Is it safe to connect external USB 2.0 hard drive to laptop via USB to USB-C adapter
My Lenovo P15 Gen 1 laptop has 3 USB-C connectors:
- A single USB-C (3.2 Gen 1) connector
- Two Thunderbolt™ 3 (USB-C) connectors
Is it safe to connect "standard" USB-2/3 external hard drives (or for the matter of fact – any other USB-2/3 device) via a simple USB to USB-C adapter to either one of those ports?
All the external hard disks I own are micro USB to USB Type A.
It's just that I've had bad experience with connecting several external hard disks via non-externally-powered USB hubs -- which sometimes cause actual damage to the drives.
Exact connectors' specs, from the laptop's user guide:
The actual USB to USB-C converter I intended to use:
It should be safe to connect a USB-A device to a USB-C port, even if it is a port that supports Thunderbolt. The Thunderbolt specification requires all hosts with a Thunderbolt USB-C port to be backward compatible with USB 3.x and USB 2.0. There should be no damage from this. It sounds like you experienced damage to devices before because of devices that were not up to spec. Personally, if I planned to use a drive with a micro-B port often with a host that had USB-C then I'd invest in a USB-C to micro-B cable for a solid connection. These are not terribly expensive and should be available off the shelf at most any place that sells electronics.
Not an endorsement but just an example, I see this cable is available off the shelf at a Best Buy near me. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tripp-lite-3-micro-usb-to-usb-type-c-cable-black/6413080.p?skuId=6413080
I've heard of USB hubs that will violate the spec by reporting they are self powered when they are not. This gives permission for the devices attached to the hub to draw full power, relying on the host to provide the power even though it was not designed to do so. This can mean the voltage drops, and bad things happen. So don't buy cheap hardware. If the price s too good to be true then it likely is.
I hate how USB is getting a bad name because so many products fail to follow the spec. Buy hardware from trustworthy sources and you should not see hardware get damaged.