Jan Ekholm
It’s really weird that an external USB drive is sold with this kind of cable in late 2025. Why not USB-c in both ends instead of this proprietary garbage and USB-a?
Dec 16 at 9:59amWeb
Show threadonionDec 16
@chakie not proprietary, it is the USB 3 version of micro B
Show threadRaptor Dec 16

@onion @chakie yep, and they're shaped like that because the port is backwards compatible with the 2.0 style micro-b connectors, just like the full size USB-3 B connector it splits the superspeed lanes into a non-interfering part of the cable. (you can plug the 2.0 cables into the 3.0 ports to run at decreased speed)

You see these a lot on powered hubs and camera equipment.

Show threadJan EkholmDec 16
@raptor85 @onion I can't say I'm too enthusiastic about having 350 USB cables with different connectors in our "random cable box". For some reason they had to create a new connector every week for decades.
Show threadJan EkholmDec 16
@onion Someone should have removed the CAD design software from the USB committee years ago. They have created hundreds of connectors over the years, all incompatible and most of them absolutely unnecessary.
Show threadHarald Hannelius Dec 16
@chakie old stock probably. New devices should have USB-c these days. Don't know how long you can sell old stock, there's probably a deadline.
Show threadJan EkholmDec 16
@harald Quite possible. This was off the shelf from Verkkokauppa, they are definitely not known to have brand new stuff.
Show threadTobias ErnstDec 16
@chakie Well, on the host side, current portable and desktop computers still tend to have more USB-A than USB-C ports, the same goes for USB-Hubs integreated into Displays.
Show threadJan EkholmDec 16
@tobifant Yes, PC manufacturers definitely are not fast at following with the current trends. I hate having to get old style USB hubs just to plug in brand spanking new hardware with medieval connectors.