in the equation. The only reason I mention the apple adapter is that it's the only brand of adapter I seem to be able to find to downconvert to T2, but I read somewhere in my investigations that it won't work in a PC environment.

 

[Eximo]

Not clear to me still.

If the drive is already thunderbolt, have you just tried plugging it in? Or is it using Apple's proprietary design?

What product is it?

 

[killayuzz]

I can't plug it in because the thunderbolt port on the motherboard is thunderbolt 4 and that's a completely different plug to thunderbolt 2 (which the g-technology drive is). Unless I'm mistaken, there is no cable that is type 2 at one end and type 4 at the other so I could connect the drive to my PC.

I used to use the drive on my previous PC, which was thunderbolt 2 all the way (using a thunderbolt 2 card), but my new motherboard is thunderbolt 4 so doesn't have the same port.

 

[Eximo]

That should just be a form factor change, no electrical change at all. All protocol and bandwidth changes later on.

The apple 2/3 adapter should work.

 

[killayuzz]

OK great, thanks for your help!