Does a Thunderbolt 3 to Ethernet male to male cable exist?

Question

I have a WD Passport external hard drive with ethernet and Firewire 800 ports only. Having just purchased a new MacBook Pro (2019), I'd like to continue using this drive as my backup. As ethernet is faster than FW800, I want to connect using the ethernet port, however it seems that I have to buy both a TB3 to ethernet adapter and a separate ethernet cable of some length. (Actually, I may need a TB3 to TB2 dongle + a TB2 to ethernet dongle + the ethernet cable). I'm looking for the simplest solution hopefully without a 6ft. ethernet cable coiled on my desk.

Is there not a single male to male adapter cable that can accomplish this connection?

I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I doubt that such an adapter exists.

You can get TB3 to Ethernet dongles from many different companies - there's no need to buy a TB2 dongle and TB2 ethernet adapter.

You can also get very short ethernet cables. There's no need for a 6ft ethernet cable - you can get a 1ft one (or even shorter). They're available at a low price (few dollars).

Remember to take a close look at the specs of your drive before purchasing adapters (you did not include any identifying information). There's a good chance that the FW800 port is actually going to be faster in practice than connecting over Ethernet.

Also if the drive is already several years old (which I gather it is, as I do not think any current Passport product has the FW800/Ethernet combo) - then it is might be more economical to buy a new drive with USB-C. Remember that old drives will fail at some point.

Answer 2

Even if this exists, you don’t want it. Thunderbolt 3 can run this gigabit Ethernet adapter cheaper on USB-C 3.x and faster than the network can handle.

• Belkin USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
• Any reliable CAT-5e or better ethernet patch cable of the length you prefer.

Now, I’m skeptical your ethernet controller is actually faster in practice than FireWire 800 but the power efficiencies are better and cabling and parts are much cheaper if you tunnel the storage traffic of point to point ethernet. You’ll want faster ethernet on both ends and a modern storage controller to get faster response than FireWire 800 which was ridiculously fast for it’s time. WD doesn’t have this class storage AFAIK even in the tail end of 2020.