CAUTION: Not All USB-C Cables are Safe for Data

Posted on by Larry

Recently, I’ve been burned three times by this: I purchased a USB-C to USB-C cable, only to discover that:

These are all different manifestations of the same issue: What I purchased was a “charging cable.” These are very inexpensive USB-C cables with only one goal in life – charge a mobile device.

These cables look IDENTICAL to USB-C data cables. They connect exactly the same way. But, don’t use them for any task where you need to send data or images between devices. If they work at all, they are desperately slow.

Don’t let the low price fool you – they are cheap because they don’t have the internal components to support actual computing.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with selling a cable that only charges devices. And, most of those cables are labeled as “charging cables.”

But that label is very easy to overlook.

If you are buying that cable in hopes of saving money, you will be very, very disappointed in their performance.

Just a heads-up – read the label. “Charging” means charging – and nothing else.


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8 Responses to CAUTION: Not All USB-C Cables are Safe for Data

  1. CraigS says:

    The problem is as time passes and you lose the package how do you determine which USB cables are best for charging vs data? I don’t know of any indicators on the cable, do you? Are there inexpensive cable-testing devices for USB cables?

    • Larry says:

      Totally agree. There’s no way on the outside to tell the type of cable.

      For me, I connect a hard drive then test its speed. If it’s around 30 MB/s, it’s a charging cable.

      Larry

    • Kim Do Hun says:

      I have developed a habit of checking the USB Type-C cable I am seeing for the first time with Bit Trade One’s [USB CABLE CHECKER 2] before using it.

      With [USB CABLE CHECKER 2], you can check whether the cable you are testing has an E-Marker Chip, whether it supports DP-Alt, and whether the transmission bandwidth supports 480Mbps (USB 2.0), 5Gbps, 10Gbps, or more.

      I indicate the supported bandwidth by surrounding the 5Gbps cable with a blue band and the 10Gbps or more cable with a red (or orange) band.

      ps) Most 10Gbps USB Type-C cables less than 50cm can be used as Thunderbolt 3 passive cables.

  2. Lew K says:

    I’d highly recommend marking the plastic/rubber of both ends of a charging only cable that is black or dark colored with a metallic magic marker (a 3 pack I bought had gold, silver, and copper markers) or a white magic marker. Obviously a black marker would work on a white cable.

    It also makes it much easier to grab the right cable in a hurry.

    It will wear off over time, but it can readily be remarked.

  3. Richard Wright says:

    I am beginning to label all my cables, either with simple tape or the plastic 1 inch tabs that wrap on cables. And, I am now only buying cables from known sites – such as OWC

    • Larry says:

      Richard:

      I think both of these ideas are excellent. I just discovered another charging cable in my collection. Now I’m going to have to go through all of them. Sigh…

      Larry

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