External drives · Speed, cables and hardware
Can I use a USB-A drive with an adapter on my Mac?
Short answer: Yes. Storage Studio treats it like any drive, but speed is limited by the slowest part — drive, adapter or cable. Run the benchmark in Choose Drive to see whether it's fast enough.
Yes. A simple USB-A to USB-C adapter works, and Storage Studio treats the drive like any other. Speed is limited by the slowest part of the chain — the drive, the adapter and the cable — so an older drive on an adapter may test slower than you expect.
Run Run benchmark in Choose Drive to see where it lands. If it's blocked or warned as slow, the drive itself is usually the limit rather than the adapter.