Reddit reviews CableCreation USB C to Micro B 3.0 Cable (Gen2/ 10Gbps), 1ft USB 3.1 External Hard Drive Cable, Compatible with MacBook (Pro), Galaxy S5 Note 3, etc, 0.3M /Black

You can buy a USB-C to Micro-B USB 3.0 on Amazon, it should work just fine and it's just shy of $6: https://www.amazon.com/Micro-B-CableCreation-Compatible-MacBook-External/dp/B012V56992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535783215&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+c+to+micro+usb+3

BTW, these conectors are all standard USB variants, so the cable should work with any other hard drive that uses Micro-B USB 3.0 and computers that use USB-C.

I think it's OK. Instead of buying a bunch of dongles I decided to replace a few of my cables. E.g. USB-C to B for connecting my printer/scanner and USB-C to 3.0 Micro for my portable HDD.

The only thing I personally worry about is wanting to unexpectedly use a USB-A port, e.g. if I'm traveling and someone wants to give me a USB flash drive. I picked up a few USB-C to A adapters and I try to keep one in my bag but I haven't had to use it yet.

YMMV.

I just got a refurb 2016 15" and so far I've had no problem with my external HDD :) I bought this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012V56992/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_B9lmX3Dbx93FO

Leap Motion doesn't use anything special, it just a USB 3.0 Micro-B

So you would just need like a 6 inch USB-C to USB 3.0 Micro-B.

Like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-B-CableCreation-Macbook-Chromebook-External/dp/B012V56992/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1521576943&sr=1-4&keywords=usb-c+to+micro-b

Or this one:

https://www.amazon.com/iSeekerKit-Chromebook-Elements-Expansion-External/dp/B077QX8RK1/ref=pd_sbs_107_6?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B077QX8RK1&pd_rd_r=MXWYFGZVEKY5JZV09VBT&pd_rd_w=Q5T7I&pd_rd_wg=31mwQ&psc=1&refRID=MXWYFGZVEKY5JZV09VBT

But yeah, placement looks like it will be a bitch, if impossible without a smaller version of the leap motion.

I have a couple of Western Digital My Passport drives that I use for movies and such. I would recommend buying one exclusively for Time Machine and using that to back up. Then buy one for your other random stuff. Time Machine doesn't like sharing drives, although you can if you partition it. But the drives are so inexpensive that it's easier to just buy one exclusive drive for it. Mine are 2TB and cost around $80-90:

WD 2TB Black My Passport for Mac Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBCGL0020BSL-NESN https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WJOVCOS/

WD 2TB Black My Passport for Mac Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBP6A0020BBK-WESN https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LQQH8E2/

Those are preformatted for macOS. You can buy the regular one too, but at least for Time Machine you would want to reformat it if you did that. If you are sharing between a Mac and PC, you would want the non Mac version:

WD 2TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBU6Y0020BBK-WESN https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D0L5BH8/

WD 2TB Black USB 3.0 My Passport Portable External Hard Drive (WDBYFT0020BBK-WESN) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LQQHF2W/


You will also need USB-C to USB Micro-B adapters for them. I have these and they work great:

CableCreation USB 3.1 Type C (USB-C) to USB 3.0 Micro-B Cable, Micro USB 3.1 USB-C for Apple The Macbook, Chromebook Pixel and More, 1ft/0.3M in Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012V56992/

As you said, there aren't many. You could just buy any HDD and use a cable like this for it. It negates some of the benefit of Type-C but I think it's safe to just store the cable with the drive.

Aside from that I'd buy a 2.5" enclosure and the disk separately.

Also:

> My Windows laptop has a USB-C port, so I figure I should take advantage of the speed by getting an external hard drive that's USB-C compatible.

Type-C has literally nothing to do with speed. Unless you verify otherwise, a Type-C port could very well be USB 2 just as a Type-A port could be USB 3. The only exception is that a USB-C port can be thunderbolt compatible, a Type-A port cannot.

If you're expecting an external HDD with a Type-C port to be faster, you're going to be disappointed.

You'll need a USB-C to Micro-B cable, e.g.,

https://www.amazon.com/Micro-B-CableCreation-Compatible-MacBook-External/dp/B012V56992/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1541167757&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+c+micro+b+cable

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Then you can connect new MacBook to most external drives.

SSDs sip power. The USB 3.0 port should easily be able to power an SSD in an external enclosure.

Having said that....if your gf is running low on storage, why get an SSD? They are infinitely more responsive but for just storage you don't really care about that. Get a 1TB external (spinning HDD) or something and be done with it for about $60.

I have a ton of these and they are bulletproof
https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-HDTB410XK3AA-Canvio-Portable-External/dp/B079D359S6

This one is USB-C though
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EIP37IY/ref=twister_B07B94XJPM?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Or just get an adapter and don't limit yourself to external drives that come with USB-C
https://www.amazon.com/Micro-B-CableCreation-Compatible-MacBook-External/dp/B012V56992

Note - A cheapo $10 Inland enclosure I have is USB 3.0 and even with a 7200 rpm 2.5" drive in it, it can do 150MB/s on large files all day off of just USB laptop power. You will be fine.

Apologies. I had just woken up and wasn’t the best poster.
Micro-B male to male C: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012V56992/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ioXGAb9ATH1S2

I've ordered a "USB 3.1 Type C (USB-C) to USB 3.0 Micro-B Cable" to connect my external HD's directly to my MacBook Pro instead of going through the dongle. Hopefully this, along with the Paragon NTFS driver, will give me access to my HD's.

Here is a USB-C to micro usb for my phone for $6.99

Here is a USB-C to Type B usb for my printer for $6.99

Here is a USB-C to USB3-Micro for my external HDD for $6.99

This seems like a whole fuss over nothing?

*the downvotes are because???